Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Speaking of a magical day, we are off and running at 8:30 am to Los Angeles to join up with Ed & Betty, plus Vicky & Jim, to go to the Magic Castle for brunch and a couple of shows.
GPS said it would take an hour to get to Hollywood, but we left early anyway due to the potential for traffic. As expected, there was zero traffic and we zoomed there quickly!
The freeways were clear.
We used Google Earth to view the facility, which helped us locate the castle.
It was indeed a castle!
We valet-parked the car, as we didn’t want to walk up the hill.
The facility was beautiful.
The facility has quite a history!
The Magic Castle is a châteauesque residence built in 1909 by Rollin B. Lane, a real estate investor, lawyer, banker, newspaper editor, and philanthropist. The house was designed by architects Lyman Farwell and Oliver Perry Dennis and constructed as a near mirror duplicate of the 1897 Kimberly Crest House and Gardens in Redlands, California, that the architects had designed over a decade earlier. The Lanes called their home “Holly Chateau . Rollin’s wife, Katherine, worked on various civic volunteer communities for the betterment of Hollywoo . She was college educated and an author. Originally, the house included “seventeen rooms, including a roof garden and sun parlor”.
The Academy of Magical Arts is a mutual-benefit nonprofit corporation organized and devoted to the promotion and development of the art of magic.
The Academy of Magical Arts was founded in 1952 by William Larsen, Sr., as a loose association of magicians. Although it was not officially incorporated and its organization formalized until 1962, when Larsen’s sons, Bill Jr. and Milt Larsen, expanded the Academy into an international organization. The Magic Castle has served as the headquarters for the Academy since 1963.
We arrived early and were the second group in line at the front doo There are NO PICTURES INSIDE for obvious reasons, and we honored their request.
Many famous people have walked through these doors.
We took pictures of ourselves just before going inside. The rest of the group arrived around 10:30 am, and Mary and I were already at the bar and doing some exploring around the house.
Quite a handsome couple!
In the lobby, we could take a photo, so Mary posed right in front of the secret door (located behind the bookcase).
Mary talked to the owl, and it let us in, right by the bar!
The bar was beautiful, and we tried a couple of drinks. The hostess helped us determine where to go. When I said, “Where is the bar?” she pointed it out and followed that by, “I’ll have a drink also!!”
We fooled her by ordering her a virgin Bloody Mary. I notified the local management that we bought the hostess a drink because she was so lovely, and I made sure that management knew it was non-alcoholic.
We saw a quick show before lunch. Lunch was great, and we filled up on all the goodies. After lunch, we attended two additional shows, which were quite impressive. We were ten feet away and have NO idea how they did the magic tricks.
On our way out, we stopped to see Irma and the Magic Piano. “Irma, the Magic Piano” refers to an invisible, ghost-like figure at The Magic Castle, a private club in Hollywood. Irma plays the piano and takes song requests from guests in the music room. She is invisible and communicates solely through the piano. Irma has become a popular attraction at the Magic Castle, with many visitors requesting her musical talents.
Irma (played by Kate) was a load of fun!
She did and excellent job playing our requests including the Hokey Pokey!
Mary and I couldn’t help ourselves. Mary requested “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” by the Andrews Sisters. Iram played, and we danced along with Vicky and Ji. The room is tiny, but we danced for two to three minutes. After the dance, we got a standing ovation from the onlookers.
I requested the Hokey Pokey and had half the room dancing. I led the dance. The young kids had no idea their parents could dance. It was fun!
We took some outside shots while our cars were being fetched,
We got home around 5:00 pm and began working on Mary’s storage boxes. At 8:00 pm, we were pooped out and went inside to watch “The Bricklayer”, an action movie. Plot: A former CIA agent who left to become a bricklayer is asked to step in and help stop a criminal operation that is demanding a series of ransom payments.
At 10:15 pm, we declared victory and headed to bed. I stopped by the office to perform the nightly breathing treatment. Mary read her book, and at 11:00 pm, we were sound asleep!
