Tag archives: magic

“So 90% of magicians are hobbyists. They don’t perform. They might for a little dinner party at home for a family member, but that’s about it.” Gene Urban is a professional magician – a card-carrying performer and habitue at the storied Magic Castle in Hollywood, and a guy who has traveled the world, his skill […]

If Juliana Chen hadn’t broken her knee as a foot juggling teenager, we might be seeing the native of the Hunan Province of the People’s Republic of China performing in town with the famous Guangzhou Acrobatic Troupe or another Chinese extravaganza. Instead, Chen chose magic as the best way to channel her dexterity and dreams […]

More than just a “Magic Man,” Milt Larsen was a kind and generous person. It’s inevitable that he and Arlene should marry, because they’re both the same – so friendly and giving. Milt and I first met when I joined the Magic Castle. Over our 50+ year friendship, he was always generous with his time, […]

As MJ reported last week, Milt Larsen passed away on Sunday, May 28, after what had been a whirlwind week for the 92-year-old founder of Hollywood’s Magic Castle. The Sunday before he died, Milt and his wife, Arlene, attended a production of their longtime touring production, “It’s Magic!” in Cerritos, California. They watched the entire […]

Across from the Bird Refuge there used to be a restaurant called Café del Sol. After it closed, Arlene and Milt Larsen bought it, transforming it into a unique private club called the Magic Castle Cabaret. They also own the Magic Castle in Los Angeles, which some of you may have gone to. It’s all […]

Montecito’s Magic Castle, after five years as a club, is closing its doors. Dynamic duo Milt and Arlene Larsen, who bought the former Cafe del Sol eatery owned by Jack and Emilie Sears, a tiara’s toss from the 42-acre Andree Clark Bird Refuge, in 2016 hosted a farewell bash with 130 club members and friends […]

Los Angeles’ iconic Magic Castle, leased by Santa Barbara dynamic duo Milt and Arlene Larsen since 1961, has been sold. The buyer of the property, just a tiara’s toss or two from the world-famous Hollywood sign, is Randy Pitchford, founder and CEO of the Gearbox Entertainment Company, which developed the Borderlands franchise of video games, […]

Who doesn’t like magicians and their tricks? The Lobero Theatre was recently filled with curious kids and their parents waiting for the curtain to rise to reveal the curiosities of six magicians. They didn’t disappoint – what with sawing people in two, cutting ropes that wouldn’t stay cut, tearing up paper that wouldn’t stay torn, […]

It was who’s-who of magic lovers and masters of the mystifying when they gathered virtually from New York to Hawaii to celebrate the patriarch of illusion Milt Larsen’s 90th birthday. The virtual event was followed by an intimate COVID-friendly gathering on the grounds of Hollywood’s Magic Castle, sister branch of the Montecito locale, where Milt […]

Two years after it opened, the owners of Montecito’s Magic Castle Cabaret Milt and Arlene Larsen are moving on, I can exclusively reveal. “The Cabaret has been closed for a long year and we are not getting any younger,” laments Arlene. “When we started, we seemed a lot younger. “After talking it over for many […]

We all know that there is no such thing as real “magic.” As performed by “magicians,” it’s all trickery and deception, the best of which fools us in ways we like to be fooled, and takes advantage of our own weaknesses and susceptibilities. But science and technology have become so clever and adept that it’s […]

Like every performing arts venue in town, the Magic Castle Cabaret has been closed since March as even private club prestidigitation has been rendered powerless by the pandemic. But the charming year-old establishment that serves as the local Santa Barbara-Montecito offshoot to the famed Castle in Hollywood co-founded by Milt Larsen in the early 1960s […]

Across from the Bird Refuge (30 Los Patos Way), we have a pop up during October just in time for Halloween. Did you know there will be two full moons that month? Arlene and Milt Larsen from the Magic Castle Cabaret will be having a Halloween gift shop for the month of October, open Tuesday […]

As if the coronavirus restrictions weren’t enough, Milt and Arlene Larsen, owners of the Magic Castle opposite the Andree Clark Bird Refuge, have had their computers hacked. “It really was an absolute mess,” says Arlene. “Whoever did it fixed it so we could not send out letters to let everyone know.” The dynamic duo have […]

Emma Steinkellner was three years old when the first Harry Potter novel came out in America, and 13 when the original series came to a close. So maybe it’s no surprise that the subject of the first graphic novel she wrote and illustrated on her own is 13-year-old Moth Hush, who has just discovered that […]

As the invitation stated, “From the moment you step through the door you’ll know you’re not in Kansas any more.” There’s a private club with nightclub atmosphere on Los Patos Way across from the Bird Refuge. Milt and Arlene Larsen recently had their grand opening reception for Angel members, media, and special guests. The Magic […]

“Quod, ut dicitur, si est homo bulla, eo magis senex” the Roman scholar Marcus Terentius Varro (116 BC – 27 BC) wrote in the first historical references to bubbles which means “If man is a microbubble, all the more so is an old man…” Ok I’ve translated “bulla” into its micro form. Perhaps that wasn’t […]

Where can you hear some of the greatest Kirtan/call-and-response chant artists all in one place short of attending a Bahkti gathering? How about Yoga Soup this Friday night, when Sounds into Silence, a feature-length documentary that explores chant meditation, makes its Santa Barbara public debut. Deva Premal & Miten, Krishna Das, Snatam Kaur, Jai Uttal, […]