The Magic Castle is the living embodiment of the phrase ‘one man’s trash is another man’s treasure’, as Milt Larsen explains in the second part of our interview with the co-founder at Magic Live 2017. Back in 1961, Larsen scoured Los Angeles for chandeliers, stained glass windows, and anything else he could find to make his vision of a nightclub for magicians a reality. The stuff he found from the mansions being torn down from a section of the city known as Millionaire’s Row would likely auction off for a pretty penny today, but at the time all of the fixtures were being sent to the junk heap—that’s where Larsen came in. He, along with art director for the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson John Shrum, took these artifacts and made the Magic Castle what it is today. 

For the rest of our interview with Milt Larsen, check out the links below:

Part one: How Milt Larsen transformed a ramshackle house into the Magic Castle

Part three: On growing up in a family of magicians