Milt Larsen, who cofounded The Magic Castle in Hollywood and lived in Santa Barbara for many years, died of natural causes over the weekend in Los Angeles. He was 92.
Considered one of the most influential people in the history of magic, Larsen turned a mansion in the heart of Hollywood into a global center for illusion and trickery in 1963, when he created The Magic Castle with his brother, Bill Larsen. They’d grown up traveling as a family magic revue with their parents during the 1930s, and used their expertise and connections to develop a members-only venue that hosted multiple magic shows most days of the week. The castle is home to the 5,000-member Academy of Magical Arts, which their father founded in 1953.
“Every year of my life, I’ve been surrounded by magicians,” he told me in 2013 during an interview at his TV Hill home overlooking the Santa Barbara Harbor for this article about his life and legacy . “All of my dad’s friends were magicians, and some of the most famous magicians would come to our house and mingle.”