{"id":640761,"date":"2026-03-08T10:48:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T10:48:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/640761\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T10:48:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T10:48:38","slug":"inside-the-magic-castle-swap-meet-for-magicians-in-hollywood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/640761\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the Magic Castle Swap Meet for Magicians in Hollywood"},"content":{"rendered":"

Find a magician and try to score an invite to this members-only event in Hollywood<\/p>\n

Milt and Bill Larsen, the brothers who co-founded the Magic Castle<\/a> in Hollywood, were also major collectors of art and antiques. Their homes were stuffed to the rafters with cool stuff, including tons of magic memorabilia. What do you do when you have more collections than walls? Sell at a swap meet! Well, that\u2019s how Rob Zabrecky<\/a> remembers the origins of the Magic Castle Swap Meet, a fun flea market he first attended a couple of decades ago.<\/p>\n

\"RobRob ZabreckyCredit: Courtesy Rob Zabrecky<\/p>\n

You have a few weeks to sign up for a club membership or befriend a member so you can join the inspiring members-only fun on April 25 in Hollywood.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get this image in your mind of what a Magic Castle swap meet would be like,\u201d the musician-turned-magician-turned Castle ambassador tells Los Angeles. \u201cHow Harry Potter is this? How wizardy is this? \u201cIt used to just be open to magicians and now they\u2019ve opened these up to the general public.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Vendors at the Magic Castle swap meetCredit: Photo by Stevo Rood<\/p>\n

Zabrecky explains that the gathering attracts professional illusionists and curious souls looking for their first deck of cards. \u201cThere are vendors selling everything from plastic thumbs to sponge bunnies,\u201d he says. \u201cI found some vintage spook show posters and old magic pamphlets. I especially like the wild vintage T-shirts like \u2018Halloween \u201978 at the Magic Castle.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" Magic Castle swap meetCredit: Photo by Stevo Rood<\/p>\n

Strange and unusual items, both antique and newly handmade, have turned up on the tables. Everything from neckties decorated with little Harry Houdinis to the preserved skeleton of a rabbit under a bell jar.<\/p>\n

Scroll to continue reading<\/p>\n

As a longtime performer at the club, Zabrecky is always looking for new ways to wow the crowd. \u201cI once bought a man\u2019s entire act, \u201che says. \u201dWhen he passed away, I bought everything including VHS tapes of him performing. I thought \u2018let\u2019s see what this guy did.\u2019 It was like learning a bunch of cover songs and was a cool insight into this man\u2019s work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" Magic Castle swap meetCredit: Photo by Stevo Rood<\/p>\n

With restoration work on the historic Magic Castle building ongoing, this season\u2019s outing has been moved down the block to the landmark Hollywood United Methodist Church<\/a>. Sales tables are set up in the same gymnasium where Marty McFly jammed at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance in Back to the Future. It\u2019s unlikely anyone would bat an eye iif an actual time machine showed up for sale at the Magic Castle Swap Meet.<\/p>\n

\"\"Vendors at the Magic Castle swap meetCredit: Photo by Stevo Rood<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Find a magician and try to score an invite to this members-only event in Hollywood Milt and Bill…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":640762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[155770,1582,276,14107,272713,2961,224,5337,272714,272715,272716],"class_list":["post-640761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-back-to-the-future","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-hollywood","tag-hollywood-united-methodist-church","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-magic-castle","tag-magic-castle-swap-meet","tag-rob-zabrecky"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116193165902403526","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}