L.A.’s famed Magic Castle has a new owner!
Magician and entertainer Randy Pitchford is reportedly purchasing the clubhouse of the Academy of Magical Arts. Pitchford is the founder of the Gearbox Entertainment Company, which developed the Borderlands game franchise.
The Magic Castle, the clubhouse of the Academy of Magical Arts, is a performance venue, restaurant and private, members-only club located off Franklin Avenue in Hollywood.
The main building of the Magic Castle is a chateau-style residence built in 1909 by real estate investor, lawyer and philanthropist, Rollin B. Lane. The house was designed by architects Lyman Farwell and Oliver Dennis, constructed as a near duplicate of the 1897 Kimberly Crest House and Gardens in Redlands, California,
“The Magic Castle is like bedrock, the center point of magic,” said Pitchford, as reported by the local Fox affiliate. “The people who think of the Castle as their home and the place itself seem to have magical properties that have created and inspired some of the world’s greatest entertainers. I’m proud to be trusted to both give back to the place that made me to become the custodian of the Magic Castle and to work with its members and the Larsen family to ensure our most incredible club house grows and thrives for decades to come.”
A purchase price for the property was not revealed.
“Randy Pitchford has done something extraordinary to protect our beloved Magic Castle, and I could not be happier about our current situation as well as the prospects for the future,” Magic Castle co-founder Milt Larsen said in a statement. “Randy really understands and appreciates my vision and the Larsen family vision, and there is no one better to carry on what we started in 1963.”