Hollywood's Magic Castle: The hardest trick is getting in

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When's the last time you enjoyed a night of astounding magic and illusion with a festive supper-club crowd gathered in an old Gothic mansion on the edge of Hollywood? Chances are it's been a while. Perhaps this mystical experience still awaits you -- at the Academy of Magical Arts and its private clubhouse the Magic Castle. L.A.'s iconic, castle-ish landmark (built by a local banker in 1909) at the foot of the Hollywood Hills has for the last 53 years been the hallowed headquarters of the AMA, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion and advancement of the art of magic.

Magic fortress

A who's who of eminent magicians and illusionists have performed at this curious-looking fortress over the years, which pulls in big names -- Mac King, Michael Carbonaro, The Amazing Johnathan -- that still might escape you. Penn & Teller, David Copperfield and Siegfried & Roy -- whose smiling photos hang on the walls -- may not have played here, but they're all proud AMA members. So was Johnny Carson, a big magic fan, who frequented the Magic Castle -- and, as the story goes, was once stopped at the door for not arriving in the club's famously enforced formal evening dress code. Johnny Depp apparently digs the Magic Castle, as does Quentin Tarantino. What better place, you'd think, for anyone to indulge an appetite for the conjuring arts -- let alone Oysters Rockefeller, Beef Wellington and whiskey cocktails named Sassy Black Magic? If you can get in. And that's the snag.