Open Sesame: It’s Magic

Montecito’s new Magic Castle cabaret, on the site of the former Cafe del Sol, a tiara’s toss from the Andree Clark Bird Refuge, is open for business.

The 11,761-sq-ft nitery, founded by Milt and Arlene Larsen, who also own the 55-year-old club of the same name in Hollywood, will initially only be open on Thursdays and Fridays through September before going to three days a week before being fully operational at, appropriately enough, Halloween.

Annual memberships are $1,250 before increasing to $1,500 after September.

The twosome bought the former eatery space, which had been around for nearly 50 years, in May 2016, for $2.35 million and have done extensive renovations, including a new roof and kitchen, and an ornate Edwardian-Gothic interior.

“It is for our friends and their friends,” says Arlene. “It gives our generation a place to retreat to after a gala.

“We want it to become a neighborhood hangout for adults.”

Among the guests getting spellbound as Los Angeles-based Adam Wylie, who starred on the Emmy Award-winning series Picket Fences, practiced the art of prestidigitation were Peter and Gloria Clark, Alan and Lisa Parsons, Nina Terzian, Hiroko Benko, and Joyce Shaar.