SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Amid the historic wildfire disaster now reaching into its second week, Los Angeles cultural institutions are finding ways to lift people up. Elise Hu reports from an iconic castle that is pitching in to the relief effort with a little magic.
ELISE HU, BYLINE: High on a hill in Hollywood sits the Magic Castle, a blue gray Victorian-style mansion. With its curved turrets, it looks like a place an animated princess might call home.
LUKE BILYK: It's one of the greatest places in Los Angeles.
HU: As Luke Bilyk (ph) describes it...
L BILYK: What's the right word for a place that has all hidden doors and everything? Like...
NICOLE BILYK: It's like a labyrinth?
L BILYK: A labyrinth.
BILYK: Yeah.
L BILYK: There we go.
HU: Magicians from all over the world come here to hone their craft and entertain members of the exclusive Academy of Magical Arts. Paul Green practices magic here.
PAUL GREEN: Our clubhouse is very unique in the sense that you have to be invited by a member to come in. Very difficult ticket. We've been doing it for 62 years.
HU: And this special landmark was almost lost to fires last week. The Magic Castle GM is Herve Levy.
HERVE LEVY: If the wind was blowing the wrong direction - or the other direction, I would say, the Magic Castle would be gone.
HU: With the castle still standing, it opened its parking lot to the public, to people like the Bilyk family, displaced by the fires and still unable to return home. Here's Nicole Bilyk (ph).
BILYK: As far as we know, it's still standing. But we don't have any access to it, and we're very concerned that we won't be able to have any belongings come out of that house.
HU: The Bilyks picked up socks and warm clothes from the tables of donations laid out in the lot. Jordana Smith (ph) is a volunteer here.
JORDANA SMITH: It's drive-through service. So each table, if you need anything, we'll pass it to you. Food, paper towels, cleaning supplies, diapers.
HU: This isn't just one of the many donation drop-off and pick-up centers across the county. It's also a community refuge for the day, with an ice cream truck.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Simon, do you want strawberry.
HU: Balloon artists.
UNIDENTIFIED BALLOON ARTIST: And there's your turtle.
HU: And of course, magicians wandering the lot with tricks.
GREEN: Can I do one for you guys? Oh, this is so exciting. I'm glad that you're here. Now, use your regular deck of cards. Go ahead, grab one.
HU: As firefighters continue doing their jobs, battling the flames, entertainers like Paul Green are doing their jobs, too.
GREEN: We all have something that we can give back. We want to put a smile on their face. We want to take them away from their troubles just for a few minutes.
LEVY: I think this is why people love magic right now.
HU: GM Herve Levy.
LEVY: Just a way for them to escape from the world that we are right now to a world where you can actually enjoy and be surprised.
ISABELLE EVANS: Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh.
HU: Reminding crisis-stricken Angelinos that not all surprises are sad ones, and wonder and magic...
GABI EVANS: That was awesome.
I EVANS: That was really, really cool.
G EVANS: I don't even have words for that. That was amazing.
HU: ...Offer something for the soul.
For NPR News, I'm Elise Hu in Hollywood.
(SOUNDBITE OF JEAN CARNE, ADRIAN YOUNGE AND ALI SHAHEED MUHAMMAD SONG, "THE SUMMERTIME") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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