After the wonderful experience of Nevada City, my next stop was San Francisco. Most of americans and non americans say it’s one of their favourite cities along with New York, so I had to stop by if I was near. From Nevada City to San Francisco it’s about 3 hours by car.

I stopped at Stokton that’s close by, to visit some family friends. I was received by Maruja, a cook goddess. She had pancakes with manjar for me! What a great way to remember my country while I’m away. I had an incredible time and I could rest a lot.

My new contact was Inger, who lives in the Berkeley area towards San Francisco’s Bay. The road to her place reminded me a little to the transition from Valparaíso to Viña del Mar (you have to have in mind that California has many similar places to Chile, specially to Chile’s pacific coasts)

Inger is an unbelievable person, psychologist, and shares her home with international students, therefore relates amazingly with young people. I had the luck that when I was able to visit her she wasn’t busy and toured me around San Francisco.

We initially crossed along the Bay Bridge. My eyes were stunned, it was prettier than what I imagined. There was a kind of fog bording the city, it made it look even more mystic. The bridge was gigantic, I’d never been on one as big as that one; with 6 rows of cars. The huge buildings around the infinit green zones of trees and parks made it look like the perfect contrast.

Then we got to the Golden Gate Park, a stunning place. This park made me remember the great cities I visited in Europe. It`s huge, full of people in bikes, running, doing all kinds of sports. Here you have different museums and recreative areas. Besides there were huge masive concerts (for instance just when I left they were doing Woodstock revival, to conmemorate the festival of the 60-80’s).

After we crossed the park we arrived to the Pacific coast. To admire the lovely blue of the ocean, we went to a steep surrounded by trees (west zone of Lincoln Park) were the ocean entered into the bay (the so called South Bay). I was in love with this place! Amazing!

Inger invited me a drink at the Cliff house, an exclusive restaurant (as for it’s view and prices). We saw the sunset.

The return was overwhelming, the Golden Gate Bridge is just as kids woud describe it, “WOW”. Besides if you park next to it’s exit you can appreciate the Bay from the side of the famous Alcatraz Island.

The next days I went all around the city. I went to Twin Picks, the tallest place in the city, were you can stare at the best view. To arrive there you have to pass through “Gay de Castro St.” Famous all around the world for being one of the pioneer places for homosexual free expresion. (Watch “Milk” the movie).

Apart from that I went to museums, really nice ones, were there were contemporary arts (see pictures) different from the ones seen on the old continent.

Thanks to Inger I went to a Country concert (performed by Chris Smither), which I loved. I’d never been on one before.

Berkeley University caught my attention. The campus it’s towards the San Francisco Bay, for you can imagine the view. I think it’s a pleasure to study in such a place.

In gratitude I did what I best know, Magic for Inger and her friends. We we had an awesome time.

For me San Francisco is one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever been. Unfortunately I only spent 4 days in it, so I hope I can come back pretty soon.

My journey had to continue. My friend Howard Hamburg was waiting for me in L.A to go to entertainment city; Las Vegas.

A huge hug for Inger and her buddies. Thanks for everything!

Julian

Here are the details of the place:

Neighborhood: SoHo
33 Crosby St
New York, NY 10002

My friend Brandon (who I met in Prague) organized this venue for me, and I had the chance to do magic to his friends, colleagues and partners.

I had a wonderful time showing some classic effects of magic and some of my own. There was a lot of humor, and I hope everyone had a good and Magical Time!

Enjoy the Pictures

Nevada City/Lake Tahoe/Grass Valley

Of the first and second week I want to emphasize a great friend I met, Rafael Benatar. He had no idea of who I was, but obviously I knew who he was. A great Venezuelan musician (guitarist), who by a twisted fate and aproximately about 20 years ago decided to dedicate to the study and improvement of magic in Madrid. Surrounded by the best school and magicians of Spain.
On the first week he was doing some Close-ups, leaving everyone charmed by his elegance, grace and great administration of the cards. A real master.
In the middle of every show, I stayed with Howard playing cards, were we shared new ideas, and besides, he taught me some special effects. I felt really lucky of being there.
Apart from that, Howard always told me these Amazing experiences he had with big exponents of Magic, and how they had their “comical moments”. While all of this occurred, famous magicians like David Williamson, Shoot Ogawa, John Carney, Mike Rozek, Yigal Mesika, Losander, Derek Del Gaudio, Derek Hughes, Luna Shimada, Chad Long, etc., came near by to salute and share with Howard, and at the same time I got to spend with them! I couldn’t believe it; I was in the perfect place for magic, sharing with the big ones. I felt honoured and content of being able to experience those moments.

I remember that among Rafael Benatar and Howard, we did magic to some people that approached us saying “Are you magicians? can you do as Magic?”, and we three played magic leaving the audience shocked.
While I learned games and listened stories, I told Howard that I wanted to go to Vegas, if by any case he knew any magician that lived there, so that I could go an visit. He said he obviously knew some, and that he had recently been there with Dani Daortiz (marvellous magician from Spain, and lately been in “Atacamágica”, Chile), and other friends. As a joke I asked him if he would go again to join me, but he said no, that it was too soon to go again.
The truth is this week I ended up begging Howard to come with me to Vegas, I tried to persuade him saying we would have an awesome time watching shows, and that he could introduce me to other magicians. I finally convinced him!
We agreed that after I came back from San Francisco, I would pick him up in L.A, and we’d be going to Vegas for one week.
That’s how it was; with much luck I could enjoy plainly my journey to L.A, thanks to the incredible Magic Castle.

A big hug to my new buddies, we’ll surely be in touch.

Julian

PD: I am sorry I couldn´t take pictures (But you aren´t allowed inside the Castle)
I am loading videos and related stories here

After Madrid I spent three days in Paris, where I had the chance to see my favorite band, Dream Theater (see the pic); as well as take a big rest before catching the plane towards the United States of America.

U.S.A
Before arriving, I had problem at Dallas airport customs, here is the scenario:
“Hi Sir, where are you from?”
…..I replied ”From Chile ”
“Until when are you staying in the US?”
“15 of December” (this was the 7th of October)
“That´s a long time, where are you staying?”
“Mmm I am going to visit friend and family, in different states”
“mmm Sir, you better come with me…”
So they took me to a room where there were many different people, mainly Arabs and Latin-Americans. After a long interrogation, and a call to my friend Camilo in L.A. they let me through! I was really scared!
Los Angeles,

WHAT a city! Enormous. It is hardly possible to walk around (I really mean it´s impossible). Nothing like European cities, but in a way I found very interesting.

Camilo picked me up at the airport. He is a very good friend from school, and I haven´t seen him in almost 8 years! I was really happy to catch up with him. I stayed three nights at his house and then moved to a place near Beverly Center (shopping mall), the house of my friends Lila and Tephy.
Even though staying at a very central spot, where most of nightlife took place, I was troubling exploring without a car. Thus, on October 10th, I rented a car for a month.

With my new car (a PT Cruiser), I got to explore a little more of this nice, but big city (even bigger than Santiago!!), where most Hollywood movies are made. Just to mention, I explored Venice beach, went down town to visit a Hospital with Lila, had a wonderful night with cousins at Main St, Santa Monica, and even was able to do a little magic at my good friend from Punta del Este, Jesse’s birthday.

It was also great when some buddies of mine that I met in Venice (Italy), invited me to play Poker at their house. Special thanks to Dan and Tony.

Here is an interesting story….

As a magician I really wanted to get in the Magic Castle, and see with my own eyes why it is considered the ultimate sacred place for magicians to gather. Professor Dai Vernon and many other historical magicians shared intense moments of wisdom in this place.

The problem was that you need to get invited by a member! I didn´t know any member, so what was I to do? Well I thought maybe if I go to a magic store, I would meet a member, and get invited. So I went to the first store, but no person had any invitations. A nice guy told me to go to another store where most of the magicians gather up, and that wasn´t that far (in L.A “that” sounds pretty scary, it may mean a long distance!).
After a ride I arrived to this nice shop called “The Magic Apple”, there I saw three people playing with cards (in a magic shop this means “magicians”). Brent, the owner asked me if I needed anything in particular and I said, “Can you invite me to the Magic Castle?” where he replied that he only had the “paid” invitations (where you are obliged to pay for dinner). I was happy with this offer and stayed playing for a while.

I met a good friend, Magician Michael. He came with me out to lunch (near the store), where we had an exchange about “marketing ourselves as magicians”. We had a similar view on the subject and enjoyed our lunch (the pizza was great by the way).

I was about to leave, when Michael told me to return to the store, so that maybe I would meet other magicians.

In fact as we went into the Magic Apple, there was this friendly guy in his late sixties playing with cards very well. “Do you want to see a magic trick?” he said, and he showed me an amazing card trick, I´ve never seen anything like it before (in my short magician´s life). His name is Howard Hamburg, and really I had no clue who he was. I showed him some stuff of mine and he found it pretty interesting. After a while he asked me “Do you have anything to do tonight? Want to join me to the Magic Castle?” I was so happy, “Of course I want to go!” I replied.

After many laughs, I learned that Howard Hamburg was a student and very good friend of Dai Vernon (for nearly 30 years!), he was also friend of Larry Jennings and many other unbelievable magicians. I was simply astonished.

And that’s how I ended going to the Magic Castle (see the Magic Castle Post here).

I need to give special thanks for Lila and Tephy, Camilo and all of the friends I met during this 12 days in L.A.

Sorry for not taking many pictures this time, it´s mostly my fault, I forgot the camera almost every time, and in the Castle you can´t take pictures.

After Valencia, I took a bus to the Capital Madrid, where I got together with Adrian Castilla (a good friend from school). I was very lucky, Adrian was staying in an apartment right in the very center of the City, near one of the places I was going to perform Magic in.

I was really excited to be in Madrid, because many great magicians have passed by this city. The Magnificent Juan Tamariz and his school (or his daughter’s school) is still active.

Madrid is a beautiful place to live. It is the third more populous city in the European Union and it is considered to be the major financial center of the Iberian Peninsula (along with Barcelona).
Thanks to Adrian I got a Madrid map with a planned tour (it had the marked lines of the same route Adrian took when he arrived), and simply started to explore since day one.

I was enchanted by the preserved architecture you get to see everywhere. This city has many green areas and plazas, making it a lovely peaceful place (especially for tourism!).

As in Valencia, Madrid has different architectonic influence. In the 9th century Mohammed I, constructed the first Palace (where nowadays the Palacio Real is Located). The palace was built overlooking the River Manzanares, which the Muslims called Mayrit (meaning source of water), and in time after Alfonso VI and his descendents built the Palacio Real, the word turned to “Madrid”.

The city has a baroque style, which makes it look very monarchic. The plazas maintain a Muslim influence that you can notice because they hide behind 4 walls the amazing interior content (such as the Plaza Mayor, which just by walking touring can be difficult to find, but once you do, the marvelous huge scenario simply astonishes.

You can find many green areas everywhere. The “Parque del Retiro”, is enormous, never the less, each spot of the parkland can amaze you. Gorgeous details are everywhere such as blue birds trying to compete for chestnuts (which are all over the place).

I really enjoyed the tour, and ended right near the “Escuela mágica de Ana Tamariz”, the famous school where most of great magicians have passed, or teach. Sadly for me it was closed.

Trying to reach other magicians, I learned about a mysterious place called la Cripta Mágica. This is an astonishing, remarkable and passionate devoted place to magic, where everyone can go and be hallucinated by an intimate, personal show (depending on the magician that work the day you assist), and apart from that discover many mysteries of magic and learn from historical facts what has happened in the magic world. I really recommend this to everyone!

In this place I met Ramón the Owner, and Mentalist Magician Greca who was performing, whom with his show, remind me of what I felt when I got first into magic. Simply shocking! After the show we had some drinks and shared knowledge, about MAGIC, learning many useful things for my career.

Apart from exploring the city I also perform magic events (press here to see the events pictures and post) for public and for friends that I meet in the nightlife.

I had a wonderful time and experience, and I really need to thank Adrian and his friends, for making my stay in Madrid, a beautiful memory.

I look forward to coming back and being able to meet more magicians and new friends.
Enjoy the pics here

Julian