After two years he then handed it off to Houdini himself, whose proprietorship lasted less than a year. In 1917 the magician Carter the Great took over Martinka’s. The top illusionists of the day shopped there, people like Harry Houdini, Howard Thurston, Harry Kellar, Chung Ling Soo, and Alexander Herrmann. It became such a gathering spot for professionals that in 1902 the Society of American Magicians was founded in the back room. with all that know-how in their heads, and opened a 5,000 square foot emporium that contained not just a show room, but also a workshop for devising new illusions and made-to-order set pieces, as well as its own theatre space.

The pair had begun the family trade a decade earlier in their native Germany. in 1877 by brothers Francis and Antonio Martinka. The place where it all began was the legendary Martinka & Co. This is why Tin Pan Alley was in the area-and also several magic shops. For a brief time, Chelsea was New York’s theatre district, as it moved from its previous locus at Union Square to its permanent one in Times Square. Frequently, they double as performance spaces, meeting halls, and museums. Kids get bitten by the bug at magic shops (old timers keep a hand in). Amateurs get to rub elbows with seasoned veterans, and sometimes even world famous legends. They are important cultural centers where practitioners of this ancient art form go to network, swap secrets and tips, show off, encourage each other, and buy, order, and commission supplies. “Keller: Levitation” poster, 1900, via the Billy Rose Theatre Division, NYPL Digital Collections. We thought we would mark the occasion this year with a look at past and present purveyors of magical wares in Chelsea and adjoining areas. It climaxes as always on Halloween, the day on which the great escape artist Harry Houdini passed out of this mortal plane in 1926.

| October 25-31 is National Magic Week, as designated by the Society of American Magicians. 21st St.) is one of the renowned Chelsea area magic shops still present and accounted for.

Harry houdini magic shop