Photo by Michelle Bruch

Larry Kahlow

By Michelle Bruch

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The Eagle Magic and Joke Store at 301 4th Ave. S. — touted as the country’s oldest magic shop — dates back to about 1899, and this desk has been with the shop since the very beginning. Owner Larry Kahlow said Houdini knew the original shop owner and visited the store in its early years. He likes to imagine prior owners smoking a pipe at the desk with customers, or hunching over the desk producing the shop’s monthly magic magazine that was launched in 1915. He wonders if there are hidden compartments inside, but he’s never taken apart the desk to find out. Someone once offered him $8,000 to buy the desk, but Kahlow said no.

“I wouldn’t sell it for $20,000,” he said. “This is definitely part of the store, and it will continue to be part of the store.”

1 If you push the red buttons on this wand, flames will shoot out either end.

2 This is a card that mysteriously vanished from the deck during a recent trick and ended up in a wallet. It’s currently located on a stand where it would magically appear when a balloon breaks.

3 These brochures, labeled “Silk Sorcery,” feature Kahlow on the cover. They date back to 1975 when he taught magic classes for the Betty Crocker Creative Learning Center. A companion to the brochure was a “Video Cassette” machine. The machine’s manually controlled crank allowed viewers to watch tricks frame by frame in slow motion.

4 Handkerchiefs placed in this box vanish or change color. You can put a red, white and blue handkerchief in the box and pull out an American flag.

5 All of this glue is used for repairing the odds and ends that bust at the shop. “I don’t like to throw anything away,”
Kahlow said. “These are one-of-a-kind things I’m dealing with.”