The Genii Forum

In anticipation of a September trip to these three cities, does anyone have any tips as to magic shops? magic collections worth seeing? or magic shows??
thanks in advance for any ideas. :p

Ken,

I am currently also vacationing in Vienna and grew up here. The largest magic shop is Vienna magic http://www.viennamagic.com/ Depending on who is in the store the service can be good or bad, but a visit is worth it. They also have a few unique items they manufacture themselves.

My local shop is Sinaro in the 10. district http://www.sinaro.at/ You will most of the time find Robert Busina the owner who is knowledgeable, friendly and one of the dealers who speak English. The best way to reach it is with U1 to Reumannplatz and then a few minutes walk. And while you are at Reumannplatz you must get ice cream from Tichy. They have the best soft ice cream on earth, no kidding.

Best,
Chris
www.lybrary.com

I will be travelling to Vienna, Prague and Bratislava (with some as yet undecided stops while driving between them) in November. Are there any suggestions for magic shops or shows?

We went to Vienna Magic, which Chris has mentioned. Also not to far to walk to the amazing Hundertwasserhaus.

Dave

In Budapest, birthplace of Houdini, check out the House of Houdini.

Two other attractions in Budapest that aren't magic, but which most magicians would enjoy:

>>> Hungarian State Circus
>>> Pinball Museum

Here's a link to the page of the Magic Ring of Austria which has info about several museums in Vienna of interest to magicians. The first listing, the Circus & Clown Museum, has no admission fee and is run by a couple of magicians, and includes magic displays and regular performances:
http://www.mra.at/zauberszene/museen/
If you enjoy visiting the graves of magicians, the Central Cemetery has the graves of Hofzinser and Compars Herrmann, among others. Both are being cared for by local magical organizations.
Joker Magic in Budapest has a brick and mortar store and also manufactures original magic. Here's a link to the website:
https://www.jokermagic.com/

In Vienna, maybe a pilgrimage to Doblergasse, a street named after Ludwig Doebler, Hofzinser's mentor (or at least inspiration). Only street anywhere named after a magician (at one time, there's probably others nowadays).

More Vienna info in the December 2005 MUM article "Walking in Vienna".

observer wrote:In Vienna, maybe a pilgrimage to Doblergasse, a street named after Ludwig Doebler, Hofzinser's mentor (or at least inspiration). Only street anywhere named after a magician (at one time, there's probably others nowadays).

Vienna also has a Hofzinsergasse and a Kratky-Baschik Weg. Possibly others that I don't know about... Google maps shows the Kratky-Baschik Weg is in the Prater Amusement park, where he had his own theater (later run by Ottokar Fischer). Fans of the movie "The Third Man" will recognize the park as the site of the Ferris Wheel that has a memorable scene in that movie (the Wiener Riesenrad)

observer wrote:In Vienna, maybe a pilgrimage to Doblergasse, a street named after Ludwig Doebler, Hofzinser's mentor (or at least inspiration). Only street anywhere named after a magician (at one time, there's probably others nowadays).

Houdini St., Henderson, NV
Blackstone Ave. and Abbott St., Colon MI
Rue Robert Houdin, Paris
Senor Wences Way, NY, NY (Wikipedia says there are streets named after him in Spain, as well)

And Steve Beam nearly got a bunch of streets named after magicians in Raleigh, NC, but that was shot down.

Is Doblergasse the first street known to be named after a magician though?

"1907 wurde nach ihm im 7. Wiener Bezirk eine Strasse benannt (Doblergasse) ..." http://www.zauber-pedia.de/index.php?ti ... %C3%B6bler

That's gotta beat the Blackstone, Abbott, and Senor Wences candidates, and if I read Wikipedia right Henderson Nev. didn't even exist in 1907 so Houdini St. is out too.

Hofzinser ... "Hofzinsergasse (16) benannt (12. Juni 1978 Gemeinderatsausschuss fur Kultur) nach Johann Nepomuk Hofzinser" appears to indicate that street name is relatively recent. https://www.wien.gv.at/wiki/index.php/Hofzinsergasse

There's apparently a whole pile of streets named after Robert-Houdin in France, if anyone wearies of chasing after Erdnase they might like to try checking if any of them predate 1907.

I suppose that if ever there were an Elmsley Street, it would have four houses, numbered 1, 2, 4, 1

Dave Le Fevre wrote:I suppose that if ever there were an Elmsley Street, it would have four houses, numbered 1, 2, 4, 1

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