Hey, this is Curious City digital producer Maggie Sivit.

And we got a question about the history of Chicago Magic.

Now, I know someone who really likes magic.

Her name is Ari Mejia.

She's the audio and community storytelling producer over at Vocalo, our sister station.

So I reached out to her a little while ago to see if she could help me answer this question.

Hey, Maggie.

Hey, Ari.

It's true.

I love magic.

So before you and I started working on this story together, I really hadn't seen a lot of magic.

But I had been to

the Chicago Magic Lounge. I'd actually wandered into the magic lounge for the first time some

months ago. I was out with a friend. It was like 11 p.m. and we were figuring out next moves,

you know, was that kind of thing. And he was like, do you want to go see some magic? And I said,

what? Magic? Like at a bar?

Um, yes, please. Wow. Yeah. So he took me to this spot on the north side that from the outside

looked like a laundromat. And you enter through a dryer. I'm not even kidding.

Once you get inside, you walk into a beautiful, old-timey kind of bar. There's dark walls,

velvet curtains, and someone is doing card tricks right there at the bar. Beyond the bar is

another secret entrance in the library,

and that opens up into a theater. By a pause, how many of you are here for the first time?

...