The Houdini Estate In Los Angeles

Here’s one for fans of the ever-intriguing Harry Houdini – famed magician, illusionist, and escape artist.

Houdini and his wife Bess stayed in the guest house here in 1919 while filming in Hollywood.

Built in the Edwardian tradition in 1915, The Houdini Estate still has the caves, hidden tunnels, terraced gardens, and a deep-water tank where Harry Houdini reportedly practiced his underwater escapes.

Harry Houdini 1874 – 1926

Harry Houdini

Houdini, a Hungarian immigrant to the United States became popular in the vaudeville scene as an escape artist in the 1890’s. Although he lived in various places in the mid-western United States, he made New York City his home base.

However, in 1919, Houdini and his wife Bess moved temporarily to Los Angeles to film a series of movies for Lasky-Famous Players Pictures.

Harry Houdini and his wife Bess

The couple rented the guest house at 2435 Laurel Canyon Boulevard, a house of his friend and business associate, Ralph M. Walker, who owned mansions on both sides of the street, 2335 and 2400, the latter address having a pool where Houdini practiced his water escapes. 2400 Laurel Canyon Boulevard, previously numbered 2398, is presently known as The Houdini Estate. Yes, it is a bit confusing.

But what is important to know, is that the guest house where Harry and Bess actually stayed, is no longer standing. It was destroyed in a fire in the late 1950’s.

After Houdini’s death, Bess returned to the estate and famously threw a party for 500 magicians at 2400 Laurel Canyon Boulevard, and so today, this surviving mansion is known as The Houdini Estate, even though Houdini himself never actually lived in this home.

The Houdini Estate in LA

After decades of being abandoned and falling into a decrepit state, the property was acquired in 2006 by José Luis Nazar, a Chilean/American investor who has restored it to its former glory.

More on that in a bit, but first, back to our favorite illusionist.

The secluded guest house in heavily treed Laurel Canyon was the perfect retreat for America’s most famous escape artist.

Harry Houdini

The estate extended to both sides of Laurel Canyon, connected by tunnels now sealed but still mostly untouched.

The Houdini Estate in LA

Ralph M. Walker’s Mediterranean-style villa had 11 bedrooms, nine baths, a ballroom, a 15-foot stage for musicians, and a ballet room big enough for 10 dancers.

Across the street is where Walker built a four-bedroom guest house, and this is where Houdini and Bess stayed.

The Houdini Estate in LA

Walker and Houdini were good friends — Houdini might have even invested in Walker’s Laurel Canyon Land Co. — and so when the magician came to California in 1919 to film his two feature films The Grim Game and Terror Island, Walker offered up his guest house to Harry and Bess, as well as use of the elaborate estate gardens and grounds.

The Houdini Estate in LA

It is rumored that the guesthouse even had an elevator that went down to a tunnel that ran below Laurel Canyon and came up into the big house grounds.

The Houdini Estate in LA

The Houdini estate has a gorgeous pool – original to the property, albeit refurbished since Harry’s time there.

It is said that Houdini used the estate’s pool to practice his amazing feats of underwater escape until a short time before his death in 1926.

Today, the mansion now called The Houdini Estate earns its keep as an elaborate special events venue, specializing in wedding parties.

Guests are welcome to stroll about the grounds and explore the splendor where Harry and Bess once frolicked.

The main mansion can be rented out for various uses, including filming. It has been elegantly restored and is full of nods to the ill-fated magician.

Houdini once said that Hollywood was his favorite place. The nine months he stayed
at the Laurel Canyon guest house may have been the happiest time in his life.

After filming was done, Harry and Bess returned to New York.

Tragically, Harry would only live a few more years. He died shortly after performing in Detroit, Michigan, from complications of a burst appendix on October 31, 1926, at the age of 52.

In the 1930’s, his widow Bess returned to 2435 Laurel Canyon – Walker’s guest house. There, she conducted séances to try to contact the spirit of her late husband.

In 1959, the Walker mansion guesthouse fell victim to a large fire that ravaged Laurel Canyon.

The remains of the guesthouse were completely demolished in the 1960’s when the hillside was graded back to widen Laurel Canyon Blvd at what had been a nasty hairpin turn.