Holding on to the magic

Mike Swanson

As volunteer firefighter Pren Taylor watched the 1993 fire coming down the canyon from his office in Corona del Mar, not one piece of

the million-dollar collection of magic tricks in his Emerald Bay home

could make it disappear.

By the time Taylor navigated his way through the traffic that

wasn’t allowed to head south from Corona del Mar, Emerald Bay was

ablaze, and Taylor -- a volunteer firefighter for 35 years -- had

more important things to protect than his magic.

“I went straight to Buzz Aldrin’s house,” Taylor said. “He had all

the stuff from the moon there.”

Taylor helped save Aldrin’s house and all of his “stuff from the

moon,” but one of the largest, most valuable collections of magic in

the world, the Prentice Taylor Collection, was reduced to rubble. A

safe containing Taylor’s collection of gold coins, which he’d buried

beneath his house, was all that survived the fire.

Over the last 10 years, Taylor has gotten his magic back, filling

the downstairs section of his home with tricks and gadgets that the

72-year-old enjoys playing with as much as his 12 grandchildren do.

The upstairs section belongs to Jan Taylor, with pictures of kids and

grandkids on walls and tables and nothing looking out of place.

Downstairs, Pren’s magic is all over the place.

“My wife gets on my case about buying all this stuff, but I love

my stuff, and I’m always trying to get more -- as long as it’s good

stuff.” Taylor said. “Everything’s a work in progress. I never finish

doing anything.”

Jan designed the primary part of the home after the fire, but Pren

took over when it came to his magic lair, digging into hillsides

before anything was built to make space for secret rooms behind the

mirrors and walls he envisioned.

An elevator from upstairs takes visitors directly to the gambling

room, and despite its lack of doors, guests will also find rooms for

magic shows, seances and watching movies on a beanbag-covered floor

-- if Pren shows you how to get to them.

His collection now isn’t nearly as valuable as before, but just as

sizable, featuring many of the standards one sees at professional

magic shows. He even has doves just outside the room that houses his

stage.

The process of rebuilding gave Pren the opportunity to do

something he loved all over again -- look for and buy neat things. He

said he missed having his old, valuable collection, but he lights up

showing off his new things, rattling off names of the famous magician

who designed each particular trick.

“I just wish I could remember how to get all these things to work

right,” Pren said. “I did a show not too long ago in Salinas and kept

screwing everything up, but everybody thought I was screwing up on

purpose and it turned into a big comedy act. I guess it was a

success.”

Pren suffered a heart attack about four years after the fire,

which he partially blames on the insurance company that caused him to

increase his smoking habit to three packs a day.

“I couldn’t stand those people,” Pren said. “I had to fight them

for everything. When I asked them for $10,000 for my elevator, they

offered $200 for a rope and a pulley. When I told them I was taking

their offer to the press, they gave me the $10,000. Everything had to

be a threat.”

Pren and Jan, who celebrated their 50th anniversary this year,

rented two houses in Emerald Bay until their new home was finished in

1997. They’ve lived together in Emerald Bay for 40 years.

“As I get my health back, I want to buy more stuff and think more

about practicing,” Pren said. “You have to practice to do magic, and

I didn’t feel like practicing for a long time. I’m coming around

again and feeling more like playing with all the stuff I have as I

try to get more.”

Their house is about 5,000 square feet, the same size as the

original. The floor plan’s essentially the same, but reversed. The

garage is where the front door used to be and vice versa.

“We could do whatever we wanted, so we figured why not? Let’s

flip-flop it,” Pren said. “The only part that’s changed much is my

part. It’s better.”