The island of
Manhattan is flanked by the East River on one side and the
Hudson River on the other. If you ride the train north from
Grand Central Station you will follow the tree-lined banks of
the picturesque Hudson River stopping at charming towns and
villages along the way. Just twenty-five miles from New York
City across from the cliffs of New Jersey is one such quaint
little village, the Village of Hastings-On-Hudson.
This is the place that, more than thirty
years ago, Pino Gareri, an Italian immigrant hopped off the
train. He decided to make this delightful little community his
home and start his family there. Barely speaking English, he
opened a small electronics repair shop in 1977. As Pino says
laughingly, "That was before I even had an accent." 
His family grew (two sons, Joseph and Danny,
and a daughter, Angela) and his electronics business flourished,
but it was after seeing the great Italian stage magician Silvan
perform, that Pino discovered an unquenchable passion for magic.
 He
enrolled in George Schindler and Frank Garcia's School for
Magicians. Soon he was studying breathtaking sleights from
Slydini, attending the Chavez School of Magic and mastering the
master classes of Jeff McBride. He attended the Project Magic
classes from David Copperfield as well as studying and receiving
a master's certification in hypnotherapy.
Pino opened a small magic shop in 1994, above
his electronics repair shop, and began what could be called an
enthusiastic hobbyist's career in magic. As his expertise and
love for magic grew so did his need for space. Eventually he
leased a storefront across the main street to accommodate his
part-time magical proprietorship and give him a place to teach
students.
He hired a counter person to mind the magic
shop while he worked in the electronics repair shop. However,
the shop would sometimes become overcrowded. Pino's solution was
to install a small monitoring camera in the magic shop. When the
shop became full of activity, he would quickly lock the doors of
the electronics shop and dash across the busy street. Then after
his sudden appearance, he would perform a quick demo that would
amaze and amuse the customers. Handing them off to the cashier
for checkout, he'd again scurry back across the street to the
repair shop. It was common banter from the other shopkeepers in
Hastings that Pino's eventual demise would be to be run over on
one of those mad dashes between the two shops.
Soon Pino became what we might call a
semi-pro. He became active in the Society of American Magicians,
eventually winning election as president of the Westchester
assembly. He became well known for his passé passé
bottles routine in which he came up with the idea of tying silks
to the bottles. His performing reputation in and around New York
grew as he was soon performing at Monday Night Magic in
Manhattan, Reel to Real at The Lincoln Center and in Salute to
Magic at the Tribeca Theater.
As his inventory grew, (eighty-thousand
dollars worth) so did his abilities, his popularity, and his
number of students. Also growing within him was a dream. He
envisioned a beautiful showroom with hardwood floors and a
crystal chandelier, a close-up gallery filled with magic
memorabilia and a beautiful intimate theater, complete with a
makeup and dressing room (including a shower for performers) and
of course, fully working lights and sound. Someday he would
completely retire his electronics business and become a fulltime
professional magician running the most beautiful magic shop in
the world.
As happens to most in magic, his passion
eventually overtook his otherwise rational thinking. He visited
theaters in Las Vegas and noted their architectural appearance.
He kept files of font types for his signs. He sketched floor
plans and showcase designs. His vision became a blueprint for
actuality as he worked up computer designs for his dream magic
shop. Soon his files were filled with his conceptual
theater/magic shop. Then one day he took the leap of faith and
committed to make his illusion become a reality, to completely "gut"
his electronics shop and build his dream home for magic, The
Magical Arts Centre.
As Jeff McBride once enlightened him, "A
goal is a dream with a deadline." A deadline was set, as
Pino took Jeff's word to heart and booked him to perform at his
theater's grand opening on June 18th, of 2005. Although the date
was nearly a year away, it would come upon Pino much faster than
he ever anticipated.
The chaos began on November 2nd, 2004. Walls
and ceilings were knocked down. Concrete and dust filled the
air. As the weeks turned into months, the interior of the old
electronics shop gradually metamorphosed into something magical.
Life sometimes leads us just where we need to
be, as well as we where are needed. Last May, I was searching
for a location along the Hudson to perhaps open a small magic
bar. It was there, during the sheetrock phase, that I first met
Pino Gareri and witnessed his already-in-progress miracle. We
met for lunch and talked magic. I was amazed by the man's
vision, tenacity, and creative drive and became enthused by his
dream. His contagious smile and old world Italian charm drew me
in much as Slydini would an unsuspecting spectator while he
tossed tissue paper over her head.
There is a line in my novel, The Magic Life,
which reads, "Just begin your quest; the universe will rush
in to help you." I don't know if it is an actual truism or
not, however more often than not, I feel an obligation to live
up to the self-pronounced profundity of my own maxim.
Unfortunately for me, I grew up in the
construction business; sheetrock, plastering, painting, floors,
etc. are all familiar jobs. Being of a generous nature, I (much
to my own chagrin) offered to assist Pino to achieve his lofty
quest in time for the McBride deadline. In exchange I asked for
no more than just for the pleasure of knowing him (and an
occasional turkey sandwich.) Pino quickly accepted my offer,
though his fiancée Jessica responded more like a typical
New Yorker and was a little skeptical about my possible
intentions. Pino had to remind her that not everyone in this
world has a hidden agenda. Be that as it may, the next thing I
knew, I was helping Pino and Jessica pick out the colors. Brown,
yellow and black; they turned out extraordinary, if I do say so
myself.
All of the sudden the contractors were asking
if I were a designer. Somehow Pino got the idea that I was
artistic, so it was on to painting a mural of a moon in a cloudy
night sky.  I
discovered how particular, exacting, and sneaky Pino could be,
as he painted over my self-proclaimed masterpiece in the middle
of the night (it really wasn't very good.) 
For the next month, I would meet Pino each
morning and together we'd down a cup of hot coffee and perhaps
eat an egg sandwich before sweating like real manual laborers in
the yet-to-be-air-conditioned space. The sweating was only
interrupted by the hassle-filled trips to the Yonker's Home
Depot. Then it was on to a huge task of installing floors
alongside my newfound friend Pino. As Mark Twain once stated, "It's
better just to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than
to speak and remove all doubt." When Pino asked me if I
could do the floor, I said, "sure, how hard could it be?"
Well, for an aging, overweight author/
magician with bad knees, it ranges from hard work to almost
excruciating torture. Pino and I both had sore knees for a week.
I hadn't done carpentry for years, so it putting down the floors
took a couple of days longer than we thought it would. After
all, we were learning as we went along. Besides, Pino wanted
every cut to be exact. This later turned out to present a
problem as the flooring swelled from the heat and those
perfectly tight joints had to be re-cut. Eventually though,
perseverance prevailed and we had a beautiful wood floor
throughout the showroom and gallery. It gave us a great feeling
of satisfaction to see the completed floor.
Pino, even throughout this backbreaking
effort, would keep up the appearance of a magician. He always
dressed the part, arriving in his tight black semi-turtle-neck
shirt and black pants. Poking fun at him, I commented that it
would be a lot cooler to work in white. (He may not look cool,
but he'd be cool.) When working off stage, I tend to forget all
about appearance and focus on comfort. Pino was quick to adopt
my sound advice and the next day he arrived in a sleeveless
white tee, looking much more like a construction worker than I'm
sure he'd ever looked in his life.
Oh yeah, it took me a while to get the opera
music changed to some top 40 while we were working too. He loved
his Italian music. I do too, but just not morning, noon, and
night, day after backbreaking day. We had a good laugh over that
one.
The showcases had been custom built and were
installed by the cabinetmakers. Each addition made the space
more exciting. The chandelier was hung in the show room. Then it
was on to building out the theater. Piping for the lights had to
go up and the curtains had to be mounted. Speakers had to be
purchased and a sound system mounted. Bathroom fixtures were
still not installed. 
The amount of work to be done before opening
night was enormous. Even after all the labor was finished, an
occupancy certificate had to be issued by the city. As the
deadline loomed closer and closer, it appeared as though there
were no chance we would have a completed theater in time for
Jeff's performance.
Pino hired a professional lighting designer
to set the show lights, however, we still had to install all the
piping. The ingenuity of magicians never ceases to amaze. We
went through several iterations before deciding on a screwed-on
bracket mounted to the ceiling attached to a piece of threaded
metal. This thread ran into a pipe holder from which the
lighting pipes would hang. Pino became extremely anxious about
finishing in a timely fashion and in order to get everything
done began pulling all-nighters, with his brother, Egidio. As
Pino began to wear down, I began to worry too.
 The
amount of work that goes into creating a working theater is
overwhelming. When the speakers for the stage arrived, they
looked way too large to hang on the walls. Brother Egidio and
son Joseph jumped in to help and miraculously, they hung the
huge professional speakers for a sound system that any theater
would be proud to own. Soon his fiancée Jessica and his
entire family all jumped in to help. With his close-knit Italian
family all involved, I was relieved to see that the theater
would be ready in time for McBride.
The final touches went up on the theater just
a day before Jeff's arrival. Pino proudly attached the lettering
over the entryway as The Pino Gareri Theater was born. However,
a last minute problem reared its ugly head as a used lighting
board blew out. Pino had to take an emergency drive to a
lighting equipment company in New York City, only just making it
before closing time, in order to rent a lighting board for the
event.
The night before Jeff McBride's show, the
magic posters and pictures were still being hung on the walls
and the showcases were being filled. The next day, Jeff and Abbi
McBride arrived for rehearsal on the new stage.
Jeff McBride performed in the new Pino Gareri
Theater, to a packed audience. The theater performance went off
without a flaw that evening. It was a small invitation only gala
event, with special guests. Before the performance McBride and
wife Abbi greeted the patrons and signed autographs. Among them
were several of Pino's best students; Anthony DiFilippi, Karen
Astor and Chris Connelly. "This magic shop looks like it
belongs on Fifth Avenue," stated long time student,
attorney Jeffrey Liebowitz. The next day Jeff gave a full day
workshop in the Centre, with students being able to perform on
the stage. The addition of a small theater, a close-up gallery,
and a video production booth, indeed make The Magical Arts
Centre a shining star among the galaxy of magic shops. 
Pino passed away on October 24 after a
difficult battle with cancer. Though I only knew him for a
couple of years, he became my close friend. Pino taught me more
than I ever knew about how to love life in the present and to
make things happen. He was a great creator and teacher. He had
great respect for magic, great magicians, and great artists. We
are better in this world for having him among us. His many
students will carry on his magic and will remember his words of
encouragement. I hope that this article will share a little of
the Pino I knew, a great friend, with the world.
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