The Majic Wand was going to “forever change the downtown night”, according the Press-Telegram’s optimistic assessment when the laser light art installation debuted in 1992. Actually, it was only going to forever change the downtown night Wednesday through Sunday from about an hour after sunset to 11 pm, and on holidays and during special events. Those were the display‘s original working hours. But it’s been a long time since the Majic Wand lit up a Wednesday night.

The Majic Wand is (was?) a product of Long Beach’s Percent for Arts Program, which is overseen by the nonprofit Public Corporation for the Arts, a collaborative effort of the city’s Redevelopment Agency and the Arts Council. Under the program, redevelopment projects costing more than $500,000 in designed redevelopment areas must invest 1% of the project’s total price in public art or cultural programs. According to the Public Art section of the Art Council’s website, the program has raised over $2 million for art and culture in Long Beach.

The Majic Wand was the art offering of the Janss Corporation, a prominent Santa Monica real estate firm, for its deal to redevelop Pine Square. The commission represented an investment of $184,300, and the corporation was under contract to maintain the Majic Wand for five years.

Unfortunately for the Janss Corporation, it didn’t last those five years. In 1995, the hundredth anniversary of the firm’s founding, it went bankrupt and the company was dissolved.

Tags: , Arts Council of Long Beach, Janss Corporation, lasers, Majic Wand, Percent for Arts Program, Pine Square, public art, Public Arts Program, Rockne Krebs