Hotels
Nightclub, lounge scene heats up to attract beautiful people
By Doug Elfman
REVIEW-JOURNAL
In the past year, so many new fantastical nightclubs and chic lounges have opened that they could end up cannibalizing each other. They all serve a core audience of fashion-plate customers who prowl for the latest, hot place to dance or stand around in.
In the course of three months, recently, that finite but large group of clubgoers' wallets was targeted by a handful of clubs that cost millions to build.
In November, the Palms opened and debuted its Rain in the Desert nightclub, a round room that doubles as a concert hall. And on the 55th floor of the Palms, ghostbar opened, focusing its sights on the lounge crowd, featuring furniture that implies James Bond drinks there. A remarkable view of the city resides there, too, via three Plexiglas walls that overlook the glittery Strip. And ghostbar's large balcony gives the Rio's VooDoo Lounge competition for a locale to view the city from up high.
The next month, Green Valley Ranch opened in Henderson and it debuted the Whiskey Sky bar, which is part-lounge, part-club. Whiskey Sky's decor -- white floors, bubbly lounge furniture, '50s-tinged chandeliers -- seems like a 1960s version of the future, a la James Bond shaken into "2001: A Space Odyssey."
The buzz on Whiskey Sky became intense. One of its weaknesses was also a strength. The club is a long drive for residents of the northern parts of the valley. But that also keeps it from becoming forever overrun, which most certainly would have happened had it opened on the Strip.
Then in January came Light at the Bellagio. Light made news on "Entertainment Tonight," with this year's biggest celebrity turnout for a new club so far. Sting was at Light's debut, and so were Leonardo DiCaprio, Charlie Sheen, Denise Richards, Robert Downey Jr., Courteney Cox Arquette, David Arquette, David Spade, Tara Reid, David Blaine, Lucy Liu and Matt LeBlanc.
There were other competitors in the lounge market, thanks to the opening last fall of the comfy seats-retro scene at the Venus Lounge at The Venetian. The semisecretive feel of the lounge's old-school Vegas makes it the only hotel lounge on the Strip that comes close to approximating the winking coolness of the perennial Las Vegas confidential spot, the Peppermill.
The Venetian itself has been lounge-centric, lately. The hotel's intimate, chichi V-Bar attracts men who use money-clips and women in light-colored sunglasses wearing Jennifer Aniston's hairstyle.
All of the new lounges have to compete against yesteryear's favorites, such as The Venetian's other lounge, Jack's Velvet Lounge. And new clubs must compete with original hot spots such as the electronic leader Club Utopia, and with established hotel clubs such as Studio 54 in the MGM Grand and rumjungle at Mandalay Bay.
On the horizon, there's more to come. The Palms is opening a nightclub experience called Skin at its pool area.
This gorge of nightclubs and futuristic retro lounges has been a burgeoning trend for several years, as TV viewers frequently find out by watching E! Entertainment, the Discovery Channel, and other likely and unlikely entertainment shows.
The deal is, clubs keep customers in hotels, they draw media attention and they emit a degree of coolness. As a result, nearly every hotel wants one. Even Barbary Coast lets Drai's transition from an eatery to a tumultuous club in the wee hours.
But the glut means the flavor of the year has become the flavor of the month. And the flavor of the month has become the flavor of the week.
Remember the grand opening of Shadow: A Bar at Caesars Palace? That was in June. Coyote Ugly at New York-New York? That was in November. Hush at the Polo Towers? December. Each of those clubs has seniority, so to speak, over even newer clubs. Which new lounge or club will have instant seniority next season? Or next week?
