Nuns’ buns bees knees for Murren

What happened in a Rome nunnery didn't stay there. It ended up in Las Vegas, along with Jim Murren's stories about the "nuns' buns."

The outdoor parks incorporated into the $8.5 billion CityCenter were inspired by Murren's stay in the convent in the early 1980s.

The future CEO of MGM Mirage spent a year studying in Rome as a student associated with Trinity (Conn.) College.

While there for classes in art history and urban studies, Murren did a thesis on "pocket" parks and how they enhance a community's quality of life.

From his tiny, spartan room on the cloister campus, which sat atop Aventine, one of Rome's seven hills, Murren had grand vistas of the Circus Maximus, Roman Forum and the Colosseum.

But the room, devoid of decoration, was "so small you couldn't turn around," Murren said.

It was ideal for studying, though, because the nuns were sworn to silence, even when they served food through a door slot.

The food, he said, was "mediocre at best," but the buns the nuns made were a slice of heaven.

"We called 'em 'nuns' buns,'" Murren said.

MAY I RECOMMEND ...

Crystals, the 500,000-square- foot retail and entertainment district at CityCenter, opened to the public at 5 p.m. Thursday. Featured attractions include Beso, the Latin steakhouse venture by Eva Longoria Parker and chef Todd English; a three-story treehouse designed by David Rockwell; a staircase inspired by Rome's Spanish Steps; Glacia (ice forms that grow from a pool of water); the water vortices of Halo; and the two-story Tiffany & Co. store. The Mandarin Oriental has its invitation-only, black-tie event tonight before opening Saturday.

THE SCENE AND HEARD

The behind-the-scenes buzz at CityCenter about two big events: a visit by President Barack Obama, possibly as soon as his Dec. 22 Christmas trip to Hawaii, and Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas is due in next weekend at Aria for the pre-taping of Dick Clark's annual New Year's Eve broadcast with Ryan Seacrest. ...

Rachel Uchitel recently pulled her 1,556-square-foot, ground-floor unit at Turnberry Place off the market after listing it at $1.35 million through Vegas Fine Estates (see photos of the unit at normclarke.com). She purchased it for $820,000 in October 2006 when she was in charge of VIP guests at Tao nightclub at The Venetian. Newsday is reporting Tao's parent company, Buddha Entertainment, had a December 2007 lien against her in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan. It was disposed of in 2008, according to Newsday. ...

Things got doggone interesting Thursday for Kara Kelley, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce. As Nevada's lone representative at the White House for the President's Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth, she met many of the top dogs in D.C., including Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, with Google CEO Eric Schmidt. She even had a chance meeting with First Pup, Bo Obama, and ended up having a tug-of-war game with the leashed Portuguese Water Dog.

SIGHTINGS

Steve Wynn and lady friend Andrea Hissom, checking out Crystals at CityCenter on Thursday. ... French entertainment icon Line Renaud, honored during a party of 70 at Piero's Italian Cuisine on Wednesday. Now 81, she was the featured star of Casino de Paris when the French revue headlined at the Dunes in the 1960s. She went on to become one of France's most honored women as a singer, actress and humanitarian. ... NASCAR star Kyle Busch, at Playboy Club (Palms) at the blackjack tables on Wednesday night.

THE PUNCH LINE

"Tiger Woods just legally changed his name to Cheetah Woods." -- One of the many Woods jokes circulating on the Internet

Norm Clarke can be reached at (702) 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com.