Sh*t You May Have Missed Over Tear-Soaked Pancakes


It’s Sh*t You May Have Missed for the week ending 2/10/2017.

Hey, all! BizAZMarty here with a full stack (sad grin here for Du-par’s…scroll down to our stories if you missed it) of weekly news about our favorite place, Las Vegas!

1. Hot off the bankruptcy judge sign-off, Caesars is buying property again, read LVRJ here. This time it’s those run down apartments (French Villas) just to the south and east of the LINQ. Purchase price $10.95m. So soon, more parking lot…and in this case probably an improvement. I still remember when you could stay at Harrah’s and look down out the back of the hotel in what is now the Valley tower and see all those apartments that used to be cheap for the employees of the casino/hotels. Now it’s just going to be a big parking lot. Owners of the French Villa had a chance to sell back before the Great Recession and didn’t so this is probably just bailing out since they were down to just one building occupied before the sale. At one time, Harrah’s (pre-Caesars Entertainment purchase) was going to tear down from Bill’s Gambling Hall through Harrah’s and build a mega resort. My how times have changed. Now if they would show the planned renovation of the Flamingo somewhere somehow (and not just carpet). I also think they could use that land to build out new (since they are charging now) paid parking garages and then gut and use the old parking garage space for LINQ and Harrah’s for some expansion/convention spaces. Anything to eliminate the public views of the existing LINQ parking garage floods that occur yearly when water magically falls from the sky (desert joke…).

2. Penn Gaming posts a surprise positive earning for 4th Q. Read LVRJ here. An interesting tidbit in there is why the new Irvine restaurant hasn’t started that build-out on the Tropicana/Las Vegas Blvd corner. They are on hold due to the Pedestrian Escalator/Walkway work on the corner by the state of Nevada. I believe they may have shifted Irvine’s restaurant over to near where the old SportsBook was.

3. Also speaking of Penn Gaming, the Tropicana has re-opened the Biscayne restaurant, read EATER Vegas here. I really think any changes are very subdued and probably mostly cosmetic except they’ve expanded the menu a bit.

4. Downtown casinos have a much better year over year improvement than most of Las Vegas in returns, read LVRJ here. Several Downtown casino execs in a panel were discussing what and how they do it differently from the other and if you read it, that’s a valid statement because they all do something different from each other. Derek discusses what is upcoming for his recently purchased casino/land in downtown, the La Bayou space will house 100 more slot machines for a Golden Gate expansion. Vital Vegas has a shot of the Golden Gate expansion construction work via his Twitter feed here. You can also hear the full audio of the panel on the Vital Vegas podcast episode 40.5 here.

5. Speaking of Derek, there was a little tidbit in there about a new Downtown Festival, and somehow I never saw the LVRJ article on Jan 30, but here goes. Las Rageous Heavy Metal Festival, read LVRJ here. The lineup looks great….they have to keep the attendance down, but the lineup may challenge that a bit. April 21st and 22nd…Friday and Saturday night. If you are staying downtown and are facing the festival area, expect some sleepless nights depending on weather and sound volume of the bands. Interesting timing because that’s the weekend after Easter so spring breakers who are coming may be planned for.

6. Planet Hollywood Casino has finally revamped the old Pussycat Dolls Lounge as the Cabaret Show Lounge. It looks like they now have a midnight and later party as well as Thursday is Go Go Thursday while Friday and Saturday is ’90s Funk Party and they all start after midnight. There are shows as well like Comedy and Dolls (nightly at 9 PM) and We Got Jokes (Tuesday at 10:30 PM). For those looking for something less expensive to party late night, both Thursday Fri/Sat parties are showing No Cover. Read for yourself here. I am sure this is up on the mezzanine level…but could be interesting as there are some hidden nuggets up there (Sin City Theater, Diamond Lounge, Strip House (steaks not stripping), Koi, The Chapel as well as all the business conference rooms are up there). It’s a really huge space up there. I think this is the space that was carved off the old Prive nightclub when they put the Gallery nightclub in. So old tenants are Pussycat Dolls and Crazy Girls (the Cigar Lounge I think)….I sense a theme here.

7. Paul Steelman who is known as a casino resort architect is getting into skill based gaming with a new business named Competition Interactive LLC…he’s already won approval from the Gaming Control Board, next up is the Gaming Commission on Feb. 23. Read LVRJ here. Oh and he’s still doing architecture projects worldwide, see some of the nicer stuff here. The Resorts World pictures for LV are nice in there.

8. Boy IGT is having a fun payout month, the 2nd Wheel of Fortune jackpot hit by a Pennsylvania man at The Cosmo for $1.08M also on a $1 machine. Read LVRJ here. LVSun here.

9. Want to work at the upcoming Latin-themed Chica restaurant at the Venetian? LVRJ has info as hiring is expected to start in March here. I suppose an article on the new not yet opened restaurant is better than just putting in an ad for hire in your own paper. Just saying because you know Adelson owns LVRJ now.

10. South Point sportsbook was robbed of all days on Super Bowl Sunday, the perp was captured and is now also being charged with attempted murder in another crime at a 7/11, oh and South Point got all the money back (what no evidence lockup?). Read LVRJ here.

11. Wow, just wow. If you flew Allegiant or Frontier into McCarran and found something missing from your luggage, this may be why. The outsourced company that handles baggage for those two airlines might have some ‘xplainin’ to do. Read LVRJ here.

12. Tony Sacca honored by the Las Vegas famous, read Kats @ LVRJ here. Personally, the Rich Little story is perhaps the best of the lot…a professional that totally unleashes off set. A true professional, he will be missed, and a lot of people attended and commented. LV Sun gallery here as well.

13. One Night for One Drop has its elder statesman actor to accompany with Brian Dewhust’s usher-clown, it’s William Shatner (you know Capt. Kirk) read Kats here…..and scroll down for some Caesars / Base Entertainment vs. Absinthe goodness. They will play at least four more months at Caesars Palace, and then hopefully the court will decide where they will be next (either still in the SpiegelTent or moving to Rose, Rabbit, Lie at The Cosmopolitan).

14. One of the more funny and romantic stories out of Las Vegas, you know that meet and great session you can get for Celine Dion? This is getting your money’s worth out of it, read Robin @ LVRJ here. This could be one of the best MasterCard commercials ever. Buy a Ring–check; purchase Meet and Greet with Celine–check; drop to one knee in front of Celine and propose to girlfriend and have Celine photobomb and ask if she can come to the wedding – PRICELESS.

15. Britney Spears’ Piece of Me show at Planet Hollywood has cleared the $100M earnings mark and new shows have been added. Read Forbes here. She is extending shows into Fall, and after that, she will have to decide to continue the residency or do a world tour. After the AXIS theater rebuild just for her show I’d think she’d be wanting to stay….but hey you have to create buzz somehow for the newly announced shows. I wonder what she will plan since her niece is in critical condition after an ATV accident. Those type of events tend to cause life changing strategies.

16. Brent Musburger’s new VSIN.com studio opened at South Point Sportsbook, looks nice read LVSun here.

17. Speaking of Sportsbooks, they finally had a winning weekend after the SuperB Owl. Read LVSun here. I’d think that 1.1M bet on Atlanta to win and clear the 3 pt spread is a big part of that. And to the person that made that bet…first half: dreams of things to buy, second half: Oh no, heartbreak! Overtime: OMG I have to contact my financial advisor, right?

18. Interesting, Trump’s ban on travel to the US for specific nations seems to be having no effect on McCarran visitor numbers. Read LVSun here. Wait until Australia is added to the list.

19. Beer Park at Paris got the Clydesdales for SuperB Owl, see the LVSun gallery here. I’ve seen quite a few of their parades, and I always feel sorry for the guy following behind collecting “road apples.” Magnificent horses though and always good to see them still performing even after ABInBev mergers have them controlling like 80% of the world’s beer brands…and why the tap count at Beer Park is fairly high.

20. EDGE Vegas has which sportsbooks are getting renovations here. For Wynn, moving the sportsbook to Encore during construction at Wynn is a no brainer, but for Monte Carlo best bet is probably to go through the hallway to Aria or cross The Park to NYNY as both are run by MGM as well.

21. Hidden Gem of an article for sure…and one of the items is a great bargain if you are at PH for a bit of time. AAA discounts abound in Las Vegas, read EDGE Vegas linked the article here. We get the discount book for Miracle Mile shops almost anytime we spend a good amount of time at PH. Just because it’s kinda fun finding ways to eat/shop/see shows with a discount there…just need to go to that back Miracle Mile counter near Ketchup and present a current AAA card to get the book.

22. With Valentine’s Day upcoming EATER Vegas has a good list of romantic restaurants in Las Vegas here.

23. EATER Vegas also has the top 10 candy stores in Las Vegas here. Speaking of Ethel M’s they should be putting up their lights for Valentine’s Day (pink, white, red lights) on the cactus for the tour…not sure how long that goes for but at least should last until next Tuesday.

24. Vital Vegas has some great shots of the Palace Station Phase I construction ongoing. If I remember they will take out the old non-tower motel sections eventually and build a big tower there in a later phase (i.e. if and when North Strip sees building start). See for yourself here.

25. Vital Vegas has probably the best picture of the fanaticism of Chick-fil-A, see this shot of the line here. That is like the In-N-Out line; it was huge when they first opened in Las Vegas. Now they are in Las Vegas and opening multiple locations. Let’s tally: White Castle, Steak-N-Shake, Shake Shack, Wahlburgers, In-N-Out plus your standard fare all open. That pretty much just leaves Whataburger left to open in Las Vegas (classic A&W is in Boulder City). Oh and for God’s sake if you are in San Diego near Pacific Beach this MUST COME TO LAS VEGAS, The Baked Bear…must, must, must come to Las Vegas. Ice Cream Sandwich heaven. Chocolate Chip cookies with Bear Batter Ice Cream dipped in either sprinkles or mini M&M’s. How this is in Reno, Sparks and soon to open in South Lake Tahoe and not in Las Vegas, I’ll never know. I’d say it’s a perfect replacement for say Ketchup at Miracle Mile shops.

And so I’ll bid adieu and hand you all off to our Editor-In-Chief Michael Movestro for our news (Du-par’s GG cafe closing NOOOO) and other items of note.

Thanks, BigAzMarty! I was told by Mr. EdgeVegas, Marc Meltzer himself, that the pancakes at Suncoast’s Du-par’s are just as good as the ones formerly at Golden Gate, he says the coffee is better too. I might have to check it out.

Hey, peeps! Here are the stories we brought you this week:

26. The weeks started with Episode 28 of the Vegas Bright podcast, here.

27. Blonde4ever visits the Neon Museum and notices pleasant changes since her last visit.

28. I look at Harrah’s completed renovation of The Piano Bar and share the lineup.

29. I shared news on Copper Whisk replaces Courtyard Cafe at The Orleans. We look at steak and egg options…it won’t be $6.99

30. Saddened, I shared the news of Du-par’s closure at Golden Gate. Will pancakes in Vegas ever be the same? Yes, but at Suncoast.

31. Sammasseur is back as a contributing author, he details major updates to Wynn’s long-running signature production…Le Reve.

That’s it for this week, we’ll see you next week!

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