Sh*t You May Have Missed… Like New York-New York Getting Robbed

Hey all, BigAZMarty here with this week’s news about our favorite place, Las Vegas! 

1) This just missed the cutoff last week and I promised it would be in this weeks, Lucky Dragon has closed up the Casino and Restaurants (excluding Cha Garden) for a “re-org”, Hotel is still open (probably for convention purposes since this week is CES and room rates are astounding this week).  LVSun reported on it here. I saw it here first, but everyone reported it within like 5 minutes of each other so could have been Vital Vegas or Eater Vegas with it first, I’m not sure.  I believe as do others that another gaming company with an established customer database should come and take over the property, hotel, restaurants as well as casino.  What I wonder is how Andrew Fonfa who gave up the site of the 2nd Allure tower to be possibly the CEO of a defunct casino/hotel feels now that Las Vegas real estate is heading back to normal health.  Remember he built this on the recommendation of the Allure condo owners.  If this eventually folds those EB-5 investors will not be getting that Green Card either nor their investment back.  If they can float the hotel long enough for the casino and restaurants to be re-org successfully then more power to them, I think 6 months closed is way more time than it should take.  Perhaps they should examine what made Barbary Coast and O’Shea’s successful and follow that model as it is a small casino….or maybe contact Derek at The D and sell him a partnership.  I could see a rebrand as the Lucky D’s you know Golden Gate/The D style entertainment.  Would that work for you?  Cheap beer, a big VP center bar, cheap food and lots and lots of eye candy…maybe some upstairs beer pong?  For ladies shirtless male Flair Bartenders?  Oh and Free Parking and no Resort Fee and a boatload of free coupon books.

2) The item in #1 also triggered this item, due to the closure of Lucky Dragon Casino, the SLS is finishing up the sale to Merulo Group (who suddenly has it on their Hospitality Site now), but not expected to take ownership until sometime in Feb. read from Vital Vegas here.  I happen to like SLS, but until the rest of the North Strip gets built out it needs a big draw to get people in there.  I was in there on 4th of July weekend in 2015 and it was very slow except near FireFox Dayclub.

3) LVCVA has broken ground on the new $1.4B expansion that will take up a lot of the space at the old Riviera all the way back to the existing convention center.  All in the name of competition, read LVRJ here.  Key here is the 2021 CES will be the first show in the newly expanded convention center.  Better get those buildings/lakes finished up soon, Resorts World, Wynn, Project Blue and All Net Resort and Arena.  LVSun has the actual gallery of the groundbreaking here.

4) Well, this is just nuts, Mandalay Bay staff had at least 10 interactions with A$$HAT shooter prior to Oct. 1.  And they STILL didn’t see anything suspicious? Really?  Read LVRJ here.

5) And of course, after that revelation, the 32nd floor (as well as all other floors that were temporarily closed down) are now back in play except for A$$HAT room (pulled from hotel inventory) at Mandalay Bay read LVRJ here.  Good news is according to the article the staff are all back to full-time status and all floors and restaurants are back open.  You didn’t think they’d keep that all closed up through CES did you?  Especially at $2K a night.  Good news for staff though, hopefully, convention traffic will remain positive at that location.

6) Want to work at MGM (multiple resorts) or Hard Rock at Rehab over the summer?  Read LVRJ here for MGM info and here for Hard Rock Rehab info here.  They tend to call these casting calls so avoid the casting couches if you know what I mean.  UPDATE: LVSun via Vegas Inc. has a full list of a wide variety of Vegas Resorts hiring for summer here.  Remember for these positions you will need to remain at your hired weight, but odd that some of these positions go down into the needing a work permit (16 and up).

7) Got nothing to do this upcoming weekend? Head down to House of Blue’s at Mandalay Bay and get your Manson Black on as Marilyn Manson is back performing again live, read LVSun via LasVegasMagazine here.  Still, think he would be perfect to attempt another Soft Cell song remake since Trent Reznor did Tainted Love already and I think Marilyn would glam it up more…maybe a different song off the same album perhaps?  You know which one I’m talking about.  He also performs a killer rendition of “This is Halloween” from the Nightmare before Christmas.

8) While not in Las Vegas, Atlantic City may have another new opening in 2018 (not a new building mind you but a sale and an opening with another name).  Straub has sold the Revel and it may re-open as Ocean Resort Casino.  This will join the former Trump Taj Mahal (soon to be Hard Rock Atlantic City) in re-opening it’s doors as a re-imagined new place.  Read LVSun here.  What I find interesting is that the original owner made two mistakes, one catering to Wall Street types instead of day to day gamblers and second a hideous power plant agreement that cost a fortune to have onsite.  If I remember Straub broke the power issue by running power from the Showboat side onto the normal city grid.

9) MarC of EDGeVegas has a concise schedule of Cirque shows for 2018 here.  If you have never been to a Cirque show I’d recommend starting at the best starter show which is Mystere at TI.  I’ve seen Mystere, Beatles LOVE and for the latter you may want to see it a couple of times from different vantage points.  Wife and I still have to see MJ’s One, KA, Zumanity and O.

10) EATER Vegas has a peek at the Hell’s Kitchen menu and prices at Caesars Palace, read here.  $125 for 30 day dry aged Porterhouse for 2 (32oz) with 2 sides is not that far out of line of say Ruth Chris prices in other locations of the US.

11) Wow…well Aria and Bellagio are going Jean Phillipe-less at both locations, The JP-Less “Patisserie” will remain until they have a new menu or concept for both locations.  This means that if they stop serving Gelato at these locations, Bellagio will have none except maybe in the Buffet, same as Aria.  Bellagio previously closed the little gelato corner shop (will not say the name as it will break Michael Movestro’s heart) and it’s now a freaking’ Starbucks.  Read EATER Vegas here….no mention if this is similar to Todd English or Mario Batali’s removal from MGM Grand’s properties.  No word yet on the future of the chocolate fountain at Bellagio either.

12) EATER Vegas has more on the Clique clubs soon to be open at the Palms (replacing Ghostbar and The Lounge), Apex Social Club and Camden Cocktail Lounge will open Mid-May at the Palms.  Read here and you can hear in the words the an-ti-ci-p-a-(Wait for it…waaaait)-tion of the openings.

13) Coming to town April 11-13th for Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend at The Orleans?  Well better pick up some tickets as Stray Cats are reuniting for an April 12th show, follow the link provided by VegasSeven here.  And opening acts are Duane “Twangy” Eddy and Jerry Lee Lewis?  You betcha…gotta rock out to some Peter Gunn then with some Great Balls of Fire and then Rock This Town.

14) Oooooh, H2O falling from the sky?  Yes and after 116 days of no rain, Las Vegas had a doozy of a storm.  As usual The Linq garage flooded (hope they got those collectables out of there before the rain).  See it all via LVRJ here.  Oh as of Jan. 9th they also had a heavy fog warning.  Wow 1.4 inches of rain when last year the entire year was 2.7″..that’s a lot for a couple of days of wet stuff.  Problem is a lot of homeless live in those tunnels, and you know they probably haven’t done the bleaching down there like they do in San Diego for the Hep C outbreaks…so avoid the runoff water and the trash heaps.

15) It’s CES of course and Intel partners this year with the Bellagio Fountains for a Drone / Fountain show that is actually very nice, if you aren’t there for CES you missed it, but LVSun has the link to the YouTube recording of it here.

16) LVCVA is saying that the A$$HAT shooting and 2030 less available rooms were to blame for the Y-O-Y visitor reduction from 2016 numbers.  Read LVSun here, that and higher resort fees, parking fees, less bang for your buck slot club reward levels….yup they brought in celebrity chefs and freaking killed and ate the golden goose.  Interesting that convention numbers still rose a bunch though…are all the attendee’s from Las Vegas then or how big is AirBnB now in Las Vegas?

17) Adjust those Vegas Must Do Lists, LVWeekly c/o LVSun has new stuff to add to the lists of any red-blooded Las Vegas Visitor here.  UPDATE…competing lists read #25 as well.

18) If you were heading to The Cosmopolitan or Laughlin’s Edgewater to see Willie Nelson, put those bags back in the closet, seems he caught the flu while at Harrah’s So Cal Resort, read LVRJ here for details and rescheduled dates.  We wish Willie a big get well and good health.

19) How opportunistic, in the strip mall right next door to the west of Lucky Dragon HOTEL, the former Red Label Bar & Lounge has been re-invented as The Mint Tavern, read Vital Vegas here.  So if you are staying in the casino / restaurant less Lucky Dragon between now and when the re-org finishes just walk next door for food with the “Golden Steer” and “The Mint Tavern” for drinks and some gaming as these now await you.  I love the look at night….perhaps that’s what is missing from Lucky Dragon.  For you history buffs check out the facade at night….reminds you of the Fremont Street original doesn’t it?  Now makes me wonder when is the former Mint Tower Hotel portion at Binions going to re-open with renovated rooms?

20) Hmmm….MGM and LVMPD discussing making the former site of the shooting a building for SWAT.  The non-training building of course so a non-descript building with the SWAT vehicles and perhaps weaponry right on the Strip, you betcha…awesome idea MGM.  Read LVRJ here.

21) LVRJ has video coverage of the opening of Hell’s Kitchen at Caesars Palace, read and view here.  Wife and I loved PH’s burger (before the name change) so hoping this will be equally fantastic.

22) New York New York’s casino cage was robbed the other night, LVRJ here with some security shots of the person of interest.  That location is right next to the MLife desk.  You know at one time there used to be armed guards paid to just lurk around the wait lines at the cashiers cage to discourage this type of behavior.

23) For CES the Sapphire Club is bringing all the babes…even the robotic dancers, read and view here.  Just don’t stand too near when they blow a knee joint out…you could be the victim of the first robot stripper shrapnel injury (jeez that’s close to a Pearls Before Swine bad line).

24) MarC at EDGe Vegas has the updates on the new cardless players club and more tech-savvy things at Stations Casino’s, read here.

25) And finally after the lights went back on at CES (see rain and electricity do not match up well), MarC of EDGe Vegas gives us 40 new things in Las Vegas to visit for 2018.  Read up here via frontdesktip.com.  The Saw Escape Room is I believe put on by the same folks that do Fright Dome at Circus Circus.

That’s it for the news around town this week… and now over to our Editor-in-Chief, LasVegasJunkie, for our stuff and more.

Gracias, BigAZMarty! Another busy week…

1. Guest writer Stevie Seidenstein explains how the Las Vegas boardrooms have the customer all wrong.
2. Blonde4ever returns with Every Swipe a Winner with the Mother Lode Promotion at Binion’s!
3. Chief Editor LasVegasJunkie returns with the Las Vegas Junkie Podcast Episode 8… the official-unofficial Vegas Bright Podcast.

That’s all Folks!

[Photo Cred. LasVegasJunkie]

BigAzMarty

A computer professional who has worked at several types of positions with several different businesses and still learning and changing.
Introduced properly to Las Vegas and Laughlin by the spouse and have been going ever since 1990.
A frequent visitor from not to far away where it’s almost always 10 degrees warmer than Vegas.