BRETT’S VEGAS VIEW
Date: June 28, 2020
BY: Jackie Brett
LAS VEGAS SLOWLY REAWAKENS
Happily, there will be fireworks displays around the valley celebrating the Fourth of July and some new venues and properties are emerging. During the shutdown in March and April, building continued on numerous projects and some of them are at the stage of opening.
NEW ULTRA-KARAOKE EXPERIENCE OPENS
This week on July 2, KAMU – Ultra Karaoke, promoted as the first high-end karaoke club on the Strip and the most ‘note’-able in the world, is opening at the Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian in the Palazzo Tower. KAMU features 40 socially distanced, upscale singing suites.
KAMU has implemented extensive health and safety procedures. Upon arrival each guest enters a walk-through thermographic disinfection door, providing temperature screening as well as a full-body disinfectant with ultrasonic vapor and UVC sterilizing lights. They are also provided their own disposable microphone cover and hand sanitizer. Rooms vary in capacity from six to 40 people and go through an industry-leading sanitation process after every use.
KAMU offers a catalogue of thousands of songs topping charts around the globe. Guests can have their own collection, with the option to stream music from personal phones through Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Each karaoke room is equipped with advanced industry audio and visual software. KAMU also has technology to turn the rooms into private e-gaming suites, a private club complete with bottle service, or a hip VIP small meeting experience. The venue features a kitchen helmed by Executive Chef Marty Lopez and with more than 17,000 square feet, KAMU can host big events.
Hours are noon–8 a.m. daily. Room pricing starts at $50 per hour from noon to 7 p.m. and $70 per hour from 7 p.m. to 8 a.m. Rooms can be reserved online or by calling 702-445-7664 (SONG).
LUCKY DAY AND DISCOPUSSY OPEN THIS WEEK
Corner Bar Management (CBM) has four new concepts coming to Fremont Street East Entertainment District. They include Lucky Day and DISCOPUSSY, set to open Friday, July 3, in addition to We All Scream and Cheapshot later this year.
The four unconventional venues will join CBM’s existing restaurants and bars on East Fremont Street between Las Vegas Boulevard and Sixth Street, including Commonwealth, a 6,000-square-foot neighborhood bar with rooftop views and a hidden cocktail haven, The Laundry Room; Park on Fremont, a 5,000-square-foot bar and back garden patio filled with objects d’art; and Joy of Hot Dog, a neon-lit trailer serving unconventional hot dogs.
CBM was founded by Ryan Doherty in December 2012. “This is a remarkable opportunity to develop new concepts that fit together as part of a comprehensive entertainment and nightlife strategy to shape an entire city block,” said Doherty of his new downtown Las Vegas concepts. “Each will view art, architecture, cocktails and entertainment through a distinctive lens to complement the other for what will be an incredible night of bar hopping – or even our own block party.”
Lucky Day at 516 E. Fremont Street will occupy 3,000 square feet stuffed to the brim with iconography, color, and an explosion of lights. A living, breathing art installation on the ceiling will present a canopy of 15,000 colorful, programmable LED lights of all shapes and sizes that twinkle. Eccentric pieces of art and eye-catching artifacts will be found in a shrine adorning an entire wall, a cacophony of pesos, knick-knacks, discarded fortunes, stained glass windows and tattered memories. Lucky Day will offer a collection of mezcals, tequilas and cocktails complemented by house-made tortilla chips, salsa fresca and four signature guacamoles.
Also opening July 3 is DISCOPUSSY at 512 E. Fremont Street. An old school, covert 6,500-square-foot space, DISCOPUSSY will be minimal except for sound, catering to audiophiles craving mainline house and techno through an immersive sound system. A custom-built lighting structure reminiscent of a disco octopus serves as the centerpiece over the bar, where eight tentacles made of more than 10,000 laser-cut components illuminate through 5,000 light diodes.
The Raider Image™ OPENs at MIRACLE MILE SHOPS™
The Raider Image, an official team store of the Las Vegas Raiders, is now open inside Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood. Hours are temporarily 11 a.m.–7 p.m., seven days a week
The team store provides football fans a wide selection of authentic merchandise including jerseys, headwear, accessories and apparel for men, women, and children. More than 3,600 products are available online and on the mobile app. All stores, as well as the online store, are owned and operated by the Raiders out of the team’s headquarters in Henderson, Nev.
Later this fall, The Raider Image will be operating 14 brick and mortar locations throughout California and Nevada along with the flagship store at the new Allegiant Stadium. The Las Vegas area will have seven locations: Town Square, Galleria at Sunset Mall, Raiders Headquarters in Henderson, McCarran Airport, Fashion Show Mall, The Shoppes at Mandalay Place and Miracle Mile Shops.
FLY LINQ ZIPLINE - EIFFEL TOWER VIEWING DECK REOPEN JULY 2
FLY LINQ at The LINQ Promenade, the Strip’s only zipline, and the Eiffel Tower Viewing Deck at Paris will reopen with enhanced public health protocols Thursday, July 2 through Sunday, July 5 for Independence Day weekend. After July Fourth weekend, both attractions will operate Fridays through Sundays.
In addition, the Eiffel Tower at Paris has debuted a new, free light show in honor of the reopening of the resort, which takes place every half hour from dusk to midnight nightly. The new show features synchronized and choreographed twinkling and colored lights including approximately 300 color-washing light fixtures and more than 800 white strobe lights on the tower’s exterior.
ART ISLAND WILL BE PART OF AREA15
AREA15, the immersive art and entertainment complex opening this September, will introduce Art Island, a first-ever permanent gallery for the exhibition of large-scale, commercially available, festival-style artwork. The outdoor display area will feature original pieces by international artists such as Michael Benisty, Davis McCarty, and Ivan McLean. Art Island will be free to visit when AREA15 opens to the public.
Art Island will function as a physical showroom and curatorial resource for urban planners, corporate art buyers and private collectors from around the globe. Buyers can purchase work on display at Art Island or commission an original work from one of the represented artists. All artwork on view is three-dimensional, monumental in scale and may be viewed as sculpture-in-the-round by visitors, who will discover countless photo opportunities as they explore individual creations.
Opening artwork is large scale and extraordinary. Belgian artist Michael Benisty is debuting “In Every Lifetime I will Find You,” a 14-foot vertical of a mirrored polished steel couple exploring the love between people and across humankind.
“Infinity Ship” (No. 1) “Perception” by Matt Elson is a shipping container reimagined as a kaleidoscopic glimpse into the infinite.
A massive robot half-buried in the desert floor, “Mechan 9” is a relic from another era—but is it past or future? A close examination of its surface reveals secret hatches and mysterious text. This creation is by Tyler Fuqua Creations (TFC) a Portland, Oregon-based collective.
“OMAH” by Alchemy Arts is a wise owl poised to soar above the AREA15 crowds, omniscient in its wisdom and elegant in its flight pattern. The neon-lit installation is designed on an impressive scale.
Davis McCarty’s “Pulse Porta” is a 20-foot archway of iridescent light that changes depending on your perspective. The fully modular piece can be put together in 20 different ways and made from dichroic filters which transform depending on how the light hits them and their position in space.
Ivan McLean’s “El Scorcho” is a 15-foot tall, fire-breathing dragon made from fireproof stainless steel and structural tubing. Equipped with the latest propane technology, the dragon can blast scorching balls of molten flame. His other tall work is “Giant Disco.”
Taking inspiration from the iconic “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign, “Long Live Las Vegas” will greet visitors upon arrival. Las Vegas-based metalwork artist Tomas Toulec handcrafted the sign and incorporated AREA15’s signature portal and other elements found throughout the immersive entertainment complex.
CAESARS FORUM READY FOR CONVENTION BUSINESS
Members of local tourism organization Destination Services Association (DSA) were the first non-hardhat group to tour the new 550,000-square-foot Caesars Forum conference center, which is the newest addition to the Caesars Entertainment family. If you’re trying to imagine where this is located, it’s a huge building that was under construction for a couple years directly behind Harrah’s, The LINQ and Flamingo, which will provide the new venue with more than 8,500 direct access rooms. A little confusing is Caesars Palace and The Forum Shops are located on the opposite side of the Strip.
Costing $375 million, the conference venue set to open this past March got caught up in the Coronavirus complications. The first group will now energize the building on Aug. 28.
The single-level Caesars Forum will accommodate up to 10,000 attendees. The 550,000-square-foot center will feature more than 300,000 square feet of flexible meeting space encompassing the two largest pillarless ballrooms in the world, each 110-000 square feet, and two 40,000-square-foot ballrooms. Quite notably the ceilings and doors are extremely tall, and so are the airwalls, which can accommodate the creation of 100 breakout rooms. The 100,000-square-foot Forum Plaza is Las Vegas’ first outdoor meeting and event space of that size.
The conference center offers the latest in technology, a modern design, natural light, and a neutral pallet and is LEED Silver certified. There are six 1,250-square-foot boardrooms offering full privacy with intelligent glass control. A lot of consideration was also given to places for companies to incorporate branding and 50-foot wide foyers are enticing for coffee breaks and gatherings. Meeting planners will find the new Caesars Forum worthy of serious attention.
MOB MUSEUM LAUNCHES DRUG TRAFFICKING EXHIBITION
The Mob Museum downtown has a new temporary exhibition “Rise of the Cartels: International Drug Trafficking in the Americas” located on the first floor.
The historical exhibit explores international drug trafficking in North and South America, with insights about infamous drug lords such as Pablo Escobar as well as an architectural model of the Mexican prison and tunnels tracing the escape route for drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. There is also an examination of fact versus fiction in the Netflix television series “Narcos” and “Narcos: Mexico.”
Some artifacts are on loan from four different retired Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) special agents who battled the cartels in Colombia and Mexico from the 1970s through the 1990s. These artifacts include original documents, photos, badges, awards, clothing, firearm, and other objects directly tied to the agents’ battles with drug cartels. A video montage features original photographs from personal collections. From the museum’s collection, there is a rare original copy of a commemorative leather-bound book of political cartoons that Escobar published not long before his death.
FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATIONS
This year community leaders have organized the first Summerlin Council Virtual Patriotic Parade. Vegas Golden Knights Nate Schmidt and Alec Martinez with his dog, Hank, and A’ja Wilson from the Las Vegas Aces along with other celebrities and area leaders will share personal messages of encouragement and strength to kick off the 26th annual parade on Saturday, July 4 at 9 p.m. The parade will deliver pageantry, musical performances, past event highlights, salutes to community heroes and first-responders, healthcare works, teacher and more. Everyone can watch by visiting summerlinpatrioticparade.com.
The STRAT is planning a celebration on the SkyPod’s newly remodeled Observation Deck, which will offer views of fireworks displays, and its thrill rides on Saturday, July 4. One-day unlimited ride passes for X-Scream, Insanity and Big Shot, all at the top of the SkyPod, will be $34 for locals and $44.95 for the public. One-day admission to the SkyPod’s Observation Deck, located at 1,149 feet above ground, will be $20 for locals and $25 for the public.
Lake Las Vegas is teaming up with the city of Henderson for the “Star Spangled Sky” Fourth of July celebration, featuring a 9 p.m. fireworks show over the lake with patriotic music on local radio stations. It will be one of four displays throughout Henderson. Visitors can enjoy the show from the grassy areas at Lake Las Vegas or from other vantage points throughout the community.
M Resort also in partnership with the City of Henderson’s Star-Spangled Sky will offer spectators an extended 15-minute fireworks display choreographed to music broadcasted on local radio stations on Independence Day, Saturday, July 4 beginning at 9 p.m. Viewing from the resort is reserved for hotel and invited guests.
Reminder from last week, The Plaza will celebrate with downtown Las Vegas’ only live fireworks show at 10 p.m. on Saturday, July 4. Red Rock and Green Valley Ranch Resorts will each host 10-minute fireworks shows at approximately 9 p.m. on July 4.
QUICK NEWS BITS
Nobu Hotel Caesars Palace is resuming operation on Thursday, July 2 at 10 a.m., following the successful reopening of Caesars Palace, Flamingo, Harrah’s, and Paris. The LINQ also successfully reopened its gaming floor and other amenities recently.
Summerlin’s first neighborhood casino, Rampart Casino, is now in full 24/7 operation, with the hotel side of the resort, JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort & Spa, reopening July 1.
Two restaurants at South Point restaurants have won Awards of Excellence from “Wine Spectator” magazine for the eighth consecutive year. Don Vito’s and Silverado Steak House have won for their expansive wine collection and program.
El Dorado Cantina on Sammy Davis Jr. Drive has reopened this week with dining 3-11 p.m. daily until further notice and the location at Tivoli Village has been open since May 15. Both locations offer Happy Hour specials 3–6 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Fashion Show Las Vegas teaming with the American Red Cross will host three blood drives at a pop-up donor location on the first floor near Macy’s Men’s on July 15, 16 and 20, by appointment; visit RedCrossBlood.org or call 1-800-RED CROSS (733-2767).
Regardless of rough times, Amazon is hiring more than 1,000 full-time employees ahead of the launch of its 600,000-square-foot cross-dock facility in Henderson supporting customer fulfillment.
