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Editor’s Note
It’s less than two weeks after the 2024 election as I write this, and people in my various circles are still processing the results. As Paul Boger’s post-mortem on split tickets (p. 20) suggests, soul-searching is happening across the spectrum — among Democrats reeling from President-elect Donald Trump’s decisive victory; Republicans who saw all Nevada’s competitive national races go to Democrats; and pro-life and anti-voter ID advocates, who saw state ballot initiatives they oppose fail by overwhelming majorities.
We in the news media are processing, too, as post-election public discourse underlines how little value many U.S. consumers place on the work we do. I’ve spent countless hours engaged in analysis of the enormous sway podcasters, social media creators, and other non-journalism information sources had over voters’ decisions, at the expense of the so-called “legacy media.” Elon Musk is currently cheering on a congressional effort to defund NPR.
None of this is new to us newsroom veterans, who’ve agonized over threats to our profession for decades. You can imagine how demoralizing it is to spend your life doing difficult work that you believe helps to build community and safeguard democracy, only to have audiences refuse to pay for it, critics claim it’s “fake,” and influencers ridicule it as obsolete.
Which is why I want to take a moment to thank you, Desert Companion readers, for keeping the faith. If you’re receiving this magazine, then it means you’re either a direct subscriber or a Nevada Public Radio member (which includes the benefit of a subscription). I imagine there are countless reasons why you choose to read and listen — you love following our city’s world-class restaurant scene (p. 60), for instance, or you just want to hear the local, top-of-the-hour newscast on your way to work. Whatever your motivation, it’s led you to invest in local, independent news and storytelling.
We know news consumption habits are changing. We’re Instagram scrollers and podcast addicts too! We understand that it’s our job to figure out how to meet community members where they’re at. And we’re open to your suggestions about how we can do better.
All we ask is that the public we serve not take us for granted. You’re someone who doesn’t, and for that, we’re deeply grateful. Without you, we couldn’t go on. With you, we resolutely will.
Have a good read, a good meal, and a good holiday,
Heidi
Reader Lenard Schwartzer, an attorney with Schwartzer & Imes Law Firm, took issue with what he saw as a “one-sided” view in our October 2024 story, “Waiting for Justice.” He reviewed the online docket for the Robert Dunn case on which the story is based and noted that “most of the delays in this case have occurred because Robert Dunn filed multiple motions to dismiss his attorneys, usually just before a trial date.”
Schwartzer continues:
One could say that Robert Dunn is gaming the system and delaying trial. Each judge has to carefully consider his motions so as to avoid a reversible error. When the article states that the delay is unfair to the defendant it omits the obvious fact that delay helps the defense as the prosecution’s witnesses disappear or die or their memories become more vague.
Robert Dunn’s Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial is inapplicable because Dunn filed the motions to dismiss his counsel and delayed his own trial.
A fair article would have included these facts. The author still could have come to the conclusion that the death penalty should (be) eliminated for financial and moral reasons.
An earlier version of the story had contained reference to these multiple delays, but it was edited out of the final version due to space and other considerations.
To share your thoughts about anything you hear or read from Nevada Public Radio, email them to heidi@nevadapublicradio.org.
PRESIDENT & CEO Favian Perez
MANAGING EDITOR Heidi Kyser
ART DIRECTOR Scott Lien
ASSISTANT EDITOR Anne Davis
KNPR PRODUCERS AND REPORTERS
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Discover festive fun for the whole family with our holiday activities!
Officials promised pro sports would bring community. Have they?
BY Joe Schoenmann
In 2011 at the old City Hall (now occupied by Zappos), then-Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman was holding court with reporters (including me), laying out a grand vision.
A Las Vegas company had worked to assemble limited-term property rights from several small businesses in what’s now known as the Arts District. The intent was to tear them all down, making way for $10.5 billion in development. There would be casinos, hotels, restaurants, retail. And something Vegas hadn’t yet seen: an arena or stadium to hold a major league-level professional sports team.
In Goodman’s view, professional sports made sense here, not just for the dollars it could bring to the city, county, and state, but for something less tangible.
“I really want to have an arena complex in this community, because I think it will galvanize the people,” he told us. “I think we’ll be able to identify with the teams that are there. It will give us a sense of being something better than we are today.”
That would be no small feat in a city and county seen by many outsiders and locals alike as a place with no discernible identity. Vegas was past the age when waitressing or parking cars enabled someone to buy a house and raise a family. During the Great Recession, people saw neighbors walk away from million-dollar homes, shirking mortgage payments and leaving the city because their house had lost so much value.
Generations before might have felt a sense of community here, but not anymore. Could sports change that? Was it even a goal of the teams that wanted to be here? Or was their motivation purely monetary?
One of proponents’ selling points to get $750 million in Clark County funding for the Raiders stadium construction was that it would draw fans from other teams to Vegas — to see their teams, yes, but also because
Vegas is a fun place to visit. So, if local fans didn’t show up, other teams’ fans would fill the seats. The Vegas Golden Knights didn’t ask for public money to bring an NHL expansion team here. But could that formula work for them, too?
Numbers from the Las Vegas Visitors & Convention Authority tell part of the story. Visitors who attended sporting events here grew 50 percent from 2018 to 2023, from 4 percent of all visitors to 6 percent. That represents growth of about 1.7 million people in 2018 to 2.5 million in 2023.
So, professional sports does appear to attract tourists. But does it do what Oscar Goodman said it would, all those years ago. Does it build community?
Lance Johns, an attorney and owner of The Atomic and other Las Vegas businesses, bought season tickets for the Vegas Golden Knights’ first season. The first game came just days after the mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip, October 1, 2017. That night, Johns felt an intense togetherness.
“That first game, it was wild. It was moving, I gotta tell ya,” Johns says. It felt so good that by the time the Raiders played their first game at Allegiant Stadium, Johns had secured four season tickets. It wasn’t cheap: $100,000 for the personal seat license for four seats; then $9,000 or $10,000 each year for season tickets. According to census data, Las Vegas’ median household income is $73,784. One season ticket would take 12-13 percent of that household’s yearly budget.
In October, the Raiders were a few days away from playing the Kansas City Chiefs. Johns wasn’t going, trying to sell his tickets instead. He remembered what it had been like two weeks earlier when the Pittsburgh Steelers came to town.
“It was 60 percent Steelers fans,” he says.
For the team and Clark County taxpayers, that’s good, considering the stadium won’t be paid off for another 26 years, and we need the revenue. But it’s not great for building community around the Raiders.
Is this how it is everywhere?
Orlando has a lot in common with Las Vegas — a Disney World/tourism-based economy that draws 74 million visitors a year, almost twice as many as Las Vegas. They also have an NBA team, the Magic, which has been there since the late 1980s.
Jason Beede, Magic beat-reporter for the Orlando Sentinel , has seen a tale of two fan bases. To him, it’s all about the team’s record and community outreach. When the Magic wasn’t winning, the seats would be 20 percent empty, Beede says. Last year, they made the playoffs, and they had high attendance rates.
“That’s what drives people out,” Beede says. “If the product isn’t good, regardless of the team, let alone the NBA, fans won’t come. (If they win), you’ll have a fan base that grows, but it takes time.”
Disney doesn’t own the team, but they’re a big part of the marketing. So, they’ll have contests during the game that can result in team season tickets, day passes to Disney World, and more. Beede said the team’s dedication to Orlando, though, is mostly seen through community outreach.
“They do a great job making sure they’re involved in the community — serving the homeless meals, food drives,” he says. “They have the Orlando Magic Youth Foundation. They just held a reading event for 3,000 fourth graders. And the players take pride in the events that they put on, whether it’s youth basketball camp (or) meetand-greets … After the storms that came through, the team donated $600,000 to the community.”
Another thing may help determine that local loyalty: cost. Johns is a successful businessman. That doesn’t come without keeping an eye on prices. According to him, tickets for the Golden Knights got to be too expensive, so after three years, he stopped getting them. As for the Raiders, he paid that $100,000 personal seat license fee, so it’s hard to give them up.
“I’ll buy a ticket here and there (for Knights games), but a lot of my
“If the product isn’t good ... fans won’t come.”
—Lance Johns
friends are now saying, ‘You know what, it’s too much.’ Too much for tickets, too many games. Then you have the traffic and getting to the game on the Strip. It’s miserable. It’s $25 to park. If I go out to dinner before on the Strip, it’s another $250 or $300. A drink or two at the game. I’m down $400 or $500.”
One professional league where the local team is winning, tickets are still affordable, and there’s a tremendous sense of community, according to local season ticket-holders, is the WNBA. Las Vegas Aces fans say that at games, they feel like they’re part of something bigger, and something distinctly Las Vegan.
After Trent Brown’s sister gave him tickets for a game in 2018, the Aces’ first year in Vegas after a move from San Antonio, he was hooked. Since then, Brown has held season tickets. And it’s well within his budget: The first few years, he paid $10 a ticket (and it includes parking). The team won consecutive championships in 2022 and 2023, but the price is still only around $20 per ticket.
More importantly, Brown and his husband have made friends of fellow fans in their section.
“It’s definitely a community, and we met some great people who are also season ticket holders,” he says. “We do social things now. We’ll meet before games and have lunch or dinner, or go out for ice cream after the game … So, it’s that kind of atmosphere there.”
All this, and the public didn’t have to fund a multi-billion-dollar stadium to house the team. The Aces play at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob Ultra Arena. They’re everything Oscar Goodman promised all those years ago.
Could the same happen in other leagues with higher costs? Can they be community builders in Las Vegas, or are they just cash cows for corporate venue operators, who have to rely on visitors to fill seats locals can’t afford?
“I don’t know,” Johns says, thinking about his Knights and Raiders tickets. “Maybe it’s a little bit of both.” ✦
Get your holiday spirit on!
Did you know that everything at the library is always FREE? Make plans to attend our upcoming events, art exhibits, live performances, and festive learning programs. Happy Holidays from the Library District!
KATE SWICKHOW TO PREPARE FOR WINTER SOLSTICE
Discover how to harmonize your energy with the changing season.
Sunday, December 1: 3 p.m. - 4 p.m. Sunrise Library
Thursday, December 5: 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. Centennial Hills Library
Wednesday, December 11: 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. Blue Diamond Library
Friday, December 13: 1 p.m. - 2 p.m. Windmill Library
PAD THE HALLSPROJECT MARILYN KIT BUILD
Get into the spirit of giving this holiday season by assembling period kits for the community.
Monday, December 2
4 p.m. - 7 p.m. Spring Valley Library
A VERY POPERA HOLIDAY
An opera concert jam-packed with a mix of holiday favorites, old and new, made popular by Josh Groban, Andre Bocelli, and more.
Saturday, December 7: 3 p.m. - 4:15 p.m. Windmill Library
Sunday, December 8: 3 p.m. - 4 p.m. West Charleston Library
NIK AT NITE
A HOLIDAY CONCERT
Enjoy a jazzy holiday concert.
Monday, December 9
1 p.m. - 2 p.m. Laughlin Library
Friday, December 13
7 p.m. - 8 p.m. Whitney Library
Saturday, December 14
7 p.m. - 8 p.m. West Charleston Library GRINCHMAS
Families with children will enjoy storytime, crafts, and a special Grinch appearance.
Saturday, December 14: 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Sahara West Library
SLEIGH BELLS SWING! CELEBRATE THE HOLIDAYS WITH THE SWING IT! GIRLS
Have a holly-jolly, jingle-bell-filled afternoon!
Sunday, December 15
2 p.m. - 3 p.m. Clark County Library
CELEBRATING KWANZAA
Honor African heritage through art, education, and music.
Sunday, December 22: 12 p.m. - 5 p.m. Whitney Library
KWANZAA (UMOJA) - FAMILY DAY
Thursday, December 26: 12 p.m. - 6 p.m. West Las Vegas Library
For full details on these, and all library events, scan the QR code or go to TheLibraryDistrict.org/Events. And to access our full catalog of holiday books, movies & music, go to TheLibraryDistrict.com/Holidays.
Las Vegas’ lack of a comprehensive kids’ hospital has deadly consequences. Could a solution be on the horizon?
BY Anne Davis
“The scaffolding of my life feels like it has cracked and fallen down,” says Eric Ballew, a former U.S. Air Force pilot and father of three. He’s recounting a road trip two years ago, driving himself, his wife, Renee, and the couple’s son, Tyler, from Las Vegas to Los Angeles — a normal occurrence on a road that carries five million people yearly between Southern Nevada and California. But, unlike most travelers, they were L.A.bound for Tyler’s final treatment of stage-four melanoma, which he’d been diagnosed with nearly two years prior. For months, this had involved routinely flying across the country to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. At this point, though, treatment entailed regular trips to see a doctor in California — a necessary risk to take, since they had exhausted their other options both in and out of state.
hospital here.
They’d already made the trip three times, uneventfully. This time would be different. Tyler had a seizure (his first ever) while the family was driving outside of Baker, California. Ballew and his wife called 911 and would have been picked up by helicopter had the cloud cover not been as thick as it was that mid-December night. An ambulance arrived 40 minutes later.
“He ends up flatlining in the ambulance,” Ballew says. “The paramedic ends up getting a suction thing. I’m doing chest compressions, and my wife is holding the bag and pumping oxygen into his lungs. I told him how proud I am of him, and as I said that to him, I saw tears stream from both his eyes,” Ballew says. “When we (got to) the emergency room, that was difficult. The nurses said that even though he was not conscious, he could still hear, and so I pulled out my phone and just pulled up pictures of him and talked to
him. ... (In the car) he said ‘Why?’ three times and then never talked to us again.”
Tyler passed away just before Christmas, at the age of 13.
“I still go to the cemetery a lot,” Ballew says, “and I sit down with him and continue the conversations that I’d want to have with him.”
The Ballew family’s story highlights what advocates say is a fever-pitch need for a freestanding, comprehensive pediatric hospital in Las Vegas, where children like Tyler could receive treatment instate. They point to the reality that Las Vegas is the only U.S. metropolitan area with more than two million people to not have a full-service children’s hospital. As a result, 1,500 of the region’s 500,000 children must leave Southern Nevada each year, often multiple times, to receive medical care, leading to disastrous results.
“We are losing Nevada children like Tyler on I-15 while we’re traveling out of Las Vegas to go get treatment,” Ballew says, “And Tyler’s not the only one: I’ve met with other parents that actually lost their daughter coming home from treatment in Los Angeles.”
Beyond the physical danger it poses to medically fragile children, advocates argue, traveling outside Vegas to receive care has ripple effects on the broader well-being of families.
“It’s a financial burden, and it’s a social burden for families,” says Marc Kahn, dean of UNLV’s Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine. “Not only are they dealing with a child with a potentially fatal malignancy, but now they need to leave the state. They need to leave their support structures, they need to leave their families, friends.”
Chelsea Bishop, the president of local advocacy group Act4Kids Nevada, experienced this firsthand when her late daughter, Navy, was diagnosed with neuroblastoma. “(During COVID) I’d leave at 2 a.m. to go to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
to go get a COVID test, so we could go get in-patient (treatment) that same day. (I did this so) she got one more night in her bed and could be home with her family one more night.”
Bishop and Ballew are part of a growing movement of parents, physicians, and local officials who say receiving pediatric treatment in and out of Nevada has become an equity issue.
“It really worries me,” Bishop says, “the disparities here. It’s ridiculous that it’s a privilege to be able to travel out of state to receive the care.”
She recounts having to quit her job so she could travel with Navy. “At the time, we had two kids, and we had to leave one of them behind,” she says. “My husband tried to stay in work so he could keep his job. And that was hard for our family. I think we’re still kind of making amends … making sure that our second-oldest feels loved and cared for, as we were so focused on the oldest one traveling. It’s tough.”
A freestanding children’s hospital, she adds, would allow local kids to remain in familiar environments, with their support systems as they receive care. It would also decrease the fragmentation of the current pediatric care landscape here, enabling families to go to a “one-stop shop” to receive comprehensive services.
In response to growing calls from organizations such as Act4Kids, UNLV’s Lincy Institute commissioned a study this year, published in September by consultant Tripp Umbach, outlining what it would take to build a comprehensive pediatric hospital here. The findings indicated that a freestanding facility would only need 150 beds to complement extant pediatric wings. The projected expense: $1 billion. But, once completed, the new hospital would quickly recoup costs, the report estimated, generating $1.2 billion annually and creating 5,845 jobs.
This fall, Intermountain Health took up the call. The nonprofit, which operates 33 hospitals around the West, including two freestanding pediatric ones in Utah, announced on October 22 that it would be breaking ground on a comprehensive, full-ser-
vice children’s hospital next year, projected to open in 2030. That $1 billion price tag is expected to be paid by philanthropic donors — the names of which Intermountain Health has yet to confirm. As for location, the company plans to lease a plot of land on the current site of the UNLV Harry Reid Research and Technology Park in southwest Las Vegas. Once finished, a spokesman says, it would include newborn, pediatric, and cardiac intensive care units; oncol ogy departments; and behavioral health services — prioritizing the subspecialty areas which most often require out-of-state travel.
Despite the project only being in its early stages, experts are more optimistic about Intermountain Health’s plans than ever before. Beyond serving local children’s needs and bringing more medical tourism revenue to the region, it would be a first step in helping ameliorate the current provider shortages in Nevada, where there is one pediatrician per 2,531 children — half the ratio of California — and even fewer subspecialists, primarily because the state has no such programs or fellowships.
“There’s a lot of holes in the subcare specialties in children’s health that would need to be filled,” says David Damore, the executive director of UNLV’s Lincy Institute, “and you would then have this anchor institution, which would be able to attract some of the out-of-state doctors here.”
Until that day comes, Damore remains hopeful, while also recognizing that the hard work is still ahead.
“If we don’t do it now, where are we going to be in 10 years, the next time this conversation comes up and our children’s healthcare outcomes are worse than they are now?” he asks. “This is going to be hard. It’s going to be frustrating. But, at the end of the day you want to look back and say, ‘Yeah, we did that. It was tough, but look at where we are now.’”
Eric Ballew agrees. “How do we help the next kid? How do we help the next Tyler? That’s what I’m focused on now.” ✦
Odds are good it’ll come to Las Vegas, but not anytime soon
BY Aleza Freeman
Chris Andrews passes a pen across the table. Thanking his late uncle and mentor Jack Franzi, he repeats the legendary oddsmaker’s advice.
“Always have a pen on you,” Andrews says. “You never know when someone wants to make a bet.”
“If we don’t do it now, where are we going to be in 10 years?”
—David Damore
He’s no stranger to taking bets. He’s director of the sports book at South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa, author of three books on sports betting, and a pioneer in the industry.
During the 2016 presidential election, Andrews and fellow bookmaker Jimmy Vaccaro constructed a parlay card to allow South Point players to bet on electoral votes in 17 states. While the Nevada Gaming Control Board called it “technically okay,” he says, they also “seriously frowned upon it” telling him they would prefer he not do it. He didn’t.
Betting on elections is illegal in the U.S., but a federal appeals court
muddied the waters in October when it cleared the way for a New York trading platform, Kalshi, to take bets on 2024 election outcomes — a decision the Commodity Futures Trading Commission continues to challenge.
Andrews recently shared his thoughts on the Kalshi case and the odds of election betting coming to the Silver State.
How often do you get asked about betting on elections?
Oh, all the time. I don’t know if it’s every single day, but it’s quite often. It’s mostly out-of-towners because the regulars know we can’t do that in Nevada.
But it’s done in Europe?
It’s legal in Europe and in a lot of offshore places, the Caribbean and Central America, where people in this country have accounts. So, if you have an account there you can bet there. Technically, it’s illegal (to place the bet from the U.S.), but the last time that’s been enforced was maybe 20 years ago.
Did this Kalshi case change anything?
I talked to our attorney — and he’s a former gaming regulator too — he said from his interpretation, they can only bet on New York elections. That may have set the precedent, it may not have. We don’t know yet until it gets tested.
Why not be the ones to test it?
Good question.
So, you’d be open to that?
Sure. It would be difficult because you may turn Gaming Control against you. I think there would have to be sort of a grassroots movement that would eventually lead somebody to actually test it in court.
Who would lead this grassroots movement?
Not me, I’m too old.
To make any kind of a splash, it would have to be casino executives, whether it’s bookies or general managers, what have you, saying this is what our customers want.
Is it what the customers want?
Yeah, it is, but once you tell them they can’t do it they just say, “Okay.”
“Grassroots” might not be the right word. It would have to be something that would filter up to high-powered executives that would make it worth their while to test it.
Maybe someone takes this New York case and probably would have to take it to the U.S. Supreme Court, from another jurisdiction, and use that as precedent to say, “Well, they legalized it in New York.”
I don’t think it would have legs until it’s gone through a couple of cycles to say, “See, this has no negative effect.”
Do you think it will happen?
In my lifetime, no. I could be wrong. … But we’re very slow in Nevada; very slow to change.
Are you concerned about negative effects?
It would be impossible in a presidential election, even in senatorial or House of Representatives elections, it would be difficult to cheat for betting purposes.
Would this (cheating) be to help win a bet or to help stay in power? I don’t think the betting has anything to do with staying in power.
What are the benefits of legalizing it?
If guys made a bet, they’d go out and vote, and that’s been a problem in this country ever since I can remember — a lack of participation by the general public, no matter which side of the aisle you’re on. … You need everyone getting out and voting. It’s part of the democratic process.
Would it be good for the sports book?
It would be unbelievably good business for the sports book. You could open it up four years in advance, even if you didn’t know the nominees. …
I think the last Super Bowl handle in Nevada was just shy of $190 million. … This would be close to a billion. It makes the Super Bowl look like Tuesday afternoon college basketball. ✦
In the 2024 election, Nevadans divided their votes among Republicans and Democrats. Don’t expect that to change anytime soon
BY Paul Boger
Nearly 1.5 million Nevadans voted in the 2024 general election, and more than half (at least 730,000) cast a ballot supporting President-elect Donald Trump, giving Republicans their first win in a presidential race in Nevada in 20 years. At the same time, a proposed abortion rights amendment passed its initial vote, and down-ballot Democrats largely held onto their seats in Congress and the state legislature.
Now, I won’t explore the many theories about why Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris lost. For that, I suggest you turn on your radio or TV anytime between now and the inauguration to listen to the pundit class flail about. Instead, I want to focus on the resurgence of split-ticket voting in Nevada.
It’s something that voters here historically have loved to do. Since becoming a state in 1864, Nevada has had equal representation with its federal delegation — 14 U.S. senators from each major party. Among its 31 governors, the state has been led by 15 Republicans, 12 Democrats and four governors from the Silver and Silver Democrat Parties, which operated at the turn of the 20th century and were more closely aligned with the period’s Democrats.
More recently, during the 2022 midterm election, incumbent U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat, and a slew of down-ballot Democrats were reelected alongside
JANUARY 2–31, 2025
Take our Winter Reading Challenge and enjoy tales of mystery, history, pop culture, heroes & villains, children’s tales, or anything that sparks you imagination!
You can even visit the Travel Nevada website to read about Weird Nevada, the Cowboy Corridor, Curiously Uncommon Attractions, and more about our great state.
Simply read anything you like during January, and everyone is eligible: Babies, kids, teens & adults can read (or be read to)! Scan below to find out more or go to TheLibraryDistrict.org/WinterReadingChallenge.
Photos and artwork courtesy Travel Nevada. To learn about points of interest in Nevada, go to travelnevada.com/road-trips.
THE
Republican Governor Joe Lombardo. Why?
First, nonpartisan voters are now the key to winning elections in the Silver State. Mainly due to the state’s motor voter law (automatic voter registration through the DMV), nonpartisans are now the largest voting bloc in the state. And while they may not be as politically engaged as their Republican and Democratic counterparts, nearly half a million nonpartisan voters filled out a ballot in 2024.
According to a CNN exit poll, Nevada’s nonpartisan voters broke in favor of President-elect Trump, giving him 48 percent of the total, compared to 46 percent for Harris. Trump won 55 percent among nonpartisan men.
Second, bipartisanship matters. Heading into the election cycle, Nevada Democrats Jacky Rosen and Susie Lee were considered to be among Congress’s highly vulnerable Democrats. Yet both incumbents campaigned heavily on their willingness to work across the aisle — and won reelection.
Finally, many voters have been expressing a desire for fundamental change. According to Gallup, most Americans have voiced dissatisfaction with the country’s direction since 2005. And in Nevada, who can blame them? The state has had the country’s highest unemployment rate since the end of the pandemic. That’s on top of rising prices for housing, groceries, energy, and childcare.
When you combine it all, a picture becomes clear: America’s two major political parties are in flux. The Republican Party of 2024 looks much different than George W. Bush’s GOP of 2000. Trump’s antiestablishment rhetoric and promises to bolster the working class have brought new voters to the GOP, particularly young men who feel the American Dream is frustratingly out of reach. At the same time, the Democratic Party’s foundation has also shifted around it. What was once a party that could win rural communities through its ties to labor groups has
now coalesced around white-collar professionals and suburbanites with college degrees.
Further complicating matters, non-white voters, once considered the Democratic party’s heart and soul, have begun embracing a Republican Party that’s courted them extensively for two decades. In 2020, President Biden carried heavily Latino Clark County by more than 90,000 votes. Harris won it by fewer than 30,000.
Meanwhile, voters who no longer identify with the system — or are just tired of the nonstop political cycle — will continue to disengage. Some may become nonpartisans, only paying attention when a ballot appears in their mailbox. Others will just stop caring.
It all adds up to a Nevada where voters remain unpredictable for the foreseeable future. This essentially guarantees the Silver State’s designation as a battleground again in 2028. ✦
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“Get out!” the emergency room nurse told me — not once, but twice. I was just trying to help her understand the severity of the venomous snakebite that the victim I’d just helped inside had suffered. An hour earlier, he’d been struck by a very large Timber rattlesnake while we were snake hunting in rural southern Ohio. The rattler tried to crawl under a log on our approach, but when the intruder grabbed him by the tail, the snake sunk both fangs and a lethal dose of toxins deep into his hand.
I was well-versed in snakebite treatment from my time spent working at a small zoo in Florida. As a community service, I conducted snakebite seminars. It was the early 1970s, and the old idea of using tourniquets and snakebite kits had been debunked. Getting to a hospital quickly and receiving lots of antivenom was the only effective approach.
On the way to Chillicothe, Ohio, I stopped and asked a farmer to call the hospital and tell them we were on our way and in need of antivenom for a serious Timber bite. In the small examination room, the nurse said she’d heard something about a call. When I asked her about their supply of the life-saving drug, she looked in a cabinet and found one vial. I politely (perhaps a bit emphatically) suggested that it would not be near enough. I was abruptly escorted out.
The victim experienced cardiac arrest 48 hours after being admitted. His friends took him to Columbus, Ohio, where he spent a month recovering, much of that time spent in intensive care.
In our Western culture, more people dislike or hate snakes than like them. Rattlesnakes are hated more than others. It’s not wrong to fear snakes enough to keep your distance. On average seven or eight people in Nevada are bitten by rattlesnakes yearly (compare that to 1,400 people in Texas, who are bitten by several different venomous snakes a year).
More useful than fear, though, is understanding. We all know, or at least should know by now, that snakes are an important part of the environ-
Rattlesnakes don’t attack often; knowing why can help you avoid it
BY James Vanas
ment and help to keep populations of destructive and disease-spreading rodents in check. Fewer than 10 people die annually in the U.S. from snakebites, on average, because antivenom is readily available (though extremely expensive). Here are some facts to avoid being one of them:
>>> Rattlesnakes are a fixture in Nevada’s Mojave Desert. Our six species range in size from around 18 inches to four feet. The sidewinder is the smallest, and the Western diamondback is the largest. These creatures do not want to waste the valuable venom they produce on us; they’d rather save it for food procurement. A rattlesnake can control the amount of venom dispensed
when it strikes and can bite without using any at all. I think of rattlesnakes as being on the luxury end of the snake spectrum. They have all the bells and whistles. By rattling, they hope to avoid confrontation, begging to be left alone.
>>> Rattlesnakes are sit-and-wait, or ambush predators . This is a smart tactic, as they exert very little energy while lying next to a rodent trail. Rattlesnakes don’t have direct, and potentially dangerous, combat with their prey like other snakes. A quick strike and release is all it takes to allow the venom to do its work. The snake then uses its extraordinary tongue and sensory organs to track the dead rodent for consumption.
>>> Rattlesnake vision is pretty good, but the heat-sensing pits found between their eyes and nostrils make them acutely aware of any warm-blooded prey that passes nearby. Even on the darkest of nights, these pit vipers strike with deadly precision.
>>> In Nevada, the Panamint, Speckled, and Great Basin rattlesnakes are known to den communally in winter. It’s hard to imagine snakes coming from miles away to pile up together in deep rock shelters, but there is a distinct advantage to this strategy. Come spring, before they spread out, they breed, wasting little energy searching for a mate.
>>> Last, but not least, rattlesnakes bear living young. Only about 30 percent of snakes do this. Egg-laying snakes have no control over environmental conditions that may ruin a clutch. Live birth means that rattlesnake moms may protect their newborns for a short period of time, not something you might expect from a serpent.
So, love them or hate them, that’s up to you. But you have to admit they’re fascinating, unique reptiles that provide a service to us humans and deserve to be left alone. Show them respect, and you improve the odds of them doing the same. ✦
BY Lissa Townsend Rodgers
Few bartenders have a higher-proof reputation than The Modern Mixologist author Tony Abou-Gamin. After shaking up New York City and San Francisco, he arrived in Las Vegas some 25 years ago to “change what was the norm and introduce a thoughtful cocktail program” at the Bellagio. Since then, he’s written several books, made countless TV appearances, and worked on beverage programs in spots ranging from posh lounges to sports stadiums. He’s also returned to Vegas to finesse cocktail menus for Caesars Palace’s Lobby Bar and Libertine Social, among others, and found the TAG Global Spirits Awards, held here every fall. He talked to Desert Companion during a recent trip.
How has drinking in Las Vegas changed since you first came here?
When I arrived (1998), it was pretty much frozen drinks — Pina Coladas, Strawberry Daiquiris topped with a mountain of canned whipped cream, Frozen Margaritas with artificial mixes and cheap, mixto tequila. There was little attention paid to the quality of the drink, or the overall guest experience. Back in 1998, it was rare to see anyone using fresh juice. There was little to no focus on ice, glassware, education, menu development, mixology training, consistency — basically the foundational skills required to craft a well-made cocktail. From then to now, I have watched the craft evolve to a level I never imagined possible.
How has the perception of bartending as profession changed since you began?
I began bartending in 1980 at my cousin’s bar in Port Huron, Michigan. During this time, bartending was not looked at as a profession to aspire to as a career; it was more of a part-time gig, something you did while you were in college or while working towards an acting career. People would ask me what I did for a living, and I would tell them I was a bartender, and the very next question would always be, “Well what do you want to do for a living?” In this day and age, it’s really cool to be a bartender. Mixology is recognized as a well-respected profession and one that is truly embraced in Las Vegas.
Where do you like to drink when you’re in Las Vegas?
I am a huge Negroni lover, and I am always searching for the perfect Negroni! … Selfishly, I have to say that the barrel-aged Tony Negroni at Libertine Social is one of my favorite expressions in Las Vegas. Nectaly Mendoza was an early promoter of the Negroni and always made one of the best at Herbs & Rye. My dear friend Rudy, the wonderful bartender at Nora’s, makes one of my favorites. But perhaps my top version comes from Francesco Lafranconi at Carver Steak. Viva Negroni! ✦
Food stands, set up in the lots of abandoned businesses throughout the valley, offer a roving sampler of multicultural delights
BY Brent Holmes
It’s been years since my last Street Foodie column in Desert Companion. But I’ve been nurturing an idea — a desire — over days, weeks, and months. During my evening drives through the city, out of the corner of my eye, I see them in shopping centers and llanteras parking lots: little white or red canopies, griddle steam and grill smoke wafting into the ether, small crowds gathered around. The rapid proliferation of street-vended cuisine over the last two years finally hooked me. On a fall Friday, just before twilight, I set out to immerse myself in their fare.
My first stop was at TACOS PASADITA, in the heart of Spring Valley. In the shadow of a defunct dollar store, a small queue led to a tent-covered table outfitted with an upright propane burner that was blistering stacked pork with the roar of a taxiing jetliner. A griddle sat close at hand, producing perfect tortillas. As I lined up, I was rendered ravenous by the scent of brisket, tripe, and chorizo, simmering in a massive pan, awaiting taco-fication. Requisite aguas frescas beckoned, from their beehive tubs.
The cashier spoke to me in muffled Spanish through his COVID mask, unaware that I am the kind of brazen gringo who lines up at a taco stand with the Spanish-language ability of a confused middle schooler. A comely salt-andpepper bearded gentleman, Julian, assigned himself as
my translator, telling me the cashier was asking if I wanted a drink. I didn’t. Julian informed me that he drove from Henderson to eat at Tacos Pasadita, going on to relay that the gentlemen running this spot were from Mexico, new to the valley, and that they hoped to grow this first location to a brick-and-mortar operation. Julian explained this stand as an L.A. phenomenon, of which I am more than aware. It struck me that this may be the only thing the City of Angels has exported to Las Vegas in recent years that I am happy to celebrate.
As for the tacos themselves, I got brisket and al pastor. The brisket hit my tongue like a Mack truck of soft, thick beef, fat satiating some ancient desire. The al pastor was as good as (if not better than) that of Las Vegas’ best-loved brick-and-mortar taco shops, with deep aromatic tones and a light sweetness to its char. A touch of cilantro and onion garnish cut down the stout porcine flavor. I drove on, noting that the city’s southwest region appears devoid of this form of vending. (I spent a disappointing hour circling the area with nary a food truck sighting). The east side does not suffer such a deficit, however.
As the evening deepened, I parked at TACOS EL CEJAS ON NORTH LAMB, for a spot of quesabirria. The cooks there made an excellent version of this gut gurgler — a tortilla stuffed with beef, stewed in a tomato-based au jus, smothered in cheese, and grilled to perfection. Over the last three years, birria (in varying degrees of quality) has saturated the valley, delivered by taco trucks and permanent locations alike. When it comes this fad, Tacos El Cejas delivers.
Just around the corner at a nondescript stand, I procured what’s loosely referred to as a danger dog — a hotdog wrapped in bacon, smothered in queso fresco, ketchup, mustard, pickle relish, guacamole, and chorizo. (I asked them to leave the chorizo off mine because, ya’ know... I don’t want to overdo it.)
Once this bad dietary decision was in hand, I gobbled with gusto, turning minutes of waiting into seconds of eating. The line here was long, and rightfully so: The blend of Mexican ingredients with East Coast garnish was a tribute to West Coast multiculturalism. From the perspective of an East Coast transplant, who has a soft spot for the America meat tube, I will
take the sensuous vulgarity of a danger dog over any of your regional sausages. There is hardly a finer late-night culinary debauchery — even more so when coupled with a responsible amount of liquor.
I was glutted, yet still feeling incomplete. So far, I’d traveled through a taco paradise, but there had to be something different to try. I found it on EASTERN AND SEARLES, a small food truck in gloss black. Yoi Roll was a pleasant surprise in the mobile dining universe. Serving sushi rolled by hand — in simple styles such as the California roll — it offered distinct protein options, including steak or shrimp. You can get the rolls deep-fried or regular; either way, the flavor and quality were finer than I expected to find in a parking lot after 10 p.m.
It was time to retire. That night, as I lay my head down, belly churning with delight, I wondered how Southern Nevada had gotten such a wonderful saturation of street vendors. I dreamt of state codes, contention, and over complicated bureaucracy.
When I woke, I knew my work was not finished … I didn’t even waste time showering in my haste to get to my car and find what had been missing. The previous evening’s romp had been satisfying, yes, but I needed more — or in this case, Mo’s.
In the parking lot of the legendary grocery store MARIO’S WESTSIDE
MARKET, I found Los Angeles transplants Kevin and his partner, Marilyn, serving barbecue — beautiful rib tips, brisket, and the ever-elusive beef ribs, smoked thoroughly and gently sauced. On the side were collards and sweetened yams, the whole soul food package, right down to the Styrofoam cup of mac and cheese.
This, for me, was the crown jewel of my street food quest. Great barbecue is not easy to find, and even harder in these Las Vegas streets. This city has changed in the last few years, with new stadiums being built, classic casinos imploded, and other developments that longtime locals could do without.
Amid that shifting tableau, the recent uptick in street food is a comforting change. To know that a quality dish is just around the corner day or night is exciting, as are new expressions of our culture and cuisine. ✦
What’s with all the street food? I mean legally
Sometimes the powers that be get it right. Through state legislation, municipal code, or some other public policy, they let benevolent intent guide them to make life easier for their constituents. At least as often, this good intent backfires. A recent example involves my favorite semilegal pastime: public food vending.
In April 2023, in response to growing street vending demands, the Nevada Legislature passed Senate Bill 92 easing the process and expense of obtaining a license to sell food to the general public. Miraculously, Clark County and the City of Las Vegas responded with local laws that align with the state’s wishes. Of course, the municipalities added what some would consider a hefty price tag, making legal food cart vending a pursuit costing thousands of dollars. Then, the Southern Nevada Health District created a list of requirements that gummed the process up.
The health district’s approval requires expensive culinary equipment, such as sinks, refrigeration, and propane burners that most beginning food stands simply can’t afford. In addition, applications go to an office that doesn’t have enough staff to field the requests they receive in a week. Since the new regulations were put into place, only a handful of small vendors have been approved.
At this point, one might question this yo-yo bureaucracy’s effect. Have we seen a chilling effect? Hardly. Since Bill 92’s inception, the number of legal and illegal food carts has only grown. Even with the stagnation caused by SNHD’s narrow passage to licensing, most small elote and agua fresca vendors are willing to skirt the law as they’ve always done, if they’ve got a good thing going.
The rainbow umbrella of your neighborhood elote cart, the white and red popup tents you see in parking lots (mostly from out of state, joining the rest of our transient culinary work force), and the local roadside agua fresca stand probably won’t be deterred by codes or zoning, and for this, I’m grateful.
As far as food safety concerns go, if you’re buying a tamale from a busy parking lot on a Sunday afternoon, a late-night taco from the corner of a tire shop, or greased corn on a stick at your favorite park, you are likely aware of the risks. If you’re wary, then stick with one that’s licensed. That’s what it’s for. — BH
Three great spots to enjoy the Vietnamese sandwich in all its crunchy, spicy, pickled diversity
BY Brent Holmes
If humanity has gleaned any benefit from centuries of exploitative Western hegemony, it can be found on the plate. Take the humble banh mi, for example. France’s introduction of baguettes to Vietnam in the early 19th century resulted in a stellar example of sandwich-making. With wide varieties and nuanced flavors, there’s a banh mi for every palate. In Las Vegas’ strong Vietnamese food scene, you can find the version that’s for you. Here are three suggestions to get started.
On Spring Mountain, half a block from Chinatown legends such as Raku, Pho Thanh is an unassuming spot, with a walk-up counter, booth seating, extensive menu, and attached mini mart selling assorted sundries. The pho here is excellent, but the banh mi offers the best bang for your buck, coming in a wide variety at an easy price point. If you’re up for breakfast, the sausage and egg banh mi combines sweet and savory components. For a more midday mood, try the charbroiled chicken, grilled meat seasoned perfectly against pickled vegetables, fresh cilantro and light spread
Lost Sweets makes soft-serve taiyaki (little fish-shaped waffles stuffed with a variety of fillings) in a spot across from Resorts World. It’s an outlier for a good Viet sandwich, yet it might just have the best one in town. They serve only one variety of banh mi, packed with cured meat, fresh char shu , and a divine house-made paté that could be eaten on its own. It’s got rich umami and a bright vegetal profile. At a foot long, this sandwich is a size larger than standard banh mi, the baguette is denser, and it’s the most expensive one on our list at $16. But it’s worth
Back on Spring Mountain, Cô Ahn is a mom-and-pop kitchen with a family vibe. It’s not your standard pho joint; in fact, there’s no pho on the menu. Instead, you’ll find Cô Ahn hits the banh mi trifecta of great veggies, well-prepared proteins, and a soft, crunchy baguette. My favorite is the fishcake, with lightly fried triangles of processed fish and rich mayonnaise. I recommend the head cheese for the more adventurous diner, who will enjoy its strong flavor. The price is also right at Cô Ahn, where no sandwich is over $8 and change. ✦
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Hawaiian legend Keola Beamer, awardwinning musician Jeff Peterson and hula dancer Moanalani Beamer will present an evening of superb classical Hawaiian instruments, accompanied by rich and soulful vocals, as they explore the beauty of Hawaiian music for 2 shows at The Smith Center January 25.
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Holiday dance concerts
DEC. 13-27
>>> Dance is an excellent way to feel the spirit of the season. Contemporary West Dance Theatre seems to agree, judging from its annual A Cool Yule Christmas Spectacular . Per tradition, this performance pairs modern dance numbers with traditional holiday tunes. Also that weekend, and throughout most of December, Nevada Ballet Theatre will stage its annual holiday show, The Nutcracker , reprising the edition conceived by former artistic director James Canfield, noteworthy for its Vegas-level production value. A Cool Yule Christmas Spectacular: Dec 13-14; 1:30p and 7p; $12-30; Charleston Heights Art Center; lvdance. org. The Nutcracker: Dec. 14-27; 2p and 7:30p; $41-218; Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center; nevadaballet.org. — Maicyn Udani
THROUGH DEC. 13
>>> Why is Core Contemporary, one of the city’s most vital art galleries, closing? Owner/gallerist Nancy Good told “KNPR’s State of Nevada” that Clark County’s handling of the Commercial Center redevelopment — to say nothing of unwanted intrusions in the complex by non-patrons — has left some tenants no choice but to leave. So, Good is ending Core’s run with not only the SOMA exhibit by multidisciplinary artist Laura Esbensen, but also a funeral — specifically, a Jazz Funeral & Wake — on December 13. The affair will acknowledge both the death of her gallery as well as its life — and the life it helped breathe into the local arts community — complete with a proper funeral procession through New Orleans Square and a party at the gallery after. Dress up for this one, folks. Tue-Fri, 11:30a-5:30p, or by appointment; free; Core Contemporary; corecontemporary.com. — Mike Prevatt
Festivities in Boulder City THROUGH DEC. 22
>>> As holiday festivities occur around the valley, let’s not forget about those in Boulder City. For starters, there’s Santa’s Electric Light Parade. Visit Historic Nevada Way to witness the grand entrance of the one-andonly Santa Claus. As the sun goes down, the lights will come on for Saint Nick and his lit-up posse. But this is only happening in the first week of December. If you happen to miss Santa there, don’t worry — you can
catch both him and Mrs. Claus for the rest of the month at the North Pole Express. This train excursion will have you singing to your favorite carols while indulging in holiday treats. You might even have a chance encounter with a snowstorm along the way. Santa’s Electric Light Parade: Dec. 7, 4:30-6:30p, free, Boulder City Historic District; visitbouldercity.com. Boulder City North Pole Express: through Dec. 22; 4:30-7:30p; $30-45; Nevada State Railroad Museum in Boulder City; boulderrailroadmuseum. org. — MU
Forest THROUGH DEC. 31
>>> Cue Stefon from Saturday Night Live : This holiday event has everything! Delicious Christmas-themed treats (especially hot cocoa). Carnival-variety games. Gifts for purchase. Mini golf. Entertainment. A wintery cascade slide and the must-ride Forest Express. And, of course, Santa. Covering so much ground is how
the Magical Forest has made itself a Las Vegas holiday destination for four decades. SunThu, 5:30-9p, Fri-Sat, 5:30-9:30p; $22-104; Opportunity Village; opportunityvillage.org. — MP
Goldmining THROUGH JAN. 26
>>> Homero Hidalgo’s work epitomizes abstract art. The intricacies of color and lines in his paintings allure the
eye. That, and his ability to find symbolism in the unexpected, are what make his work stand out. His recent exhibit, Goldmining , presents a two-dimensional combination of painting and smartphone photography. By using components of both artistic fields, Hidalgo attempts the “goldmine” of media consumption.
Mon-Thu, 10a-8p; Fri-Sat 10a-6p; free; Clark County Library; thelibrarydistrict.org. — MU
Grace Talusan & Monica Macansantos
DEC. 3
>>> There isn’t much you can throw at author Grace Talusan that she couldn’t catch and then heave in another direction. This is born out in her critically acclaimed memoir, The Body Papers in which she shares her trials as a young Filipino immigrant in a white Massachusetts town, the horrors she experienced from family members, and cancer diagnoses, to name a few. She comes out of all this at the other end
with perspective and resilience. Talusan will read from The Body Papers , as well as talk with Black Mountain Institute Shearing Fellow Monica Macansantos. 7p; free; Beverly Rogers Literature and Law Building, Room 101, UNLV; blackmountaininstitute.org. — MP
Las Vegas Philharmonic:
A Very Vegas Christmas DEC. 7
>>> What makes a “very Vegas Christmas” besides family members stuck working on the Strip Christmas Eve and lit-up palm trees that would make Freud blush? Using locally revered performers to ring in the season. The Las Vegas Philharmonic leans into our musical community for its annual Christmas program, from Strip ventriloquists (Terry Fator) to jazz favorites (Michelle Johnson) to opera stars (UNLV grad Cecilia Violetta Lopez) to Grammy-winning crooners (Clint Holmes, pulling double duty at The Smith Center that weekend with his show next door at Myron’s). There’s a reason Mannheim Steamroller isn’t playing Vegas this year — to quote Kendrick Lamar, they not like us. 2p and 7:30p; $58-145; Reynolds Hall at the Smith Center; lvphil. org. — MP
STAGE Cabaret
JAN. 16-MARCH 9
>>> If there’s any theater company able to put you in the middle of the Kit Kat Klub, it’s immersion-friendly Majestic Repertory Theater, which is staging
the 1966 musical by John Kander and Fred Ebb. The setting is 1929 Berlin — a wily time for a wily city that’s nonetheless edging toward the beginning of the Third Reich. Enter the Klub and its promise of escape and last-ditch ribaldry. And at the heart of it all is two burgeoning romances — and a provocative cast of performers likely to be encouraged by the theater’s lack of stage/ audience boundaries.
Thu-Sat, 7:30p, Sun, 5p; $50-60; Majestic Repertory Theatre; majesticrepertory.com. — MP
STAGE Four Old Broads on the High Seas
JAN. 17-FEB. 2
>>> I’m not one for floating hotels, but the Sassy Seniors Cruise sounds too good to pass up. Some of the
residents from the Magnolia Place Assisted Living agree — they spent all of 2017’s Four Old Broads (by Leslie Kimbell) trying to lock in a vacation. The 2019 sequel finally sees those lucky ladies setting sail for the Bahamas. And what might they encounter once aboard? Murder, topless bathing, and a drag queen sassier than any of them. Audiences get to enjoy it all … from the mainland. Fri-Sat, 7p, Sat-Sun, 2p (except Jan. 18); $20-37; Las Vegas Little Theatre; lvlt.org. — MP
Kodo
JAN. 22
>>> “I’m banging on my drum,” sang the late, great Lou Reed, who once appeared on an album alongside Kodo (1990’s One World One Voice ). Methinks Lou
— who really did play the drums — would recommend a performance by the 30-odd-member Japanese troupe, a literal world-music act, considering it has played gigs all over the globe since 1981. The celebrated percussionists honor traditional Japanese music through their use of the taiko drum — along with some Japanese string and woodwind instruments — while also updating that centuries-old sound through new techniques and influences. This is no glorified drum circle — it’s an escape to Japan, minus that 12-hour flight. 7:30p, $28-110, Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center; thesmithcenter.com. — MP
JAN. 26
>>> Las Vegas
Sinfonietta is often the best of both worlds: showcasing talented musicians from Southern Nevada and around the world, featuring classical chestnuts and forward-thinking chamber music (with the occasional opera collab thrown in for good measure). For this January concert, LVS artistic director Taras Krysa and ensemble stick to the hits: The program highlights some assorted favorites, but — per the show’s name — mostly Mozart. 3p-5p; $40; Clark County Library Theater; lasvegassinfonietta.com. — MU
JAN. 31-FEB. 1
>>> I know what you’re thinking: Oh geez, another sin-themed diversion in Sin City, which is a total misnomer in this Corporate Vegas era, no thanks to the Nevada Gaming Control Board that … Okay, maybe it’s what I’m thinking. To be fair, Vegas City Opera likely won’t be taking the usual hackneyed approach to sin, excess, etc., during this 90-minute multidisciplinary program that will likely expand how one experiences opera. Among the highlights: the stage debut of composer David Del Tredici’s Dracula in total, starring soprano and VCO founder and executive director Ginger Landvan Buuren. 7p; $25-40; Charleston Heights Arts Center; vegascityopera.org. — MP
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Gia Coppola’s Showgirl elegizes an artform ... with varying degrees of authenticity
BY Josh Bell
The showgirl maintains such an enduring association with Las Vegas that, while there are no longer any classic showgirl productions running at any Vegas hotel-casinos, creators who represent the city onscreen almost invariably still include them. That lack of understanding might initially seem to be what drives director Gia Coppola’s new film, The Last Showgirl, but Coppola and screenwriter Kate Gersten offer a more grounded — if still sometimes overly simplistic — perspective on the showgirl’s place in modern Las Vegas.
The decline of the showgirl is central to the story, about veteran dancer Shelley (Pamela Anderson), who learns that the show she’s been performing in for more than 30 years is being shut down. Shelley struggles to figure out a future for herself without the artistic expression that has defined her identity. The impressive supporting cast includes Jamie Lee Curtis as Shelley’s cocktail-waitress best friend, Dave Bautista as the show’s stage manager, and Kiernan Shipka and Brenda Song as Shelley’s fellow performers.
“To find a role like this to play at this point in my life, I just realize that everything in my life was worth it,” Anderson said at a press conference for the movie. The actor’s own history as an international sex symbol informs the audience’s understand-
ing of Shelley’s challenges. The Last Showgirl was filmed in Las Vegas, with casino scenes shot at the Rio (which Curtis said was “a bit of a shit box” at the time of shooting), and costumes borrowed from the Jubilee! archives. “We met with the actual Jubilee! dancers, and there’s a lot of do’s and don’ts,” Anderson recalled. “Even with the choreography of doing the quick changes (backstage), because there’s a way to do it.”
The movie has an elegiac tone that marks the passing of an era, both in the city and
in Shelley’s life. “Las Vegas, in itself, it’s such a metaphor for America and the discarding of traditions, replaced by more consumerist values,” Coppola said. “It’s a perfect indictment of where we are as a culture, of what we expect women to do,” Curtis added. “That artform that Pamela really immersed (herself) in is no longer.”
In its most effective moments, The Last Showgirl brings that artform back to life for one final bow.
The Last Showgirl opens January 10 in theaters. ✦
Recent titles from local authors make excellent gifts, whatever you’re celebrating
BY Mike Prevatt
The dreaded holiday gift list. So easy to draw up all the names; so hard to match them with something they might not have that they also didn’t know they’d want. Which, obviously, is new books from Nevada authors. So, we did the tough part — our gift to you.
Douglas Unger
For his fifth novel, the author and UNLV English professor takes on the battle for the Vegas soul. An aspiring hotel marketer eventually learns that pleasing millions of tourists a year can exact a high price for anyone charged with preserving facades — both fantastical and personal. University of Nevada Press, $30, 356 pages
Bellowing at the Volcano by
Harry Fagel
After nearly three decades as a police officer — and almost two since his last poetry collection — Fagel has new things to say about the human condition. But cast aside your presumptions — the badge belies a full, beating, poet heart. Zeitgeist Press, $20, 120 pages
My Life in Nevada Politics: The Memoirs of Senator Richard H. Bryan by
Richard H. Bryan with John L. Smith
The voice behind KNPR’s “Nevada Yesterdays” recounts his rise to prominence in Nevada politics, from UNR student body president to two-term U.S. senator. University of Nevada Press, $35, 364 pages
ESSAY COLLECTIONS: UNLV sociology professor Barbara Brents serves as co-editor of Sex Work Today: Erotic Labor in the Twenty-First Century (also edited by Bernadette Barton and Angela Jones; NYU Press, $35, 440 pages). And Vegas author/actress Tonya Todd contributes to and co-edits Comics Lit Vol. 1 (also edited by A.R. Farina; Accomplishing Innovation Press, $16, 106 pages). The first debunks common myths; the second interprets classic ones.
TANGENTIALLY VEGAS: Charles Bock no longer lives in Nevada, but that’s no reason to overlook the Beautiful Children writer’s grief-stricken memoir, I Will Do Better (Abrams, $26, 208 pages). And Nick Hornby’s Rosamond Lehmann in Vegas (McSweeney’s, $20, 170 pages) covers his columns during The Believer’s UNLV years.
TICKETS
This year, as in previous years, you might be wondering what to give to your family and friends. Worries begone, because you’re bound to find something within this thoughtfully curated guide to gifts made in Nevada. You’ll impress even the most discerning kid, friend, family member, or special someone. — Sarah Bun
CUSTOMIZED TIC-TAC-TOE GAME BOARD AND PIECES
Kids can play anytime, anywhere with this small classic board game. $15, etsy.com/shop/BurdhouseCreations
POCKET HUGS
Customizable and ideal for kid firsts: school, dentist, and more, $5, resinista-lisa.square.site
LOCAL NEVADA KIDS T-SHIRT
Perfect for the (recently) Vegas-born in your life. $20, wildiscalling.com
THE KILLERS REBEL DIAMONDS TOTE
Carry this proudly, knowing that the band was formed here. $25, shop.thekillersmusic.com
RECYCLED GLASS PLATES
For the eco-conscious at heart and mind, handmade from bottles. $20, akincooperative.com
BROKEN ARROW
NEVADA MONEY CLIP
This turquoise gem, mined in Central Nevada, comes with a silver polishing pad. $120, findingnevadawild.com
CHARCUTERIE BOARD
MADE IN NEVADA
Say it with a Silver State-shaped board and Nevada-made goodies. $110, bacchusbaskets.com
LIMITED EDITION OVERPROOF RUM
The proof is in this 126 proof liquor, one of only 300 bottled. $35, lasvegasdistillery.com
STERLING SILVER NEVADA PENDANT NECKLACE
This silver state(ment) beauty is made to order, with a two-week turnaround. $70, etsy.com/shop/ MarleyAndMayDesigns
Can the only Vegas-born player to skate in the NHL get back in the Golden Knights’ lineup? He’s working on it
By Gary Dymski
Gage Quinney was 16, home in Las Vegas for a few days’ break from playing for an elite team in Phoenix, when he told his mom he was quitting hockey.
“I’m done,” said Quinney, who less than a decade later would become the only Nevada-born player to skate in a National Hockey League game — for his hometown team, no less, the Vegas Golden Knights.
Angela Riepenhoff, his mother, didn’t want to overreact but remembers, “I like wanted to throw up.”
Gage Quinney always loved hockey, and the next leg of his icy journey was supposed to be Canada, playing at the major-junior level for the Western Hockey League’s Prince Albert Raiders in Saskatchewan province.
“I know his dad was super upset,” Angela says. “The (Prince Albert) coach is calling. I’m avoiding him. Finally, I have to say to his agent, ‘He’s not going. I think he needs a gap year.’”
Ken Quinney, a former professional hockey player, doesn’t clearly recollect why or when his son wanted
to quit but says, “There was that time I was really, really pissed at him, and that must have been it.”
All true, says Gage, remembering deciding to hang up his skates. “A lot of mixed emotions. I was 16 and thought I was missing out on a lot of things at home. A little homesickness.
“For my whole life, I had always played hockey here (Las Vegas). And it (living and playing in Phoenix) was such a big change.”
Angela remembers, too, that Gage had his first “real girlfriend” then, and she and Ken were going through a divorce.
There was no one thing, says Gage, 29, now a skilled, strong-skating center in his fifth season with the American Hockey League’s Henderson Silver Knights, the parent team’s top minor-league affiliate. “At 16, you don’t know what’s going on. ... You don’t know life yet. You don’t know what’s right.”
His parents were confused, because hockey had always been the right thing for Gage. But they were patient, too. Give him time, Angela reasoned.
A mother’s intuition perhaps; Angela understood her most sensitive child’s love of hockey. “He just loved being part of the team. ... He loved it all, the travel, the hockey in the hotel hallways, in the house, in the street.”
Two days after saying he was done, Gage told his mom he was heading to the rink. “He tells me he’s just going to watch some of his friends play,” Angela says.
Months later, Gage ended up playing midget hockey (18 and under) for the Las Vegas Storm, with many of his friends as teammates.
He would head to Prince Albert, a year late, but perhaps more recommitted to the dream of making the NHL. “Maybe I was just burnt out competitively,” Gage says. He figures he needed that year with his friends, a year at home, attending Spring Valley High School.
“At that point, I think the fire was back,” Gage says. “Once you realize you’re not missing out on anything ... you want that chase back.”
TO AN OUTSIDER, Gage Quinney’s chase might seem to have come full circle. Undrafted twice, overlooked
often at camps and tryouts as a youth player, he’s dug out from what once was a non-hockey environment, Southern Nevada, returned to his roots, and is within a step of the world’s best league. But Quinney yearns to be an NHL regular. His chase, recently derailed by illness and injury, continues.
After playing three consecutive games for the Golden Knights in February 2020, his first and only NHL stint, Gage contracted long COVID, which lingered for parts of two seasons.
“It was scary,” he says, remembering how he’d bruise easily and feel overly fatigued. There were some days he couldn’t practice, couldn’t get out of bed. “If it was a physical game, I might not be able to walk or move the next day.”
He must have visited 10 doctors, each one with different advice. It was early in the pandemic, and “no one was sure of what to do,” he says. One day, he woke up and “it’s just like it was gone.”
He bounced back with a superb 2022-23 season: 64 points, including 25 goals, in 66 AHL games. Then last season, a nasty groin tear limited him to eight goals in 39 games.
Silver Knights coach Ryan Craig, for one, is grateful to see Quinney healthy again. “He’s a cerebral player,” Craig says. “High hockey IQ, highly skilled. We use him to take important faceoffs, and he plays the power play and penalty kill.”
Undrafted is tough enough. Add the odds of a Las Vegas player reaching the NHL? Skeptical overload.
So, after major-junior, he worked on the skeptics. Quinney made the Wheeling Nailers, an affiliate of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins, on a tryout and notched 44 points, including 18 goals, in 45 games in 2016-17. His production prompted the Penguins to offer a minor-league deal, and Quinney the next season had 14 goals and 19 assists in 57 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
That earned him his first twoway NHL contract with the Golden Knights, and he spent his next two seasons with their AHL team, the Chicago Wolves.
At each stop, his undrafted status served as motivation. “It helps put that chip on your shoulder,” Gage says. “I always knew I could play, so not being drafted, that bugs you. ... There’s always a chip.”
Quinney had no idea that signing with the Golden Knights would mean a return to his hometown with the AHL’s Silver Knights. The Golden Knights dropped their AHL affiliation with Chicago, then bought the AHL’s San Antonio franchise in February 2020. The franchise relocated to Henderson, and Gage happily moved right along with it.
“I’m really lucky, playing at home now, still playing high-level hockey,” he says. “Very lucky, very blessed.”
“At that point, the fire was back.”
—Gage Quinney
THE IMPROBABLE CHASE — the Quinney Quest, if you will — to reach the NHL full-time started with four full seasons in Canada’s WHL, playing for Prince Albert, Kelowna, Kamloops, and four more American stops; Wheeling, West Virginia, of the ECHL (once also named the East Coast Hockey League), and AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Chicago, and Henderson.
Call it improbable partly because Quinney was passed over in the major-junior and NHL drafts. Major-junior and pro teams scour the world for talent. Drafted players from Europe, Canada, and the United States are ahead in the pecking order when it comes to making teams.
GAGE WAS BORN in Las Vegas the summer of 1995, between his dad’s second and third seasons with the Las Vegas Thunder of the International Hockey League. From New Westminster, British Columbia, less than an hour’s car ride southeast of Vancouver, Ken was a gifted scorer who played his off wing — a right-handed shot on the left wing — for the Thunder, which played home games at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center. He scored 189 goals in five seasons in Las Vegas. Ken had been a 10th-round draft pick in 1984 by the NHL’s Quebec Nordiques (which in 1995 became the Colorado Avalanche). He played 59 NHL games over parts of three seasons. Following his stint with the Thunder, in 1998, the family moved from Las Vegas to Germany so Ken
could finish his career with the Frankfurt Lions of the Deutsche Eishockey League.
Gage, younger brother, Landon, and mom, Angela, attended most of Ken’s practices and games. When Gage wasn’t pleading with Angela to play goalie so he could fire shots at her, he was skating with her on an outdoor rink near the team’s practice facility.
Angela, a native of Nova Scotia, would skate while pushing Landon in a stroller as Gage scooted about the ice.
Gage remembers only that their dwelling in Frankfurt was near a bakery. “The pretzel bread,” he says. “We’d go every morning for pretzel bread.”
At the end of the 2000-01 season with Frankfurt, Ken stopped playing professionally. Angela thought the family might go back to Canada, but Ken loved Las Vegas’ weather. So, they headed back to the desert, and Gage, now 5, began skating in earnest with his dad as coach.
Ken, 59, is now a firefighter with the Clark County Fire Department. He says he never coached his sons with the idea of hockey being a career. “I just wanted them to have fun,” he says. “I wanted them to love it like I did.”
SEVERAL PEOPLE CLOSE to the sport, including many who have witnessed Gage’s growth as a player, agree with Craig, the Henderson coach — Quinney is talented, smart, and a fluid skater, who solidified the Golden Knights’ third line during his call-up. He is more than good enough to play in the NHL.
“He’s highly skilled, a strong skater and can shoot the puck a ton,” says Henderson resident Jeff Sharples, a former NHL defenseman with the Detroit Red Wings and handful of AHL and IHL teams, including three seasons as a teammate of Ken Quinney with the Thunder. “He’s an NHL caliber player.”
Ken Quinney agrees. But as someone who had great seasons in the minors — seasons of 41, 37 and 55 goals — he also is realistic. “If I was good enough, I’d have made it. So, if a player is good enough, he’ll make it.”
What’s the holdup for Gage, then? “Right time, right place,” Ken says. Says Craig: “A player right there, so close, just needs an opportunity, and when his time comes, he needs to grab it.”
Sharples, who does some broadcast work with the Silver Knights, says Gage probably would have been promoted to the NHL team during the 2020 playoffs, the pandemic tournament. The Golden Knights had several injuries, providing an opening. But his long COVID likely shelved that chance, Sharples says.
“I’ve always told him the only things you can control are your work ethic and your attitude,” Ken says. He also realizes what his son is up against. NHL teams each year bring in younger, highly regarded draft picks, and those languishing in the system drop deeper in the prospect pool.
The other obstacle in Quinney’s quest is the Golden Knights’ depth at center ice. Jack Eichel, Tomáš Hertl, William Karlsson, and Nicolas Roy give the Knights arguably the NHL’s deepest, most versatile group of centermen.
“Look at the players at center with the Golden Knights, they’re world class, and that’s tough to crack,” Sharples says.
Gage is pragmatic. Climbing the major-junior and pro ranks, he has heeded his dad’s advice on work ethic and attitude. “You just have to work your way up,” he says, “and then everything always plays itself out at the end.”
This season had a hectic start for Gage. He married a Las Vegas woman, Ashley Benson, in the summer of 2023. The two moved into a new house this fall and are expecting their first child in December.
Admittedly, playing and living again in Las Vegas is great, he says. “Sometimes I think about it, and I can’t really believe it.”
But he’s also in the last year of a two-way deal with the Golden Knights ($475,000 in the AHL, $775,000 in the NHL). He’ll be an unrestricted free agent in July. His first choice is to remain with his hometown team. But he realizes that “it’s a business.”
“Obviously, I’m from here, but if another opportunity comes, it’s not something I’m opposed to,” he says.
After all, he stopped playing prematurely once. No reason to do it again. ✦
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At Ovation, we believe quality housing is foundational to the health and well-being of individuals, families, and communities.
That’s why we dedicate a signi cant portion of our development pipeline to creating quality a ordable housing for seniors and working families.
We are proud to support and work with the following agencies and nonpro ts to ensure that more Nevadans – regardless of income – can live in comfort and dignity.
Coordinated Living of Southern Nevada
Helping Hands of Vegas Valley
Nevada Homeless Alliance
Nevada Housing Coalition
Nevada Senior Services
South Nellis Permanent Supportive Housing
Three Square
UNLV Health Mojave Counseling
Brand-New Housing Units Available Now!
While “’tis the season for giving” may have joined the ranks of cliché holiday sayings quite some time ago, the concept still resonates loud and clear with many Las Vegas businesses and organizations that work tirelessly to improve the quality of life for the metropolitan area’s 2 million-plus residents. Through efforts that range from offering various forms of assistance and support, to programs that empower less-fortunate individuals and families with the capabilities necessary to successfully engage in everyday life, to providing opportunities for educational and career advancement and success, philanthropy surely is alive and well in Las Vegas.
Howard Hughes, developer of the Summerlin® master planned community, and its dynamic urban core of Downtown Summerlin®, is proud to sponsor for the tenth consecutive year, “In the Spirit of Giving,” a testament to Southern Nevada’s embrace of philanthropy.
As we celebrate the Summerlin community’s 34th successful year in development, we are reminded that there is still much work to do to ensure the entire Las Vegas Valley continues to grow and thrive.
This year, Howard Hughes was particularly focused on helping nonprofits in the education, environmental and social services sectors, reflective of our own corporate values.
• We believe that access to a quality education is foundational to individual success and overall community wellbeing. That’s why we are proud supporters of the UNLV Foundation, After-School All-Stars, and the Summerlin Children’s Forum.
• We believe it is everyone’s responsibility to protect natural and historical landmarks, to build sustainability into everything we do, and to teach students the value of growing their own food. That’s why we are proud supporters of Green Our Planet, Friends of Red Rock Canyon, and Nevadans for Cultural Preservation.
• We believe a robust network of community and social services improves the lives of those who need our help most. That’s why we are proud supporters of Goodie Two Shoes Foundation, HELP of Southern Nevada, and the Mayor’s Fund for Las Vegas LIFE.
At Howard Hughes, we believe that giving back is a privilege and an obligation for those who have capacity.
We remain grateful to those who join us in giving - corporate partners, philanthropic foundations, individuals, and all who understand the power of collective commitment to advance programs, initiatives and nonprofits that improve quality of life.
May the giving spirit of the holiday season carry us through the coming year.
Friends of Red Rock Canyon
1000 Scenic Loop Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89161 702-515-5366 info@friendsredrock.org friendsredrock.org
Celebrating our 40th Anniversary this year, Friends of Red Rock Canyon's mission is To promote the preservation and enhancement of Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area through volunteerism, philanthropy and education. We are the first Friends group in the BLM system nationwide! Our amazing volunteers provide over 10,000 hours of work each year at Red Rock Canyon. Our work includes trail maintenance, trash pickup, graffiti removal, taking care of the tortoise habitat, protecting native plants and engaging with visitors at the Visitor Center information desk. We work to preserve these beautiful public lands for future generations. All ages of volunteers are welcome!
Connecting Students to the Wonders of the Universe through School Gardens
Green Our Planet
8020 S. Rainbow Boulevard Suite 100-620
Las Vegas, NV 89139
702-624-8912
ciara@greenourplanet.org greenourplanet .org
Green Our Planet teaches students to love and care for our planet in schools across the United States through comprehensive STEM school garden and hydroponics programs. We use gardening as a portal for understanding both life on Earth and our place in the universe. Our programs utilize outdoor gardens and indoor hydroponic setups as living laboratories and experiential learning environments, sparking inspiration for future scientists, conservationists, farmers, chefs, and entrepreneurs. Whether it's cultivating seeds in gardens or seeds of knowledge in young minds, Green Our Planet inspires growth across 44 states, spanning over 1,100 schools and impacting over 300,000 students. Our mission is to awaken students to the wonders of the universe - from the soil to the starsin everything we do.
UNLV Foundation 4505 S. Maryland Parkway Box 451006
Las Vegas,NV 89154-1006 702-895-3641 unlvfoundation@unlv.edu unlv.edu/ philanthropy
The UNLV Foundation raises and manages private funds for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. These funds help UNLV and its diverse students, faculty, staff and alumni advance community wellbeing and individual achievement through education, research, scholarship, innovative programs, and clinical services. We also stimulate economic development and diversification, foster a climate of innovation, promote health and enrich the cultural vitality of the community we serve. Through the UNLV Foundation every charitable dollar UNLV receives has an exponential impact, as it helps us leverage UNLV’s most valuable skills – research, teaching and community service – for the benefit of all Nevadans.
Sallie Doebler, CEO
The Mayor’s Fund for Las Vegas LIFE
702-229-LIFE (5433) info@mayorsfundlv.org mayorsfundlv.org
The Mayor’s Fund for Las Vegas LIFE was established in 2017 as an independent nonprofit entity to provide a vehicle for corporations, foundations and philanthropists to support City of Las Vegas programs and initiatives that improve quality of life via public-private partnership. With a special focus on vulnerable populations in the City of Las Vegas in the areas of education, public arts, youth sports, homelessness and technology, the Fund addresses pervasive challenges via donations of cash, in-kind services and innovative ideas for solving critical challenges. Governed by a diverse group of community leaders, the Mayor’s Fund is a public charity under Section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. For information, visit MayorsFundLV.org
Nevadans for Cultural Preservation
7925 W. Russell Rd. Box 400483
Las Vegas, NV 89140
702-466-3013
Contact@nvfcp.org NVFCP .org
Nevadans for Cultural Preservation (NVFCP) promotes and participates in the preservation of Nevada’s archaeological and historic cultural sites through education, special projects, and partnerships. From petroglyph images carved into stone thousands of years ago to abandoned mining towns, NVFCP works to protect the places that connect us to our history.
Specializing in public education and interpretation, site management, and graffiti removal, NVFCP believes that education and participation in preservation activities are key to fostering responsible citizens that will continue to value and protect these cultural sites for the enjoyment and understanding of current and future generations
Summerlin ® Children’s Forum 2115 Festival Plaza Drive, Suite 220 Las Vegas, NV 89135 702-791-4000
Randy.Ecklund@HowardHughes.com summerlin.com
The Summerlin ® Children’s Forum (SCF) is a nonprofit organization established in 1997 by leaders of the Summerlin master-planned community and its developer, Howard Hughes. The organization is dedicated to recognizing academic excellence. Since inception, the Summerlin Children’s Forum has provided college scholarships and school enrichment grants totaling more than $700,000. Today, Summerlin Children’s Forum is focused on its annual college scholarship program that is open to all graduating high school seniors who reside in Summerlin.
After-School All-Stars Las Vegas 8485 W. Sunset Rd., Suite 106 Las Vegas, NV 89113 702-259-1850 info@asaslv.org
MISSION:
After-School All-Stars Las Vegas provides free, enriching, highquality, teacher-led after-school programs that keep children safe during the hours where they might otherwise find trouble, all while teaching them skills to help them succeed in school and life. We believe every child deserves a time to shine, and for many, that time is after the school bell rings.
Goodie Two Shoes Foundation 10620 Southern Highlands Parkway, #110-474 Las Vegas, NV 89141 702-617-4027 info@goodietwoshoes.org goodietwoshoes.org
Since 2003, GTSF has outfitted over 150,000 of our community's most critical-needs students with new shoes and socks. GTSF EMPOWERS children with CHOICE by giving them the opportunity to select any properly fitting pair of new sneakers they like from our 48' mobile shoe unit. The experience boosts confidence and immediately eliminates a very visible sign of poverty. We continually have sponsorship & volunteer opportunities available! Each of our school-based shoe distribution events is staffed by volunteers who assist the children in selecting a brand-new pair of sneakers. We're always eager to introduce new funders & volunteer groups to what we do! Give children in need the gift of receiving new shoes (and so much more) through GTSF this holiday season and all year through! goodietwoshoes.org
HELP of Southern Nevada 1640 East Flamingo Rd., #100 Las Vegas, NV 89119 702-369-4357, info@helpsonv.org helpsonv.org
HELP of Southern Nevada’s mission for more than 50 years is to assist families and individuals throughout the Valley, helping them overcome barriers and attain self-sufficiency through direct services, training and referral to community resources. HELP of Southern Nevada has nine essential programs that are dedicated to their commitment to preventing and ending homelessness one youth, one individual and one family at a time. HELP’s programs include Behavioral Health Services, Homeless Response Teams, Family Housing Services, Holiday Assistance, Adult Housing Programs, Shannon West Homeless Youth Center, Weatherization and Workforce Services.
Supporting HELP and its programs, such as the Homeless Outreach Teams and Shannon West Homeless Youth Center, is to help bring people off the streets and into housing, providing them with necessary resources needed to survive. For additional details and to contribute to the fight to end homelessness, visit helpsonv.org
Las Vegas Natural History Museum
900 Las Vegas Blvd., North Las Vegas, NV 89101
702-384-3466
dino@lvnhm.org
MISSION:
The Las Vegas Natural History Museum was established in 1989 by a group of citizens who knew the community would benefit from the educational resources it could provide. After very humble beginnings, this private nonprofit museum is now a Smithsonian Affiliate, accredited with the American Alliance of Museums, and is a federal and state repository for fossils and artifacts.
The Las Vegas Natural History Museum is on a mission to inspire a better understanding and appreciation of the natural world, the sciences, and ourselves through educational exhibits, programming, and research and offers a global learning adventure for all ages.
Please visit lvnhm.org, follow on Facebook and LinkedIn at Las Vegas Natural History Museum; and @LVHNMuseum on Instagram.
Donna Street Community Center 2725 N. Donna Street, North Las Vegas, NV 89039 donnastreetcommunitycenter.org
Robert Strawder Jr., Founder 702-810-5808; rstrawder@ donnastreetcommunitycenter.org
The Donna Street Community Center (DSCC) is dedicated to empowering youth and supporting families in one of Las Vegas's most underserved areas. Through programs that focus on education, mentorship, and entrepreneurship, DSCC helps young people overcome challenges and build a path toward success. We offer essential resources, including food, health services, educational workshops, and holiday events, to help families thrive. By fostering a safe and supportive environment, DSCC strengthens community connections and opens doors for positive change, inspiring hope, resilience, and growth for families in need.
Ronald McDonald House
Charities of Greater Las Vegas 2323 Potosi Street Las Vegas, NV 89146
702-252-4663
info@rmhlv.org
@RMHCLasVegas rmhlv.org
Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Las Vegas (RMHC Las Vegas) provides essential services that remove barriers, strengthen families, and promote healing when children need healthcare.
RMHC Las Vegas has two Ronald McDonald Houses, providing children and families housing, meals, transportation, and supportive services, a Ronald McDonald Family Room at Sunrise Children's Hospital, and a Ronald McDonald Care Mobile, providing mobile preventative and restorative dental services to children.
For 26 years, RMHC Las Vegas has focused on family-centered care, linking families to the immediate and vital medical and social resources they need to ensure the best health outcomes for children.
Yoga Haven
702-518-8080
namaste@yogahaven.org yogahaven.org
Yoga Haven Las Vegas is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization that offers trauma-informed, accessible and inclusive yoga and meditation classes to children and adults who have experienced violence and trauma and/or have lived in communities that have historically been underserved and underresourced. We provide FREE yoga classes led by trained traumainformed and gender-inclusive yoga teachers to schools and nonprofits, to better serve our collective community. Yoga programs are custom-tailored to be accessible, inclusive, personable and attuned to the needs of those participating.
“Through years of challenging progress, we agree that yoga increases self-confidence and teaches us how to better cope with life’s unexpected challenges. We strive to make a positive impact on the lives of children, and adults who have experienced trauma or violence.” Founders, Honey & Natalie
Shine A Light
2330 Highland Dr, Las Vegas, NV 89102
725-258-5222
shinealightlv.com
Bringing humanity to those living underground.
Shine a Light is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to not only finding but also transforming the lives of homeless individuals in Clark County. Through the Las Vegas Safety Net, they offer an innovative continuity case management program, navigating individuals through existing resources to achieve long-term stability and housing. Shine
A Light provides referrals to community partners that help accommodate Instant Placement with Access to Treatment and Housing (IPATH) to the people experiencing homelessness in the greater Las Vegas area.
“Our mission extends beyond immediate outreach—each pathway we create is a journey toward renewed dignity and sustainable living.”
The Solidarity Fridge
5502 Blackthorn Drive Las Vegas, NV 89142 thesolidarityfridge.org
The Solidarity Fridge is a mutual aid initiative that is committed to strengthening our community bonds by addressing food insecurity, food deserts and cutting food waste within our city. The rules are simple; take what you need, leave what you can. Food is where we meet, where we are nourished. The stories of food inspire empathy, compassion and connection. Let’s continue to collaborate and get creative and innovative with what’s possible. Let's continue to grow and feel expansive and abundant. Our imaginations are limitless. I ask for our ancestors' permission and guidance as we continue to develop this important project and share it with our community.
“By decolonizing and reindigenizing our diets, we reclaim what is ours. We reconnect with our ancestral foodways and take power over our own bodies and health.” Southern Paiute Territory
280 S. Green Valley Pkwy
Henderson, NV 89012
702-707-2665
hendersonlibraries.com
The mission of Henderson Libraries is to imagine possibilities, discover opportunities, and connect with our community.
Henderson Libraries has served our community over the past eight decades by adapting our services to meet the needs of our community. Not only do we check out books, audiobooks, DVDs, and more, but we also provide quality programming that meets community interest, partner with other organizations to connect people with needed services, and serve as a hub in the community –bringing people together.
As we celebrated our 80th anniversary this year, Henderson Libraries is proud of our past accomplishments, and we look forward to continuing to adapt to serve the needs of our dynamic Henderson community. Learn more about how you can support these efforts here: hendersonlibraries.com/donations
Nevada Child Seekers
6375 W. Charleston Blvd Bld L-180
Las Vegas, NV 89146
702-458-7009
NevadaChildSeekers.org
MISSION
“ABDUCTION” "MISSING" "RUNAWAY"
When a child goes missing, fear and helplessness overwhelm families. In Nevada, Nevada Child Seekers is the beacon of hope they turn to. For nearly 40 years, this nonprofit has worked tirelessly to reunite missing children with their families, driven by a dedicated team and a passionate community. Nevada Child Seekers isn’t just an organization; it’s a family committed to protecting Nevada’s children. Powered by volunteers, donors, and partners, they create a network of hope, proving that when a community unites, even the toughest challenges can be overcome. Their work saves lives.
Desert Research Institute
Las Vegas, NV 89119-7363
702-826-5400
dri.edu
We are a home for science to create a better future for the people of Nevada and the world.
DRI is Nevada’s non-profit research institute, founded in 1959 to empower experts to focus on science that matters. We work with communities across the state –and the world– to address their most pressing scientific questions, while building bridges between scientists and policymakers to enact positive change.
Be part of transforming big ideas into groundbreaking environmental solutions by supporting the Innovation Research Program (IRP) endowment. Funding goes directly to scientists as they carry on DRI’s legacy of advancing science that matters now. With a gift to the IRP, be part of the future of environmental research – and play a powerful role in creating a better future for Nevadans and the world.
Visit https://bit.ly/irpdrifoundation to support DRI’s IRP.
SPONSORED BY SPONSORED BY SPONSORED BY
The Neon Museum
770 Las Vegas Blvd. N. Las Vegas, NV 89101
702-387-6366
neonmuseum.org
MISSION
Founded in 1996, The Neon Museum is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to collecting, preserving, studying and exhibiting iconic Las Vegas signs for educational, historic, arts and cultural enrichment. In 2021, The Neon Museum achieved accreditation by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), the highest national recognition bestowed to museums in the United States. Among its many other accolades, it has been ranked in Travel + Leisure’s 27 Best Museums in the United States, No. 1 in Las Vegas Weekly’s list of “Twenty Greatest Attractions in Las Vegas History,” and Nevada’s “Best Museum” by MSN.
On its 2.27-acre campus, The Neon Museum has an outdoor exhibition space known as the Neon Boneyard, the North Gallery, featuring the immersive audiovisual experience “Brilliant!, Jackpot” and its Visitors’ Center inside the former La Concha Motel lobby.
Touro University Nevada 874 American Pacific Drive, Henderson NV 89014
702-777-8687
www.tun.touro.edu
Touro University Nevada is a private, non-profit institution of higher education focused on positively impacting our community in healthcare and education. Touro Nevada opened in 2004 as the first medical school in Southern Nevada to help address critical needs in health care and education and as a resource for community service throughout the state. The first and only College of Osteopathic Medicine offers a distinctive osteopathic approach, embracing the tenet that the body has an inherent ability to heal itself, emphasizing wellness.
Furthermore, Touro Nevada boasts a 100% placement rate for its Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine graduates. In the College of Health & Human Services, offers degrees in Nursing (RN-BSN, MSN-FNP, DNP) Occupational Therapy (OTD), Physical Therapy (DPT), Medical Health Sciences (MS-MHS), Physician Assistant (MPAS, DPA), and Education (Certificate, MEd, EdD).
Vegas Theatre Company
1025 S 1st St #110
Las Vegas NV 89101
725-222-9661
www.theatre.vegas
For over 22 years, Vegas Theatre Company (formerly Cockroach Theatre) has been a driving force in Las Vegas, bringing powerful stories to life and evolving from a grassroots initiative into a vital cultural institution in the heart of the Arts District. Through bold programming that champions new, underrepresented voices, and a rigorous education program for teens, VTC sparks dialogue, encourages empathy, and connects our community through the transformative power of live theatre.
As we step into an exciting new chapter, VTC remains committed to nurturing fresh voices and incubating bold ideas that resonate far beyond our city. Become part of a movement that shapes the future of Las Vegas arts, strengthens our creative economy, and empowers both emerging and established creators. Together, we can bring the stories of Las Vegas to life, inspire change, and build lasting connections within this city we love.
Vegas Theatre Company is a DBA of Cockroach Inc, a 501(c)(3).
Silver State Hope Fund silverstatehopefund.org @silverstatehope
Silver State Hope Fund (SSHF) is a Nevada-based nonprofit dedicated to supporting those seeking abortion care. Since 2014, we have provided financial, logistical, and emotional assistance, helping hundreds access necessary care both in Nevada and beyond. In 2024, SSHF won a historic lawsuit ordering the state’s Medicaid program to cover the costs of abortion, making access to care more equitable. Over the past year, we raised and distributed over $95,000, including travel aid for those out of state. We remain committed to advancing reproductive justice on the principle that abortion is healthcare. To learn more, visit silverstatehopefund.org and follow us @silverstatehope on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
SPONSORED
BY
Assistance League of Las Vegas
6446 W. Charleston Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV 89146
702-870-2002
AssistanceLeagueLV@ALLV.org ALLV.org
Assistance League of Las Vegas has been serving Clark County since 1976 by providing goods and services to children in need. As an all-volunteer organization, every donation benefits our programs. Operation School Bell®, our signature program, annually provides thousands of Clark County School District students with school clothes, shoes, and hygiene kits, creating an enhanced self-esteem for learning. In addition, AL’s Closet program supplies new clothes and shoes to seventy-one elementary schools for immediate need.
Our newest program awarded $150,000 in scholarships to local students to attend Nevada universities and colleges. We are committed to serving and enriching the lives of children in need. You can help with a tax-deductible donation or by donating and shopping at our recently expanded volunteer staffed Thrift Shop. Our Assistance League Thrift Shop is the Best of Las Vegas!
SPONSORED BY
Springs Preserve
333 S. Valley View Boulevard
Las Vegas, NV 89107
702-258-3258
foundation@springspreserve.org
springspreserve.org
Located at the site of Las Vegas’ original water source, the Springs Preserve is a 180-acre cultural institution that celebrates our community's dynamic history while focusing on its sustainable future. Visitors to the Springs Preserve will discover boundless opportunities to explore ancient and modern history, natural landscapes, archaeological sites, native plants and animals, and current water resource challenges
The campus includes the OriGen Museum, Nevada State Museum, two interactive exhibition spaces (WaterWorks and Boomtown 1905), a colorful botanical garden, kids’ learning center, natural trails system, restored wetlands, seasonal butterfly habitat, preserved historical structures, and trackless train rides.
CandleLighters Childhood Cancer Foundation of Nevada
8990 Spanish Ridge Ave., Suite 100 Las Vegas, NV 89148 702-737-1919
info@candlelightersnv.org CandleLightersNV.org
For more than forty-five years our mission has been to provide emotional support, quality of life programs and financial assistance for children and their families affected by childhood cancer. Approximately 80 families each year in Southern Nevada hear the words “Your child has cancer”. We are there for those families when they receive this devastating news. We help alleviate the isolation many families feel at the time their child is diagnosed by offering a variety of services which are available at no cost to the families. Candlelighters offers support through all the different stages of cancer treatment the families may experience: diagnosis, treatment, recovery, potential relapse, residual medical issues and at times, death. With donations from generous people like you, families can continue to receive the help and hope they need to bravely fight their battle with childhood cancer. Please help light the way for these families by donating, volunteering or participating in an event. ...because kids can’t fight cancer alone.
SPONSORED BY
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It would be tempting to call this the year of the Japanese-influenced winner, what with Moia and Misuzu Ebihara getting awards for world cuisine and pastry chef, respectively, and Mitsuo Endo’s eponymous restaurant taking top honors. But a deeper dive into this year’s list reveals something else at play: a conversation between tradition and innovation.
Consider Endo and Ebihara together, the former, of Raku fame, having just launched an uber-traditional Japanese experience, while the latter fuses French and Japanese baking in her Suzuya Pastries & Crepes. It’s more than just long-timers — such as Julian Serrano, whose Picasso opened in 1998 — appearing alongside pioneers — such as Gina Marinelli of La Strega (founded in 2019) and Harlo (2021) fame. Picasso was a Spanish-influenced-French gamechanger in its day. There’s also more than fusion at play. Evan Glusman built on his family legacy to open Bramàre this year, while Floriana Pastore is rewriting the rules in pizza-making.
Indeed, it’s a little of all that: old meets new, international influences mingle, the courageous take creative risks, and Southern Nevada diners win. Again.
Written by
JIM BEGLEY, LORRAINE BLANCO MOSS, JOHN CURTAS, AND HEIDI KNAPP RINELLA
•When Sand Dollar Lounge partners and hospitality veterans Anthony Jamison and Nathan Grates, along with their longtime bar manager Chase Gordon, set out to open a neighborhood restaurant, they wanted a location where their family-style food would be a community staple. Once they landed on a Tulum-esque saloon concept in the northwest valley, they reached out to Sand Dollar regular (because, as Grates notes, “It’s how we know everyone in town”) Eduardo “Lalo” Saaverda for suggestions as to who might helm the concept. Much to their delight, Saaverda himself wanted to take the lead, and La Casa de Juliette Mexican Cocina, inspirated by Jamison’s grandmother Julie, was born. Saaverda is a soft-spoken culinarian born of a farming family in Cuernavaca, outside Mexico City. He rose through Vegas’ industry ranks from
brewery line cook to Strip executive chef, ascending under the tutelage of local legend André Rochat and renowned celebrity chef Charlie Palmer. And because Saaverda was raised crisscrossing Mexico from Tijuana to Guatemala with his truck-driving father, La Casa’s menu celebrates the
diversity of the country’s ingredients and cuisine. Its menu isn’t grounded in a single Mexican state, instead ranging from central-Mexican huauzontle, to Pueblan papalpo, and tejocote — better known as Mexican hawthorn.
Rather than serving combination plates, Casa delivers family-style platters with a variety of accompaniments for a choose-your-own-adventure approach. Diners should not expect the ubiquitous bottomless-chips-andsalsa-joint they can find throughout the valley; here, the popular side arrives with pork cracklings. But do expect lobster accompanied by crab chorizo, queso fundido laced with roasted corn, and quite possibly the valley’s best frijoles. It’s an atypical Mexican experience in a town overwhelmed with the typical variety.
Not to be outdone, Gordon’s cocktail menu rivals Saaverda’s, ranging from seasonal margaritas based on the Tommy’s margarita (with inspiration from nearby Gilcrease Orchard) to a caffeine-laden carajillo with banana foam. But the pièce de résistance might be the housemade goat’s milk cajeta, Gordon’s take on an espresso martini that entails a five-hour process.
And this is what earns applause for La Casa’s crew: having the courage to open an atypical Mexican joint with upscale-yet-approachable renditions of classic Mexican fare in a part of the valley dominated by chain restaurants. Bravo! — Jim Begley
•Evan Glusman’s father, Freddie, casts a long shadow, but the son is coming into his own light. The elder Glusman founded Piero’s Italian Cuisine in 1982, when Evan was 4. The restaurant would eventually achieve legendary status, drawing celebrities and appearing in movies.
Evan was there. His first job at age 10 was in prep, cutting vegetables and making croutons and salad dressings. As a teenager he bused tables, and by 17 he’d graduated to frontdoor host.
Piero’s is still thriving and so is Freddie, at age 87. Over the years, Evan branched out a little — he and his brother, Charlie Skinner, operated the now-defunct Piero’s Trattoria in the Hughes Center in the early 2000s — but he’s still heavily involved in managing Piero’s. And he’s coming into his own as a restaurateur.
A few years ago, Evan Glusman and business partner Constantin Alexander were offered a local project, but they ended up pulling out. Then came news that the owners of the venerable Table 34 were planning to
retire, and the pair bought it in June 2022.
It did so well that they planned to expand, and a real estate search led them to a space at 3900 Paradise Road. In July they opened Bramàre,
•“She’s the first person I send people to whenever they tell me there is no good pizza in Las Vegas.” The words are spoken by pizza maven John Arena, but the sentiments are shared by many, when it comes to Floriana Pastore.
Since raising Vegas’ pizza IQ with her Italian-designed pizza truck in September 2020, the Salerno-born Pastore has broken molds and perceptions. She slings wood-fired Neapolitan pies to a loyal following, who await her weekly location announcements with bated breath. These are not quick-baked carbo-bombs done on the cheap, but handcrafted gems made with superior ingredients by the first (and only) woman ever to win the “Pizza Maker of the Year” (2013) and “Best of the Best”(2015) awards at the International
with “inspired Italian” food representing all regions of the Boot and an industrialized aesthetic inspired by New York warehouses.
But there’s more to come, and soon. Local developer and Table 34 regular J. Dapper offered a spot in Centennial Hills, where Glusman and Alexander plan to open the coastal-California Harvest + Vine in February.
And there’s more down the line, they say.
“I could possibly see taking Bramàre to another city,” Glusman says. “I think it really has legs. We have other concepts, but right now we’re going to focus on getting Bramàre fully up to speed, keeping Table 34 as it is, and then getting into Harvest.
On his longest-standing gig, he adds, “Piero’s has been one of the most successful restaurants in the history of Las Vegas, and I would be one of the worst operators in the world if I tried to change what it is. I’m not getting away from it by any means, but I’m in my 40s and I want to be creative and just do some cool stuff.” — Heidi Knapp Rinella
Pizza Expo in Las Vegas. Watching her work the dough is “poetry in motion,” according to Arena, and he marvels at how she nurtures every pizza as if it were one of her children.
The pandemic forced Pastore into a food truck instead of the brick-and-mortar restaurant she envisioned when she moved here, but her dreams will finally become reality when Signora Pizza Lab opens early next year on Rainbow near Summerlin. Aficionados are already salivating over the prospect of a fixed location, where they can grab a pizza al portafoglio (literally “wallet” pizza in Italian), fried pizza, and other not-so-humble pies. Pastore makes them with smoked provola, real parm, or fior di latte mozzarella, and a San Marzano tomato sauce that will make you question all others. When the pizzaiola won her first championship, she spoke no English. Fluency took less than a decade, but speaking pizza is obviously something she’s done since birth. — John Curtas
•Chefs are a peripatetic lot. So it was with Julian Serrano, whose early years saw him move from his native Madrid to culinary school in Marbella, Spain, then from Carnival Cruise ships to Nashville and California, before being lured to Las Vegas to helm the most eye-popping restaurant this city had ever seen.
“The Bellagio changed everything,” is his quick response when asked to describe his legacy in Las Vegas. “After it opened, everyone copied us. They all had to have an entire lineup of great restaurants.” He is, of course, being both accurate and modest. The act of featuring him in his signature restaurant, 26 years ago, was a seminal event. Picasso by Julian Serrano wasn’t some celebrity chef-branding outpost. It was where San Francisco’s best chef had decamped after 14 years at Masa, then widely considered the best restaurant
in that food-mad town.
This was a bona fide culinary star planting his flag on our home turf and announcing to the world that Las Vegas was now a destination dining city, worthy of attracting world-class kitchen talent — and the customers who travel the globe to sample their wares. And the foodies did flock to Picasso, a jaw-dropping temple of haute cuisine featuring exquisite plates of refined French cooking, framed by the blazing colors of Pablo’s masterpieces.
Over the years Serrano became one of our own. Two more restaurants followed (a namesake Spanish spot at the Aria, and the Italian Lago in the Bellagio), and most nights he seemed to be in all three places at once. The dozen Picassos may be gone now, along with the restaurant whose walls they hung on (it closed earlier this year), but the effect of what Serrano did for Las Vegas a quarter century ago remains.
And it’s a moment that may never be equaled — a top toque at the top of his game, putting down roots in Las Vegas and helping to redefine it as a restaurant mecca. — John Curtas
•When Fontainebleau opened at the tail end of 2023, it unleashed a spate of new restaurants — many with ties to the original Fontainebleau’s south Florida home — upon the Strip. A number of them merit consideration for best new Strip restaurant, from Evan Funke’s Hollywood-born Mother Wolf to the intimate, scenic Ito perched atop the hotel tower. But the most intriguing and accessible of the lot is Miami-import Kyu.
Kyu — a play on the “Q” in BBQ — is a festive Asian wood-fired concept geared toward group dining with a variety of shared dishes and an upbeat environment. In an expansive room outfitted in light-colored woods and faux foliage just off the Fontainebleau’s main level, it’s afforded one of the new resort’s few Strip views.
At Kyu, you get hits such as stone pot Thai rice. And regardless of the version — pick from veggie, duck confit, or king crab — Kyu’s rendition of Korean bibimbap delivers an in-
terwoven play of textures, with the crispy nurungji (the scorched rice at the bottom of the pot) countering the rest of the fluffy bowl. Broiled king crab legs are another winner, a lemon herb butter-crusted play on crab casino, while succulent duck breast burnt ends elevate the fatty fowl in the best possible BBQ fashion.
But not everything has to be woodfired to work. Krunchy Kale doused in funky, spicy nam prik might be as annoyingly misspelled as it is addictive, while wagyu tartare mixed tableside with a dollop of roasted bone marrow is a unique take on a steakhouse standard.
And Kyu’s cocktail menu is among the valley’s more inventive. Where else could you order a Japanese sweet potato-inspired cocktail, the Yaki Imo Tini? Yes, it tastes like it sounds. A little more mainstream, although not wholly so, is the Always Money in the Banana Stand — a refreshing banana-infused rum old fashioned with coconut water ice.
With libations as playful as the menu itself, and a vibe to match, Kyu has all the makings of a top Strip destination. — Jim Begley
•The term “hidden gem” may be overused, but Moia Peruvian Restaurant truly fits the bill. Located on Bonanza Road, at the southwestern edge of Las Vegas’ Historic Westside, it’s a rare Nikkei restaurant.
Nikkei cuisine is the magnificent mashup of Peruvian and Japanese cuisines. Think Peruvian ingredients created with Japanese techniques. It started in Peru in 1899, when hundreds of Japanese farmers moved to the country in need of work. The two governments made a deal. It didn’t come without conflict, but despite the politics, a delectable food tradition emerged.
One of Nikkei’s amazing food babies is tiradito — thin slices of raw fish marinated in a spicy, citrus sauce. One bite of Moia’s hamachi tiradito with diced mangos, and my head filled with Gary Wright’s 1975 hit song, “Dream Weaver.” It’s punchy and fresh, with a nice balance of salty, sour, and sweet. The pescado a lo macho, a spicy seafood stew, was thick and robust, yet comforting.
Since its opening in December 2022, with minimal marketing, Moia has gained a word-of-mouth reputation among foodies. We know that, when it comes to small, locally owned businesses such as this, it helps no one to keep such a gem hidden from everyone else.
— Lorraine Blanco Moss
This place proves the notion that looks can be deceiving, both through its physical presence — a converted warehouse that you enter off an alley in the Arts District — and also the cocktails served therein. Flavors are more evocative of what comes on a plate than what comes in a glass, from a savory/sharp red pepper martini to a boozy-yet-multilayered chocolate chip banana bread cocktail. Baristas make all ingredients, from horseradish to horchata, in-house. Fittingly, the bar itself looks more like a kitchen, its central island heaped with ingredients and glassware beneath the names of the day’s drinks scrawled on brown paper. It adds to the impression you’re having a glass with a talented friend … in their garage.
Often, a glass of wine means time to unwind, to escape a little, and Wine Garden offers precisely that. Adjacent to a flower shop in the Arts District, the elegant space features enormous faux trees stretching over a central bar, shiny brass, seafoam velvet, and gorgeous floral arrangements. The extensive wine selection ranges in price from $9 for a glass of Riesling to $242 for a bottle of Billecart-Salmon brut rose champagne. For the indecisive, friendly staff is willing to offer suggestions and perhaps a snack. The Wine Garden is a nice place to take a vacation — even if that vacation lasts only as long as a glass of pinot noir.
Sometimes beer selection is about a wide range; other times it’s about the deep dive. Beer Zombies offers
the latter. There are outposts in Boulder City and Summerlin, but the brewery on Bonanza is the largest. The several dozen beers on tap (and several coolers of cans) are the centerpiece, but the sprawling space offers more than just a place to sip a pint. Events range from sports viewing parties in the taproom to food trucks and games on the lawn to movies with live musical accompaniment in the brewery.
Flanker Kitchen + Sports Bar is situated between Mandalay Bay’s sports book and the walkway to Allegiant Stadium, an ideal location for a sports bar. However, the vibe is a bit more sophisticated than your usual pennants and wood paneling, with golden neon tubing on the ceiling and caramel leather seating, as well as a selection of private and semiprivate areas. Multiple screens in multiple sizes let the game be either the background or focal point of your experience, while a thoughtfully curated beer selection and upscaled bar food menu keep you fueled for the game.
password), the Underground offers realness not just with historical photos and artifacts or red velvet wallpaper and parquet floors, but an actual on-site distillery to show guests how the hooch is made. The drink menu includes classics such as old fashioneds and bees knees, as well as more contemporary concoctions featuring house-distilled vanilla moonshine or mezcal & mango. Here you can enjoy a period-appropriate cocktail and live music, without the Prohibition.
We’re now in the second generation of tiki bars, where carved heads and bamboo aren’t enough — you need to add your own distinctive twirl to the mai tai’s straw. As indicated by the theme, sure, the Arts District’s Stray Pirate has a piratical vibe with lanterns and ship’s wheels. But the bar’s soul has gone to the dogs, with whimsical velvet paintings of chihuahuas and terriers in eyepatches and bandannas, and a whole mythology of pirates turned into dogs. As you can imagine, the vibe is more relaxed and goofier then the usual but, like any respectable tiki bar, the drinks on the menu are sorted by strength. Bonus: There’s also a solid mocktail selection for those who wish to set sail without going in over their heads.
While most secret speakeasy bars are following a trend, the Underground at the Mob Museum is more about historical precedent … with a twist. Entered through a side stairway to a door (yes, you need the
Tucked away next to a strip mall in Spring Valley, Maxan Jazz is the dimly lit room packed with blackclad music aficionados sipping cocktails and vibing to a roaring saxophone solo that one visualizes when one thinks of a sophisticated evening out. While the place may seem somewhat un-Vegas in its disdain for glitz, it makes sense in a town with hundreds of world-class musicians, ready to form themselves into a vocals-and-piano duo, bebop quartet, or septet-with-accordion blasting out Édith Piaf. For those who come hungry, there’s a full menu of sushi and steaks by a pair of former Nobu chefs … only in Vegas.
Most restaurants barely give their bars a second thought — it’s a place for diners to grab a quick one while waiting for a table. Herbs & Rye’s bar and bar program, on the contrary, have always been central to the West Sahara restaurant’s identity, earning recognition and awards for 15 years now. The legendary menu is a trip through cocktail history, sorted by era from the Jack Rose of “Gothic Age 1776-1865” to the Boulevardier of “Old School 1900-1919” to the Vesper of “Rat Pack Era 1950-1966.” Herbs & Rye’s happy hour offers halfpriced steaks and seafood alongside your libation — yet another way to keep both locals and tourists coming back. — Lissa Townsend Rodgers
•If, as a food writer, I ask myself during a meal how soon I can come back, I know it’s something special. I had that experience at José Andrés’ Bazaar Mar, a salute to the sights and savor of the sea.
Head chef Daniela Romero says every aspect of the restaurant is crafted with passion. “This dedication transforms each meal into more than just dining,” he says. “It’s a celebration of the ocean’s bounty, told through flavors that are as exciting as they are memorable.”
Disclaimer: I am a former cook at a José Andrés restaurant (I helped open Bazaar Meat in 2014). In my experience, it wasn’t just a job; it was a life-
style. The staff is a culinary family with lasting connections, bound by their dedication to the craft.
Romero says, “When every one feels invested in the success of the restaurant, it not only fosters a positive work environ ment, but also elevates the guest experience. This sense of pride and responsibility translates into excellent service.”
Although this restaurant only opened in August, the food and service were impeccable. From my first bite of Maine lobster croquetas to my last spoonful of citrus merengón — a meringue dessert with arroz con leche espuma (foam), blood orange granita, and Thai basil — ev erything felt fun and original.
Romero says it all begins with José Andrés’ distinctive style, which “celebrates ingredient-driven cuisine with a whimsical, playful touch.”
— Lorraine Blanco Moss
•Crêpes are, you might say, Misuzu Ebihara’s muse.
A native of Japan who came here for culinary school at the College of Southern Nevada, Ebihara introduced her bijou pastries to the world in 2012, when she opened Suzuya Pastries & Crepes on Durango Drive. There, she fused venerable French and Japanese culinary traditions into creations that might combine fine Chantilly cream, custard, or meringue with flavors such as yuzu, green tea, or red bean paste. They included many-layered mille crêpe cakes, cream puffs, madeleines, mochi, delicately latticed apple pies, towers of technicolor macarons in nine flavors, and more.
It didn’t take Las Vegas long to discover them and her, and by 2019 her success was choking out a favorite dish.
“The space was so small we had to stop making crêpes,” Ebihara says, referring to
•Wine is for the whimsical. A true oenophile enjoys the journey … the nose of the wine that brings nostalgia, the first taste that transports, and the finish — that lasting impression. Wine tasting isn’t just about whether you like it or not; it’s about how you connect with the glass (or bottle!) and how it draws the people drinking it together. And that’s why Wineaux at UnCommons deserves a reverent, “Cheers!”
Every sommelier in this desert chic space offers the unique story behind each bottle. You might be a casual sipper or a wine worshipper like me; either way, you’ll enjoy the service — catering to however much or little you’d like to know.
“We wanted a bold, fresh take on the wine-buying experience,” chef partner Shawn McClain says. “And to bring to the Las Vegas community a personalized and curated brand that is equal parts lifestyle brand, wine boutique, and great social destination.”
The wine bar recently rolled out its wine club for locals. For $72 a month, the Explorer program gets you two bottles picked expertly by their somms, preferred invites to wine events, and a pickup party with special tastings and delicious snacks (I recommend the hamachi & caviar; it arrives in a delightful tin with avocado puree, onion crème fraiche, and lime zest.)
Food is an important part of the wine experience, and here too, Wineaux excels, with a stunning menu. There’s no downside to Wineaux, and a lot of good grapes to discover. — Lorraine Blanco Moss
herself and her husband, Mike Plourde, whom she met while working at Wynn Las Vegas. “Overnight, we had to decide: We were going to get rid of crêpes right now.”
But she was determined. “We wanted to move to a bigger space, so we could have crêpes back,” she says.
And so was born Suzuya Patisserie & Cafe on South Buffalo. It opened in January 2020, six weeks before the COVID lockdown started. There were plenty of doubts — should they have stayed at the smaller place? — but she was again serving crêpes, and this time in a cafe that also offered sandwiches and salads and an expanded coffee menu, along with her finely crafted pastries.
A Chinatown location would follow, opening in July.
Among all the exquisite pastries and delicate crêpes, one staple remains most popular by a margin of two to one. “Strawberry shortcake is always No. 1,” Ebihara says a little sheepishly.
But why?
“That’s my question.”
— Heidi Knapp Rinella
•In ancient Italian folklore, witches took care of the neighborhood, passing out presents to those who were worthy. This is not dissimilar to chef Gina Marinelli, who’s bestowed two delicious gifts on an area that’s been known more for its upscale homes than its fine dining.
The chef’s first Summerlin restaurant, aptly named La Strega (“the witch” in Italian), brings bright, coastal Italian cuisine in a charming, feminine setting. Her second restaurant, Downtown Summerlin’s Harlo Steakhouse & Bar, offers a warm, stunning steakhouse that rivals any high-end spot you can find on the Strip. Marinelli’s menus are consistently fresh and intelligent.
“I’m always reading — constantly researching,” the James Beard award-nominated chef says. “I’m looking at new ways to incorporate seasonality and proteins.”
A graduate of Le Cordon Bleu, Marinelli knows that keeping a restaurant relevant can be exhausting, but she continues to challenge herself. At Harlo,
each month she offers a new tasting menu that spans the globe. For France, you could indulge in escargot spaghetti with parsley butter and garlic breadcrumbs. And in September, diners could be transported to Argentina with grilled dorade marinated in oregano and Bloomsdale spinach. The mild, flaky fish plays well with the veggies’ rich, nutty flavor.
“I never want to be forgotten and use that fear as the driving force for the daily push,” Marinelli says. “Honestly, I (expletive) love cooking… so it’s very natural to be constantly pushing.”
You can taste the passion in the handmade pasta and feel the sizzle in her dry-aged steaks.
The chef partner has taken the skills she’s learned in the kitchens of culinary giants such as Michael Mina, Shawn McClain, and Scott Conant, and transformed them into her own neighborhood restaurants.
Marinelli says she’s got something new brewing in 2025: a third restaurant concept. It’s secret for now, but you can bet it’ll stir up buzz. Marinelli told me years ago that she wanted to create a “safe space for young chefs to blossom.” Innovative, inclusive … enchanting.
— Lorraine Blanco Moss
•In Las Vegas culinary circles, chef Mitsuo Endo needs no introduction. After debuting Aburiya Raku, generally heralded as the harbinger of 2008’s local Japanese restaurant renaissance, the multi-time James Beard award nominee has opened a series of intriguing restaurants, including dessert spot Sweets Raku, which is now defunct but bent genres in its day, and Toridokoro, a chicken-centric yakitori spot. But the chef’s exclusive namesake restaurant, Endo by Aburiya Raku, is his most epic yet.
Endo’s eponymous, six-seat restaurant
sits just doors away from the original Raku in the vaunted Seoul Plaza on Spring Mountain. (It used to house storage for its older sibling!) With his desire to open an intimate venue where he could personally cook for a limited number of guests, Endo transformed it in a secluded enclave — an escape into a space reminiscent of those he both cooked in and frequented in Japan.
In his own words, “It’s everything to me.” For Endo, this translates to inordinate attention to detail. It begins at the unmarked, speakeasy-esque 200-year-old bank lockbox doors leading into the space and continues throughout the experience: handpicked glassware, a cultivated selection of cooking and serving vessels, sightlines where utensils and appliances remain unseen. Like a complex movie requiring multiple viewings, every visit reveals previously missed minutiae. It’s never the same experience twice.
Similarly, the menu evolves, both seasonally and with each visit. While the only real constant is the excellence with which the everchanging menu is served, guests are likely be welcomed with 30-minute fresh kokumi tofu — even better than the acclaimed version for which Raku is known — and a dashi broth made from Dewasansan water and a healthy heaping of three-year fermented bonito, from the Kushu prefecture, oozing with umami.
From there it’s a dozen-course flurry, including zensai (appetizers which, on one visit, included soft-shell turtle), market-fresh sashimi flown in from Japan, steamed mushimono , entrées, rice, and noodles, to name a few, showcasing A5 wagyu, uni, tako, ankimo, and all things in between. And because Endo believes his cuisine is best paired with sake, staff will be glad to run you through a gamut ranging
from uncommon to obscure.
The service is doting, yet relaxed, a hallmark of Endo’s venues; there are practically as many staff as customers at any given time. This allows for an intimate experience rarely found outside the highest-end Strip venues. Endo serves as the lead, the kitchen his stage. There isn’t a venue in town where diners have such ample access throughout a meal to a chef of this caliber.
To be sure, this is not an everyday experience. Reservations are difficult to get for nonmembers — membership is invite-only, in case you’re wondering — but persistence is key. And this level of experience does come at a price. But there is nothing else like it in Vegas … and arguably anywhere outside Japan. Endo the restaurant is the essence of Endo the chef, an experience unlike any other. — Jim Begley
By Kristen DeSilva
Some Nevadans will say, “I know a spot,” and this is the spot they mean. Kirch is a true oasis in the desert, where crystal blue waters sit pristine against a backdrop of towering mountains. Isolated enough to ward off crowds, the sagebrush scrub and wet meadows support an abundance of wildlife, ranging from waterfowl passers-by to stunning pronghorn, and including little creatures such as weasels, badgers, skunks, and bobcats. Two dozen different species of duck have been observed here, and up to 12 of those breed and raise their young in the habitat through the summer. Eagles, falcons, stilts, egrets, avocets, dowitchers, curlews, and godwits lure in birders.
But the main attraction is fishing — mostly for trout and bass, despite the refuge’s endemic species, as you’ll see in the Vegas PBS episode of “Outdoor Nevada” exploring the seemingly untouched area.
“This is such a chill way to fish,” host Connor Fields says in the episode, referring to kayaking.
“Spending time on the water is a great escape, and being here makes it all the better. It’s such an amazing place. I could definitely spend a few days just doing this.”
Mormons settled the White River Valley in the 1870s. About 100,000 acres of the land was later owned by the ranching Adams-McGill Company, and it was sold to the Nevada Fish and Game Commission in 1959. It was then renamed for the commissioner at the time. Its flows feed the Pahranagat Valley, continuing into the Coyote Springs Valley, and eventually meet the Muddy River, which in turn feeds into Lake Mead.
Our recommendation for those who aren’t experienced fisherpeople: Take a day trip and spend the afternoon wandering, wildlife spotting, picnicking, and soaking in the natural hot springs. There are hot springs throughout Nevada, but these are among the best (imagine Tahoe’s famous clarity). Also be aware that this place is a critical habitat for the endemic Mormon White River Springfish, and soak accordingly. ✦
TRIP: Kirch Wildlife Management Area day trip
GETTING THERE: From Las Vegas, take U.S. 93 north for about 175 miles, then take State Route 318 north. From Ely, take U.S. 6 south for about 75 miles to SR 318.
PRO TIP: Visit at sunset in the cooler months for optimal landscape views and wildlife spotting, or the hotter months to have the place to yourself.
MORE INFO: shorturl.at/t79oU
SEE THIS episode of
Escape to Winter Wonderland at Fontainebleau Las Vegas, featuring the Strip’s largest ice rink, a festive pop-up bar, holiday entertainment including Jennifer Hudson and Derek Hough, Santa Brunch, and more.