The Summer of '55 | Vegas Seven Magazine | Aug. 6-12, 2015

EVENT

BOWLING FOR DOLLARS

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UPCOMING EVENTS • August 12 Sixth annual Locks of Love Cut-A-Thon at Rio Spa & Salon [LocksOfLove.org] • August 15

August 6–12, 2015

PHOTOS BY AMIT DADL ANEY

Ever bowled a “turkey” to help save animals? On Aug. 2, about 300 bowlers—including comedian Louie Anderson and reality television star Dirk Vermin—tried to do just that during the third annual Out of the Gutters Celebrity Bowling Tournament at Sam’s Town Bowling Center. Hosted by Dao Vu from KTNV-Channel 13’s The Morning Blend, the event raised funds for the Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ local no-kill sanctuary. Radio personality Dayna Roselli and cast members from Rock of Ages, Jersey Boys, Absinthe, Baz and Thunder From Down Under also donned their bowling shoes. KCOR Digital Radio Network host Tina Marie took home the championship for the third straight year, while rocker Paul Shortino of Raiding the Rock Vault won the Fan Champion Trophy.

HELP of Southern Nevada’s Boot Scootin’ benefit at Treasure Island [HelpSoNV.org]

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THE LATEST

Backward Thinking In politics, as in life, there’s a tendency to glorify the past

August 6–12, 2015

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THE RECENT DEATH OF KIRK

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Kerkorian prompted ample commentary about his impact on Las Vegas—which included building hotels and heading corporations that changed how gaming and tourism operate in this state. Just weeks later, the death of Kerkorian’s good friend, former Sheriff Ralph Lamb, inspired nostalgia for the good-old days of Las Vegas, when residents always felt safe and everybody knew each other.

Yes, it was a perfect time to be alive ... unless you were female, non-white and not juiced in with the mob.

Just like politics used to be perfect before everything became so partisan.

In fact, we may be at a political nadir unseen since the Civil War. But just as the good-old days always have been less good than we’re inclined to remember, for every silly or troubling utterance in Nevada’s political realm, history provides a precedent: ➜ Assemblywoman Michele Fiore has been keeping state inspectors away from her home health care businesses, which has received $6 million from Medicaid— the very program Fiore wants to eliminate. This seems less ridiculous than her desire to acquire a car horn that sounds like the General Lee from The Dukes of Hazard, which she mentioned recently while defending the Confederate battle fag.

Well, meet James Slattery, a Storey and Washoe county legislator, who warned in the 1960s that the Civil Rights Act would cause us to “lose all our rights.”

Slattery demanded the fring of a UNR professor for disagreeing with his opinion that the U.S. should leave the United Nations, and he called that professor and 30 others at UNR communists. And he was in offce when each county had a state senator, giving each individual legislator more power. What Slattery’s car horn sounded like is unknown. ➜ Judged on what he did and how he did it, Michael Roberson was incredibly effective this past spring as state Senate majority leader, passing a lot of Republican-supported legislation. But since one of his accomplishments was helping win approval of a tax hike that would improve education and, theoretically,

attract new business, Roberson faces primary opposition in his race for the 3rd Congressional District. Among the challengers is Andy Matthews, formerly of the Nevada Policy Research Institute, which might be called the Fiore of think tanks.

In 1966, Governor Grant Sawyer sought a third term. He wound up with two main primary opponents, one of whom attacked him as too liberal while the other claimed he was too conservative. Then in 2010, after Governor Jim Gibbons had put the state budget through a meat grinder and still had to raise about $50 million in fees, one of his GOP primary challengers accused him of taking a “liberal approach.” Yes, that was Brian Sandoval, who eventually learned to know better. ➜ Doctor/General/Husband/Father/Good Neighbor Joe Heck is currently running U.S. Senate campaign ads that don’t mention that he belongs to a House Republican caucus that has helped reduce congressional approval ratings to below that of lice.

In 1994, running for his second term, Senator Richard Bryan faced the national Republican wave that gave the GOP control of both houses for the frst time in 40 years. He campaigned on a platform of promising to straighten out the government. There’s little doubt that Bryan meant what he said. But he also had held state or federal offce continuously since 1969, and criticized his opponent for what he was: a lobbyist. At the same time, Bryan didn’t—nor could he—hide the fact that he was a U.S. senator.

But maybe the good-old days were better. To wit: Jon Ralston, the longtime Nevada political pundit, recently interviewed Steve Wynn (who, coincidentally, eulogized Lamb and had dealings with Kerkorian).

Wynn compared the Obama administration’s behavior to that of a Republican president who signed legislation creating the Environmental Protection Agency.

That president: Richard Nixon.

Ah, Watergate. At least they did make White House scandals better back in the day ...

Michael Green is an associate professor of history at UNLV.

Las Vegas is nothing if not a marketing juggernaut. With so many casinos, bars, restaurants, shows, clubs, etc., competing for the same thing, good ideas that are discontinued in one place often quickly show up somewhere else. For example, when the Riviera closed in May, it marked the end of regularly available dollar blackjack … for about three months.

That promotional void was filled by North Las Vegas’ Lucky Club, which is now the only casino in the Valley dealing $1 minimum blackjack seven days a week. It’s not available around the clock, but if you go in the afternoon or evening, it’s likely to be offered.

One deal that isn’t going away is the longrunning 24-hour steak-and-eggs special in the Sourdough Cafés at either Arizona Charlie’s.

Two eggs, a sirloin strip, choice of potatoes, and toast or biscuit and gravy is just $4.49. You need to show a club card to get that price; otherwise it’s $4.99. This deal is served 24/7 at the Decatur Boulevard location and most hours at the spot on Boulder Highway. You can also get ham and eggs or hamburger and fries for the same price.

The original hot wings from Anchor Bar in Buffalo are now available in the food court at the Venetian. A single order comes with nine wings for $12, or $1.33 apiece. A double order is 18 for $22, or $1.22 apiece, so that’s the best play if you aren’t solo. For groups, there’s a 50-for-$55 option ($1.10 per).

South Point has brought back its “HalfPrice Gas” promo through the end of this month. Redeem $25 in points and get a $50 gas card. That’s like getting a double points redemption, which is strong given South Point’s good video poker inventory.

Speaking of good video poker, the little Eureka on East Sahara Avenue puts its big brothers on the Strip to shame with some of the best 25-cent and 50-cent bar games in town. The best schedules are NSU Deuces Wild (NSU stands for “not so ugly”) and 9/6 Bonus Poker Deluxe. Both return close to 100 percent, but they also have progressive royal flushes. Playing quarters, the Deuces game becomes breakeven when the meter hits $1,150, and the Bonus Poker Deluxe is breakeven at $1,175. It doesn’t mean you’re gonna win, but it’s a good place to take a shot.

Finally, in what may be a Vegas first, Aliante is hosting a Bunco tournament August 15 to benefit the Goodie Two Shoes Foundation. The entry fee is $35 (plus a new pair of shoes in a box) to be eligible to win a staycation package at the resort. Bunco is a dice game that requires no skill or decision-making, so anyone can play to support a good cause. That’s kinda cool; I just might check it out.

Anthony Curtis is the publisher of the Las Vegas Advisor and LasVegasAdvisor.com.

ILLUSTRATION BY KRYSTAL RAMIREZ

$1 BLACKJACK LIVES ON AT LUCKY CLUB

The New Frontier, circa 1955.

August 6–12, 2015

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The Long, Hot Summer of ’55 20

How a season of hubris and disappointment helped reinvent Vegas

By D A V I D G . S C H W A R T Z

➜ the black and white marble lobby floor, the 75-foot mural behind the lobby bar, the pink and purple fying saucers—the New Frontier really was new. The Las Vegas resort had swept aside the cowboy dust (and pretty much everything else) of its predecessor, the Last Frontier, and presented its opening-night guests with stratospheric glamour beftting the mid-1950s. But the crowds on April 4, 1955, were really there for the show: Mario Lanza, live in the Venus Room. Lanza— charismatic, tumultuous and brilliant—was coming out of semi-retirement for the gig. The word was that the one-time heartthrob who had battled with his weight—and movie producers—had spent the previous three months in Palm Springs getting into shape for Las Vegas. Like the New Frontier itself, this was a comeback that had to be seen. ¶ An assortment of celebrities and fans, including Lanza’s mother and father, enjoyed the opening musical numbers and Larry Storch’s comedy.

who refused to even walk onstage or attend a post-show press conference.

Lanza’s no-show aside, opening night at the New Frontier was regarded as a success. One of the Strip’s frst resorts had reinvented itself for the Atomic Age, bigger and better. It whet the appetite for what was to come.

Then a hush settled across the room. The moment had arrived: The famous tenor and movie star Mario Lanza, backed by Garwood Van’s house orchestra, would sing at last. The crowd held its breath, ready for the frst strains of “Be My Love.”

For too long, there was silence. Then Jimmy Durante walked onstage to make an announcement: “Mario is too ill to perform.”

The audience was bitterly disappointed—one Lanza superfan who had fown in from Pittsburgh burst into tears—but the show went on. Actor Ray Bulger— Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz—and singer Mindy Carson improvised a show that satisfed most of those in attendance, but it didn’t stem anger at Lanza,

★★★★★

the spring and summer of 1955 promised to be the wildest stretch in the brief history of the Las Vegas Strip.

The New Frontier, the Royal Nevada, the Dunes, the Moulin Rouge, the Riviera and the Stardust were all planning to open, nearly doubling the number

★★★★★

as 1955 began and work continued on the Stardust, Royal Nevada, Moulin Rouge, Dunes, Riviera, Desert Spa and New Frontier, it became clear that there would be many choices facing Las Vegas visitors that summer—perhaps too many.

No one was deluded enough to think that just opening the doors would guarantee success. So hotel owners

Camp Desert Rock soldiers prepare to get a sneak peek of the new Royal Nevada on April 18, 1955.

larger scale of the 1950s Strip. It had severe design limitations—guests had to go outside to get from the casino to the showroom—so, in the spirit of the times, the Little Church of the West wedding chapel was moved out of the way and new construction begun.

The New Frontier would develop into more than an addition; the Last Frontier name would be retired and the entire resort given a Space Age theme after a $2 million renovation and expansion; and the Silver Slipper, which had been an adjunct gambling hall in the Last Frontier Village, would ultimately become a standalone property.

By the summer of 1954, there was a building frenzy on the Strip—and beyond. The Showboat on Boulder Highway was racing toward completion.

Downtown, ground was broken for the $5 million, 10-story-tall Fremont. And on Bonanza Road, near the primar-

turned their focus to the one area where they could make a distinctive impression: entertainment. The Royal Nevada hired 33-year show business veteran Eddie Rio as entertainment director. Rio pledged to bring “legitimate theater” that would rival Broadway to the Royal Nevada’s technically outstanding stage. Rio brought in television and radio veteran Jerry Fielding to conduct the house orchestra and hired away the Sands’ George Tapps as chief show producer and choreographer.

Rio opted for sophistication when positioning his theater, bringing out former Metropolitan Opera star Helen Traubel as the centerpiece of the opening show. Traubel had also previously played nightclubs, including New York’s Copacabana, and, thanks to television exposure, was well known to audiences. Comedian Dave Barry and ballerina Phyllis Ponn rounded out the revue,

which was supported by Jerry Fielding’s orchestra and the Coronet Dancers.

Big names all, but there was one little problem: Even after Traubel was announced as the opening attraction, it wasn’t clear that the casino would even open. In February, the Tax Commission decreed that majority partners Frank Fishman, Sam “Game Boy” Miller and Herbert “Pittsy” Manheim were “totally undesirable citizens for Nevada,” and that it would not approve the casino’s application for a gaming license until those three were removed from the organization entirely. Miller and Manheim were, the commission found, well-known illegal gambling operators in Michigan and Florida. Having received its fair share of heat from the anti-gaming Kefauver Committee for allowing gamblers from elsewhere to set up shop in Nevada, the Tax Commission refused to continue granting licenses to those with demonstrated illegal gambling backgrounds.

The Royal Nevada ultimately reorganized and was granted a license in time for an April opening. Meanwhile, other hotels forged ahead. The Riviera planned to win what was becoming a less-than-friendly competition, not through class or mass but by star power: The hotel lured Liberace to be its opening headliner for an unheardof $50,000-a-week performance fee.

The New Frontier matched the Riviera’s ante, paying Lanza $100,000 for a twoweek opening engagement.

The Dunes, by contrast, was gunning for sheer volume. Its stage was to be wider than any in town, with enough room for 40 chorus girls, and its dinner theater was the frst in Vegas to add balcony seating.

The Moulin Rouge had its own star attraction, unique in Las Vegas and more subversive socially than Liberace: the lack of a color line. Early in 1955, a campaign to bring former frst lady Eleanor Roosevelt to the opening began—clearly, this was not business as usual.

One member of the class of 1955 stumbled as it approached the starting line. Despite publicly announcing a January opening, the Desert Spa failed to get the green light from the Tax Commission, which had deferred defnitive action on a casino license for months, citing the unsuitability of various investors and principals. Finally, in March, it granted the Spa a conditional license, but, come the hotel’s scheduled April opening, it was unable to meet those conditions. The Desert Spa never opened its casino, struggling as a hotel and nightclub before collapsing into a bankruptcy from which it never emerged—a visible sign of the increasing commitment of Nevada gaming regulators to maintaining the state’s integrity. ★★★★★

after the new frontier’s lanzaless opening on April 4, the Royal Nevada was next in line. On April 18, the property held a special sneak preview

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ily black Westside neighborhood, the Moulin Rouge was announced. This project, owned chiefy by Louis Rubin and Alexander Bisno of Los Angeles, pledged a “cosmopolitan” admission policy—a coded announcement that, in contrast with the segregated resorts and gambling halls of the Strip and Downtown, the Moulin Rouge would be racially integrated.

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Adding four casinos to a seven-property market in the span of a few months might have seemed like a recipe for disaster, but potential builders, emboldened by the growing tourist trade, clambered aboard. Former gambling boat owner Tony Cornero announced in April 1954 plans for a place called the Stardust, but fnancing diffculties meant he wouldn’t be anywhere near fnished by its scheduled 1955 opening date. (Indeed, he died shooting craps at the Desert Inn while his project was still in hiatus.)

Soon after Cornero announced his plans, the owners of the Last Frontier revealed that they were meeting the new competition head-on.

In June 1954, they began work on the New Frontier, a casino, dinner theater and lounge expansion that would replace the Last Frontier’s existing focal point. Built in 1942, the Last Frontier’s main building was ill-adapted to the

August 6–12, 2015

NEW FRONTIER COURTESY UNLV SPECIAL COLLECTIONS; ROYAL NEVADA COURTESY L AS VEGAS NEWS BUREAU

of hotels on what had until recently been known simply as Highway 91. On the surface, it seemed a reasonable bet: Clark County’s population had ballooned from 16,414 in 1940 to more than 50,000 in 1955. The postwar boom, fueled by what one might call the militaryindustrial-vacation complex, showed no sign of abating, and for would-be resort developers, the old Highway 91 looked a lot like the promised land.

The 1940s had seen the pioneering arrivals of El Rancho Vegas, the Last Frontier, the Flamingo and the Thunderbird. In the early 1950s, the Desert Inn, Sands and Sahara joined them on the Strip. The resorts had prospered— likely because of the contacts and marketing acumen that operators such as Moe Dalitz and Carl Cohen brought with them—but, on the surface, it looked like opening a successful Las Vegas casino was as easy as tripping and hitting the ground.

By the early 1950s, the Tax Commission—then the casino industry’s governing body—was fooded with proposals for new hotels. In August 1953, the commission deferred acting on four gambling licenses, representing more than $15 million in new investment, pending more information about the projects’ fnances—a sensible move. The original names of all four potential properties will be unfamiliar even to Las Vegas history afcionados, although three of the places ultimately opened their doors.

The Casablanca, planned for the Strip and Race Track Road, would be owned by brothers David and Lou Gensburg (who held the land) and a combination of Los Angeles and Miami businessmen, including Harpo and Gummo of the Marx Brothers. The Araby, slated for land across the highway from the Flamingo, was fronted by Rhode Island restaurateur Joseph Sullivan; Al Gottesman, a Floridian who formerly owned a chain of theaters; and Bob Rice, a Beverly Hills costume jewelry dealer. And the Sunrise, slated for north of the Last Frontier, was headed by Los Angeles hotelier Frank Fishman.

Nearby, on the other side of the Strip, a consortium of investors led by developer William J. O’Connor planned to enlarge the existing Desert Spa motel— which was chiefy used to accommodate performers at the Last Frontier— into a full-fedged hotel and casino at a cost of $3.5 million. In February 1954, prolifc flm actor Pat O’Brien was attached to the project; in return for his regular hosting duties and appearances at the casino, it would be named “Pat O’Brien’s Desert Spa.” Showing just how speculative the Strip development game has always been, none of these hotels opened under their original names. The Casablanca morphed into the Riviera, and Race Track Road became Riviera Boulevard. The Araby kept its Middle Eastern theme but opened as the Dunes.

The Sunrise became the Royal Nevada, and did open, but not with its original owner. And the Desert Spa became an obscure piece of Vegas trivia.

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• • • •

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The Dunes welcomes guests in this undated photo from the 1950s.

Then came the cover of the June 20, 1955, issue of Life that bore the foreboding headline: “Las Vegas— Is Boom Overextended?” Something had to give.

Clark County Commissioner George Albright led the charge for a convention hall, a thankless task in 1954. Even before the Dunes opened, Albright and John De Luca, chairman of the chamber’s convention hall committee, were looking with envy at the newly opened Coliseum in Spokane, Washington, declaring that their city deserved a similar convention hall, only larger.

The disappointing summer of 1955— and the promise of even more new resorts to come—put wind in Albright’s sails. After a visit to Las Vegas by Benjamin Moore, the designer of the Spokane convention hall, the chamber approved plans for a convention center that could, at maximum, seat 8,500 delegates. The chamber even found the perfect location: Joe W. Brown’s bankrupt racetrack on Paradise Road.

Meanwhile, Albright kept pushing. He

assessments based on the number of games in operation, Albright successfully got the money he needed for the center.

Construction started the following year and, in 1959, the dome-shaped Convention Center opened with a seemingly limitless 90,000 square feet of exhibit space. Albright, who had by this time resigned his seat on the commission, was named the center’s executive director. ★★★★★

so how did the class of ’55 fare?

• The Desert Spa never opened as •

a casino; by 1960 it had been converted into a shopping center.

The New Frontier soared into the Space Age despite money problems; in 1967, after several ownership changes, it was remodeled

as the Western-themed (again) Frontier, then was bought by Howard Hughes. It closed in 2007 and was imploded for the neverbuilt Plaza Las Vegas. Today, the land is slated for Alon Las Vegas.

The Royal Nevada failed and was swallowed by the Stardust; its rooms remained open until that property’s 2006 closure.

The Riviera struggled but righted itself under Gus Greenbaum and remained a Strip contender until its closure in May. The Dunes also struggled, but managed to remain open until 1992, when Steve Wynn bought, closed and demolished it to make way for Bellagio.

The Moulin Rouge, padlocked after its November 1955 closure, reopened as a hotel in 1956 but operated only sporadically for years. Eventually it was run as an extended-stay motel, until a series of fres in the 2000s made it uninhabitable.

The Stardust did open—at last—in 1958, and gave Las Vegas some of its most notorious stories (Nicholas Pileggi’s Casino, among others) before being bought by Boyd Gaming in 1985. Boyd closed it in 2006 to make way for the neverbuilt Echelon. The land is now slated for the under-construction Resorts World.

Of the seven resorts that were scheduled to open in 1955, none ended the year with their original ownership and management; two did not open (although the Stardust ultimately did); two closed (almost) before the year was out; and the remaining three—Riviera, Dunes and the New Frontier—became viable casinos but only after signifcant changes.

The catastrophes of 1955 muddy the story of the 1950s boom, but they actually helped put the city on its path to growth. City leaders learned that casino failures not only were possible, but were almost routine. And the prospect of a greater collapse of the local hospitality economy prodded property owners and voters to fnally take action on a convention center.

That convention center—and the convention bureau created to fll it— would evolve into the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, which has successfully marketed Las Vegas to the world for more than half a century.

That Las Vegas survived both national gambling expansion and the recent recession relatively intact is a testament to two things: the LVCVA’s work in promoting the city as a destination and individual operators keeping the city’s attractions current.

That another expansion of the convention center will soon occupy the site of the Riviera may be ftting: Were it not for the scare that the Riviera and its rivals threw into town in the summer of 1955, there may not have been a convention center at all. In which case Las Vegas would be a very different place today.

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the first local response to national reports of Las Vegas’ decline was denial. Indeed, conditions were not as bad as some reported. Statewide, gaming revenue rose from $94.4 million in fscal 1955 to $113.1 million the following year—a 20 percent increase. Much of that growth was in Las Vegas.

Still, change was quick in coming.

On July 1, the Resort Hotels Association announced that seven of its members would be instituting a $2 minimum cover charge in its dinner theaters—too many guests were enjoying the music without buying anything or gambling once the show was over.

Even before the various fnancial woes, though, sentiment had been building that the city was missing something: occupied hotel rooms between Sunday and Thursday. The only solution seemed to be conventions.

As early as 1949, a convention hall was proposed, but nothing ever came of it.

In 1953, the Chamber of Commerce established a convention bureau, but

received authorization from the Legislature to assemble a board to run a convention center and tried to fnd ways to pay for the center that would be acceptable to voters and the resort industry.

Financing the convention center was Albright’s major headache. Voters refused, on principle, to pay a dime to fund a project that would beneft the hotels; the hotels were willing to chip in, but not pay the entire bill; and motel owners, complaining that they would host few conventioneers, had no desire to ante up.

Albright was able to engineer a compromise: The hotels, led by Desert Inn owner Moe Dalitz, would pay a tax of 5 percent of gross room revenues to repay bonds taken out to build the center; motels would contribute 3 percent. The voters, satisfed that they wouldn’t be saddled with the bill, approved a bond measure in March 1956. With additional

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★★★★★

it was limited in its effectiveness. The city simply did not have the facilities to host major groups, and resort owners fatly refused to book any conventions over the weekend; those rooms were needed for gamblers.

“WHY DRAG OUR FEET?” asked an April 1954 Las Vegas Sun editorial headline, in reference to building a convention hall. “The need is so basic,” the author wrote, “that it should occur to every 10-year-old child.”

To this point, owners of the resort hotels, content with the profts from their casinos, were happy to let someone else bear the burden of building a hall that could accommodate thousands of delegates. That attitude would no longer do; with as many as six new resort hotels opening, there would be a crunch of competition that could doom the town.

“The problem of an off-season business slack” is already here, the Sun warned.

August 6–12, 2015

ularly scheduled events also included Saturday morning broadcasts of East Coast baseball games.

Around this time the Royal Nevada was taken over by a group led by former Sands executive Bill Miller. Miller’s group was no more successful than the original owners, and the end came on New Year’s Day, 1956. Sheriff’s deputies arrived to serve a writ fled by the Culinary union for $3,900 in unpaid wages, setting off a panic among employees, who feared the hotel was being closed. A mass hysteria swept through the casino, as dealers snatched cash and chips from their tables and bartenders swiped bills from their registers. Royal Nevada management, hoping to save something, closed the resort that night.

A month later, Jake Kozloff of the New Frontier announced a lease on the property, but it never operated proftably (as the Sands had attempted with the Dunes, Kozloff tried to run the Royal Nevada as a junior partner to the New Frontier, which was itself having problems). The Royal was ultimately absorbed by the Stardust, and its casino became the Stardust Auditorium.

These economic disasters up and down the Strip were not slowing the pace of construction. In addition to several motels such as El Morocco and La Martinique, the Tropicana, Stardust and Hacienda had all started building or made strides toward groundbreaking in the summer of 1955. If the Strip couldn’t survive with 10 resorts, how could it handle 13?

What’s more, the storm clouds over the Strip were becoming a national story, with The Wall Street Journal running a particularly scathing piece. Then came the cover of the June 20, 1955, issue of Life—the very one with the photo of the Moulin Rouge revue—that bore the foreboding headline: “Las Vegas—Is Boom Overextended?”

Something had to give.

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NIGHTLIFE

Tritonal plays Marquee Dayclub in May.

It’s been a super awesome experience!

Now it’s all about getting her home and her mom settled in before our big tour. [The baby’s] name is Stella. We just loved the name, and it gives off sort of an interplanetary vibe, and it’s just cute!

August 6–12, 2015

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What can we expect when you and Dave Reed record the 100th episode of Tritonia?

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This isn’t our frst rodeo. We did this with a previous project, reached 100 episodes, and then called it after that.

We made the switch to Tritonia to focus on the branding aspect of it, and it’s been amazing! We’re gonna stream it on BPM [SiriusXM Radio], drop a few new records from our next artists’ albums, and we’re also showcasing some never-before-seen visual content.

We’re fying in Estiva and Juventa from our label, Enhanced Music, and we’ll play some of their new stuff as well.

On the podcast, you like to give people a taste of what you’ve been listening to lately. What have you been digging?

When it comes to the guys with the big club sound, we’re digging R3hab,

KSMR, Jeza—who is on our label—Audien … They’re all doing amazing things.

We don’t listen to much club music; we’re more into the chill-out, experimental trip-hop and even pop stuff. We really like Nils Frahm, who is a German concerto pianist. His live concerts are phenomenal! He makes that epic, feelgood orchestral chill-out music that we love. We also like John Hopkins. He produced a bunch of stuff for Coldplay and Steven Spielberg. Guys like those two embody what we love to do.

You collaborated with Cash Cash on “Untouchable,” and you’re going on a North American tour with them. Is a collaborative album in the works?

Who are some of your biggest influences?

Your latest single, “Gamma Gamma,” leans more on the hard, electro side, which is a little different from your previous work. Will the other new tunes follow suit?

We love Coldplay and [singer] Chris Martin. We love watching those guys and their journey in music. But honestly, we’re mostly infuenced by things outside of music. We try to eat healthy, meditate and work out. The scene is heavily infuenced by parties and all of that stuff, but our infuences come from nature and living good, fun lives.

I’m a big runner, and I regularly do meditation and yoga. It’s all about fnding time to get out of the studio and go outside. That’s an important balance, because it keeps us in tune and on point so we can give Tritonians [fans] the best shows.

An album might be too much, but we’ll defnitely do another single with them.

We can work on it on the bus since we’re about to leave on this threemonth North American tour. We’re hitting 50 cities, so that’s plenty of time to write new music on the road.

Expect to hear some new remixes of “Untouchable” soon.

Our new record will showcase our ability to write a variety of tunes. We’re not just going for a certain “sound”; we want to create our own style. People know that when they listen to Tritonal, they’re gonna hear awesome melodies, but we went really creative with the new stuff. We’ve written anything from electro and chill-out to trap and more.

We tried balancing our sound while writing and being musicians and just having fun. We can always churn out a

typical club record, but that’s no fun.

We got into music to push boundaries, have fun and get creative and weird— that’s what we did. Just today, we had a boys and girls choir record the tribal vocals in “Gamma Gamma,” and we’re putting that on another mix.

What else is next for Tritonal?

We’ll try our best to wrap up the album before we leave [for the tour].

We’ve got a new single with The Chainsmokers coming out in September. We’ve got more than 50 songs to choose from [for the album] to whittle it down to 10. Then we’re gonna pick out the singles and focus on branding.

When you’re not behind the decks or in the studio, what are your favorite spots to hit in Vegas?

We love Marquee. It’s one of our favorite spots, and we’re lucky to be residents. Omnia is a fuckin’ amazing venue. The lighting is insane, the chandelier next-level. But outside of the clubs, we just like getting good food and seeing different shows. We’re big fans of Tao [restaurant] and their appetizers and desserts. They make us deep-fried Oreos. Those are ridiculous.

PHOTO BY JOSH METZ

You rescheduled this interview because your wife just gave birth to a baby girl.

How’s that been so far?

NIGHTLIFE

PARTIES

WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN BEAUTY & ESSEX LANDS AT THE COSMOPOLITAN

Encore

[ UPCOMING ]

August 6–12, 2015

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Aug. 9 RL Grime spins Aug. 16 Arty spins Aug. 23 Ruby Rose spins

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See more photos from this gallery at SPYONvegas.com

XS PHOTOS BY DANNY MAHONEY

XS NIGHTSWIM

New York hot spot Beauty & Essex will take its place among the Cosmopolitan’s restaurant collection in 2016. Located in the former Comme Ça footprint, the Tao Group venture will be the first addition to the P3 Commons pantheon since the resort’s 2010 debut.

I recently checked out the original Lower East Side restaurant/lounge on a particularly crowded Saturday night, which from all accounts, is nothing out of the ordinary.

Even around 10:30 p.m., the wait for a table with a reservation was more than 30 minutes. However drinking and people watching in the bar was a pastime paradise.

Beauty & Essex was littered with models, socialites, clubkids, frat boys and tourists collectively creating the raucous tempo apropos of a spot “powered by a DJ and share plates”—the critical vibe-dining “recipe.”

Killing time—and a few drinks—I hit the pawnshop. Yes, a pawnshop fronts the place, and it’s not just a design gimmick, but also a bonafide place to hawk and buy goods, including guitars, gold chains, Loubs and other ephemera.

Whether that enhancement will make it to the Vegas iteration remains to be seen, but it’s certainly a conversation starter, so let’s hope so.

When my table was ready, I was escorted back through the pawnshop into the lustrous, earthy-hued, long dining room that sits in stark contrast to the place’s seedy, grimy façade. From the exterior, it’s almost impossible to believe this labyrinth of decadence exists within.

But chef Chris Santos’ menu is not short on creativity: grilled cheese and smoked tomato soup dumplings, pastrami-style beef carpaccio and chipotle duck chilaquiles are just a few of the many interesting dishes I tried.

I do wonder if perhaps the menu will undergo a bit of Vegas-ifying to simplify the options for diners who will undoubtedly hit this sister spot before heading to Marquee Nightclub. But since I was in New York on this occasion and not Vegas, I headed upstairs to the Pearl Lounge (bedecked in what else?) to continue the evening at this “one-stop” nightspot. – Melinda Sheckells

DINING

“I decided to make this the bar of the future, the best of all worlds, old and new.” {PAGE 52}

Restaurant reviews, news and we raise a glass to some award-winning bartenders

Downtown’s Zydeco Po-Boys is rich in favor

By Al Mancini

VegasSeven.com

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Ragin’ Good Cajun

DURING NEW ORLEANS’ VIOLENT 1929 TRANSIT STRIKE,

one major business showed its support for the union by offering free food to all strikers. It was a kind of culinary stand against “the man.” And when the beleaguered strikers would show up for their sandwiches, the owner would alert the staff, “The poor boys are coming.”

That’s the way the story was told to me by the third-generation co-owner of the famed Johnny’s Po Boys in the French Quarter (established in 1950, a couple of decades after the strike). And it’s said to be how the po-boy—Louisiana’s answer to the New York sub, the Philadelphia hoagie and the New England grinder—got its name.

Like all of those sandwiches, the po-boy has morphed into various forms over the decades. But it is indisputably the signature sandwich of Louisiana. So when Zydeco PoBoys opened its doors on Carson Avenue, I had only one thought: It better come correct. Happily, it does, as long as you’re open to the idea that Louisiana cuisine extends beyond the Big Easy.

Zydeco’s chef and co-owner Brandon Trahan is not from New Orleans, and admits he hasn’t spent a lot of time there. He was born in Creole, Louisiana, near the Texas border.

And his roots are Cajun, with 75 percent of his bloodline tracing back to France by way of Canada. The cooking he experienced as a child had less Creole infuence than what you might fnd in New Orleans. But he attended culinary school and worked in Las Vegas under Emeril Lagasse at two restaurants, and later at suburban French stalwart Marché Bacchus. So his infuences go far beyond Mama’s home cooking.

The decor at Zydeco is casual, but extremely charming and welcoming. It’s a quick-casual place, which is new for this block. And while not quite as “hip” as neighbors VegeNation and Glutton, the exposed brick walls, bare light bulbs hung from reclaimed window frames and tables built from throwaway doors make it seem even cooler.

The menu, as one might expect, concentrates on po-boys. They’re made on beautiful, thick bread from New Orleans’ famed Leidenheimer Baking Company, and semitraditionally dressed with lettuce, tomato, Swiss, Provolone and your choice of mayo, jalapeño mayo or Cajun mustard.

While roast beef is a traditional go-to poboy, Trahan offers brisket. They also have house-brined turkey, Cajun sausage (a bit leaner than traditional Andouille), ham, fried catfsh or fried shrimp. Or go all-out and get the Zydeco Special, which combines ham, turkey and brisket. The menu also offers red beans, sausage and rice, two types of gumbo (chicken and sausage, or vegan), and dirty Cajun fries.

August 6–12, 2015

PHOTO BY KRYSTAL RAMIREZ

Get into a bowl of Zydeco’s chicken and sausage gumbo.

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DINING

Raising the Bartenders Unveiling the new Academy at Southern Wine & Spirits

By Xania Woodman

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Stadium seating for 50 at the new Academy Room, and Lafranconi's "race track."

oval bin for up to three varieties of ice (cube, crushed, spheres or spears). The rest of the bar boasts chilled drawers, hidden cubbies, a trash chute, ice-carving station and high-end Italian faucets (Lafranconi: “Of course, Italian!”), plus a knife rack and wide swaths of space for tools and bitters.

“I took functional design from a lot of different concepts around the world during my travels,” he says. “I decided to make this the bar of the future, the best of all worlds, old and new.”

In addition to the cocktail-centric prep spaces, dedicated draft wine and cocktail lines sit next to the beer lines.

There are condiment trays, refrigerators for dairy and produce, a freezer for sorbet, a cooler for chilling cocktail glasses, and bottle shelves and cabinets galore. And soon, a complete coffee station will anchor the right side of the bar along with high-power blenders, for barista and pool-bar training.

Likening his $2 million baby to everything from a unicorn to a Ferrari, Lafranconi says every detail of the proprietary patent-pending design is custom—except for the commercial hand sink. (“Why reinvent the wheel?”)

“We are honoring the craft of bartending by focusing on functionality and details, and we are able to meet the needs of the bartender, but also keep them healthy, allowing them to do the right moves behind the bar,” Lafranconi

says. Here, the bartender no longer leans against the bottles, pour spouts against knees, sharp corners digging into hip bones even before the bending, lifting and turning begin—all the makings of repetitive motion injuries. The counter height has been raised from about 30 inches to 35. The bar wraps around the bartender’s hips like a tool belt, placing everything he or she needs within reach; Lafranconi calls this the “cockpit,” the “bridge of command.”

It’s the subtler touches, however, that will attract liquor brands for educational seminars and lure local mixologists to use this as their menucreation space. Usually, when you break a glass near the ice bin, you are compelled to “burn” it. That is, scoop it all out or melt it down in case a shard landed among the cubes. Not here.

Turn a knob, and a faucet at the bottom of the ice bin foods it with hot water, burning the ice for you in seconds.

Although Lafranconi led the project, it was a team effort with his colleagues, including Leanne Kruger, formerly of Southern, who suggested the hot-water faucet beneath the ice bin, and mixologist J.R. Starkus, who devised screens to hide the backbar (which means no longer scheduling a team to remove every competitive bottle when a brand books the room). And the entire company stands to beneft from the renovation, with certifed cicerone Sam Merritt using the space for beer education, Level 3 sake master Luis DeSantos for sake and Asian spirits, and master sommelier Joseph Phillips for wine instruction.

“It’s all about details, ergonomics and functionality,” Lafranconi says.

But the ergonomic attention doesn’t stop at the bar. Guests and students will enjoy the comfortable bar stools and desk chairs. The table surface is gently underlit for observing the clarity and color of products. Cameras capture the action behind the bars for display on high-defnition 80-inch TVs or for live-streaming broadcasts across the world, zooming in tight on the smallest details of the demo. “You can see a fruit fy,” Lafranconi points out from the control panel next door. Blackout curtains, surround sound and soundproof insulation make this as much a recording studio as it is a demo kitchen.

And he’s already thinking of potential improvements for his Academy 2.0.

“It’s like the Apollo project,” he says.

Finally, Lafranconi crowned the room with framed black and white photos of 20th-century celebrities and luminaries, from presidents to actors: “The idea is to show how alcoholic beverages are so intertwined with civilization: cultural gatherings, celebrations of life, and social and political meetings and events.”

For its students, the Academy room will be a place of learning. It will also confrm that bartending can be a smart career choice, one that might take them in any number of directions.

Says Lafranconi: “Whether somebody is not fully dedicated or committed yet, or somebody is in between jobs and trying to decide what career to choose, when someone works behind this bar, they will fall in love, and they will really have a whole new perception of what bartending is all about.”

PHOTOS BY KRYSTAL RAMIREZ

August 6–12, 2015

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VegasSeven.com

YOU PROBABLY WILL NEVER SET FOOT IN THE

Academy of Spirits & Fine Service, but what happens in Southern Wine & Spirits of Nevada’s state-of-the-art classroom dramatically impacts your experience at bars, restaurants and lounges throughout the city and beyond.

Francesco Lafranconi, Southern’s executive director of mixology and spirits education has overseen the Academy since 2000. Initially just seven weeks, the now 12-week certifcate course aims to educate bartenders and other beverage professionals about the manufacturing, history, marketing and consumption of the products they serve.

“It’s been a great opportunity for us to really show suppliers what kind of added value education is,” Lafranconi says. “The ‘the more you know, the more you sell’ message came across well. Suppliers started to develop ambassador programs for their brands.

And so the vision that [Southern boss] Larry Ruvo had in 1998 when he met me in Italy has really paid off.”

Lafranconi famously says, “We’re not drinking, we’re learning,” but notes the class truly is “a career-path changer.” It was for me.

I graduated from the Academy in winter 2009, when lessons were held in a standard classroom with long desks, noisy chairs and, at the front of the narrow, rectangular room, a partial wet bar setup that could have also suited a chemistry class. The lectures were interesting and challenging, but mostly theoretical, historical and anecdotal, with very little demonstration other than tasting samples and watching presentations. It was rather like taking a shot: It got the job done, but left ample room for improvement.

Just in time for the Academy’s 15th anniversary, Lafranconi and Southern have unveiled a high-tech, completely renovated Academy Room, one at last beftting the world-class education that goes on there.

Unveiled on July 27, the new design turns the former Academy room on its end—literally. The 1,700-square-foot room’s focal point has shifted 90 degrees to the right, and there’s stadiumstyle seating for 50, meaning there isn’t a bad seat in the house. Three wells make up the 41-foot-long bar, two oriented for right-handed individuals and one engineered for southpaws.

The key to the whole operation is Lafranconi’s “race track,” a design Lafranconi says he’s been working on since 2009. It’s an oval channel sunken into the steel hull dedicated to garnishes and 12 frequently used bottles.

The track’s infeld holds a chilled,

VegasSeven.com

| August 6–12, 2015

PHOTO BY KRYSTAL RAMIREZ

The signs of success: Moats' roster of clients continues to grow.

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CONCERT

Aerosmith's Train Kept A-Rollin' MGM Grand Garden Arena, Aug. 1

A&E

Rock bands that are well into their fourth decade of touring always fall into one of two categories: They’re either finely tuned machines that gin up nostalgia among adoring fans, or they’re simply nostalgic acts that, with each botched note, leave fans wincing more than cheering. Unfortunately, thanks to Father Time, the scales of rock ’n’ roll justice tip heavily toward the latter. Fortunately, Aerosmith is still doing its part to hold down the right end of the scale.

From the first lick of show opener “Train Kept A-Rollin’” to the last note of encore closer “Sweet Emotion,” the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers had a packed house on its feet (no small accomplishment, considering most of the crowd was AARP-eligible).

For nearly two hours, frontman Steven Tyler displayed the energy and pipes of a man half his 67 years; guitarists Joe Perry and Brad Whitford played like they were in their prime; bassist Tom Hamilton and drummer Joey Kramer held down the bottom line like it was 1979; and keyboardist Russ Irwin (the unofficial sixth member) expertly assisted Tyler on backing vocals.

One of the benefits of age, of course, is wisdom, and the boys from Boston displayed their smarts by crafting a set list that appealed to every segment of the fan base. There were vintage cuts for hard-core fans (the aforementioned “Train,” plus Beatles cover “Come Together,” “Toys in the Attic” and super-deep-cut “One Way Street” off the band’s self-titled debut album); more contemporary hits (“Love in an Elevator,” “Cryin’” and “Dude (Looks Like a Lady”); and all-time classics (“Sweet Emotion,” “Dream On,” and “Walk This Way”). There was also an unexpected bonus of Perry taking the lead on the bluesy Fleetwood Mac cover “Stop Messin’ Around.”

If there was one complaint—other than Tyler’s mic being turned up too loud at times—it was that the 16-song set could’ve been longer (and could’ve done without the sappy, female knee-buckling ballad “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”).

Then again, none of the five members is south of 63, making a short set list forgivable. Moreover, having been around as long as they have, Aerosmith knows a thing or two about expert showmanship: Always leave ’em wanting more. And on this night, they most certainly did … ★★★★✩ – Matt Jacob

right off the bat with the jangly guitar riff of “36th Parallel,”

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Coastwest Unrest’s Folk Ballads Are Just Right for ‘The Heat’

which is reminiscent of a revved-up American Football.

It’s a shame that the Bunkhouse is closed; the venue’s

monotonous croon melds nicely with the acoustic chords

Wild West aesthetic would’ve been a perfect fit for another

in “Tether” and the ebb and flow of the album’s closer, “The

Coastwest Unrest show. The band’s latest effort, Black

Heat.” You’d think a song named “All the Fuck You’s” would

Desert Sweet Mojave, is full of its signature sun-soaked style

be a quick punk number, but it’s actually the album’s simple,

of folk, with nods to greats of the genre—imagine if Leonard

stripped-down centerpiece. All the fuck you’s just won’t do,

Cohen were American, lived in Las Vegas and coped with

Dickie sings. They might not meet Dickie’s standard, but the

the unforgiving desert heat by chugging PBR and writing

unfortunately abbreviated album exceeds ours. (Reclaim

ballads on an electric guitar. The album kicks into high gear

Records) ★★★★✩ – Ian Caramanzana

The playful guitars return in the following two tracks, “Manzanar” and “Way Out Here,” but the band’s songwriting genius is spotlighted in the later tracks. Singer Noah Dickie’s

YOU WON’T BE ALONE TONIGHT Melissa Etheridge is on the road supporting last September’s This Is M.E., along with her just-released live CD/DVD/Blu-ray set, A Little Bit of Me: Live in L.A. Etheridge heads to the Pearl on Aug. 7 ($49-$99) with a career-spanning, crowd-pleasing set list.

SUMMERLAND/AND THE ROCKIN’ IS EASY The song “Santa Monica” might be 20 years old, but Everclear wants to prove it hasn't left any fire behind. The fourth annual Summerland tour arrives at Brooklyn Bowl on Aug. 8 ($40), with support from Fuel, Toadies and American Hi-Fi.

ON SALE NOW Garbage brings the 20 Years Queer tour to the Cosmopolitan’s Boulevard Pool on Oct. 10 ($40), playing its eponymous debut album from start to finish. You'll hear “Supervixen,” “Milk” and all the hits in between, along with special guests Torres.

AEROSMITH BY ERIK K ABIK/ERIKK ABIK.COM

August 6–12, 2015

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VegasSeven.com

[ ALBUM REVIEW ]

Minions (PG) ★★★✩✩

Self/less (R) ★★✩✩✩

Magic Mike XXL (R) ★★★✩✩

Terminator Genisys (PG-13) ★★✩✩✩

The yellow characters introduced in Despicable Me as the subordinates to the villainous Gru have now taken center stage.

The film gets bogged down when the group members decide they need to find an evil boss to lead them. Kevin, Bob and Stuart (all voiced by Pierre Coffin) set out to find that leader. Their quest takes them to London in 1968 because they believe their new boss should be Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock). She’s become the world’s leading supervillain with some help from her mod husband, Herb Overkill (Jon Hamm).

Magic Mike XXL comes up a little short compared with the original, director Steven Soderbergh’s blithe and bonny Channing Tatum showcase inspired by Tatum’s days as a male stripper. This time the jokes are heavier, more on-the-nose, though a surprising percentage of them work anyway.

And yet the sequel earns its singles, for reasons that are simple and quite unusual.

It’s an amiably ramshackle road-trip movie, with the guys reuniting because there’s a male stripper convention in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Ted 2 (R) ★★✩✩✩

Ted 2 unites Mark Wahlberg’s insecure wallflower character with the chubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff and racial, sexual and scatological insults voiced by co-writer/ director Seth MacFarlane. Madly uneven, more so than the mediocre 2012 hit, this one’s an easy predictive call. Ted the talking teddy bear is celebrating his new marriage.

John (Wahlberg) is now a lovable loser. Ted’s marriage to his fellow grocery store cashier sours, until the plush toy and his bride decide to have a baby. The serious bits in Ted 2 relate to Ted being revoked of his civil rights.

In this fantasy-thriller, the fantastical plot device is a body-switching process called “shedding.” You buy yourself a new, longer life in a younger person’s body. Ben Kingsley plays Hale, a Manhattan tycoon who beats cancer by hooking up with a biogenic company run by purring Matthew Goode.

Hale gets swooped into the body of Ryan Reynolds. When Kingsley’s character turns into Reynolds, his memories are no longer his own. The new Hale experiences flashes of a different past. It’s up to this new, version of Hale to figure out what shedding entails.

Sgt. Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) tells of the nuclear devastation and the rise of the machines in voiceover, focusing on the three billion killed off on Judgment Day 2017. The narrative starting point is 2029, with the human resistance being led by Reese and his mentor, John Connor (Jason Clarke). Thanks to time travel, we’re soon back in ’84, and then in 2017, on Judgment Day eve. Sarah Connor, the tank-topped Mother Courage of the revolution, is portrayed by Emilia Clarke of Game of Thrones.

Dope (R) ★★★★✩

Malcolm (Shameik Moore) is a high school senior who lives with his bus driver mom (Kimberly Elise). The events of Dope send Malcolm and his friends into a criminal and lucrative orbit. At a birthday party thrown by drug dealer Dom (A$AP Rocky), guns are pulled and Dom’s “Molly” gets stashed in Malcolm’s backpack. From there Dope becomes a survival comedy, with Malcolm on the run, though there’s a romance between Malcolm and Dom’s sometime squeeze (Zoe Kravitz). Pharrell Williams executiveproduced; Forest Whitaker narrates.

SEVEN QUESTIONS

I’m trying to fgure out what to do with the rest of my life. What’s my retirement plan going to look like?” And he said, “Just come, and bring your dog.”

When someone tells me that my dog is invited, it’s a place that I want to be.

What was your first impression of Downtown?

I checked in at the Ogden at 7 p.m. on August 1, and it was 106 degrees. It was still hot and punishing even at 6:30 in the morning when I went to walk my dog, Truman. Worse still, there was no place to take him. I walked for 15 blocks through Downtown. My dog’s doing a little dance with his paws on the sidewalk, and his tongue was hanging down to his knees.

In addition to the obvious—providing plenty of water and avoiding the outdoors in the afternoon—what’s the best way to keep our dogs safe in the summer?

Watch for excessive panting. Dogs regulate their body temperature through the pads of their feet and through panting. When a dog gets super hot, the tongue gets longer and wider, so that there’s more surface area.

If you do have to take them out in the middle of the day, keep to shaded areas and test any surface with your hand before you walk your dog across it. A dog’s paws can get scalded quickly on hot asphalt. If their pads are so scalded they get scar tissue, its ability to use them to stabilize body temperature decreases.

The owner of Downtown’s Hydrant Club on trading tech work for wagging tails, fnding answers on mountaintops and keeping your hot dog cool

By Geoff Carter

August 6–12, 2015

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VegasSeven.com

How did you become such an expert in dog care and training—a “dog whisperer,” if you will?

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I prefer to say “canine conversationalist.” My mother would say that even as an infant I had a connection with the family dog. For hours, I just stared eye to eye and only cried if I needed my diaper changed or needed to be fed—the two things that the dog was incapable of doing for me. We’d just stare at each other, and I’d calm right down.

[I was a] middle-class suburban kid from Philadelphia. I got a journalism degree and ended up in the Bay Area doing technology public relations in the early ’90s. But I never abandoned my love of dogs. In the late 1990s I got one, a trainer educated me and I found that I had a knack for handling dogs.

About a year later, I started training them as a hobby. I was bored of working

in tech. People started asking me if I could help them with their dogs because they saw how well behaved mine was. I didn’t have any certifed training at that point—just the training from that private instruction, my own education and my own hands-on skill.

You heard the call of the wild, didn’t you?

Yeah. At that time I was also working with young entrepreneurs, telling them every day, “If you don’t wake up and spend your entire day thinking about what it is you’re doing, then you’re in the wrong line of work.”

Training dogs gave me something to look forward to on weekends. It never occurred to me that it would be something that I would pursue as a career.

What changed your mind?

I knew I was on the wrong path, but I

didn’t really have a clue how to change it. At the end of 2011, I took a trip to Peru with 11 other friends. We were all going to do some sort of cleansing: Slough off the old year, look to the new. I got on my knees in the mud at the top of Machu Picchu and said, “OK, universe, I know that I’m on the wrong path. Show me the right one.”

What did the universe have to say?

Shortly after, I went to a technology conference and bumped into Tony Hsieh, whom I’d known for a number of years through my work in tech. I said, “I’m done. Put a fork in me.” And he just smiled and said, “Why don’t you come visit us in Vegas this summer?” This was May 2012, and the Downtown Project had just really gotten started. I’m thinking, “When you’re a billionaire, being serendipitous is just fne and dandy, but

In other cities, dogs are woven into the fabric. You walk through pretty much any neighborhood in New York, and almost every store has a big water bowl in front and treats behind the counter. Every outdoor café has at least one dog sitting under a table.

This is a town of contradictions. Everything else that’s approached here is different, so why not reimagine what canine care could look like? We have real grass, and the shade trees help to keep it cool. Why not have a water feature that the dogs can play in and nice big rocks for the humans to sit on? And an adjacent indoor space we can use when it’s much too hot?

What we created is a space that isn’t just for the dogs. When somebody walks by, what he or she sees is a dog park frst. Then they realize it’s a dog facility: Day care, boarding, training.

Hydrant Club helps people understand how to be the best dog parents they can be. Anyone who has a pet, that’s all we want. You want your dog to be happy. It means giving them an environment where they’re relaxed.

And cool.

Hopefully I made some level of sense just now! I’m blaming the heat.

PHOTO BY KRYSTAL RAMIREZ

Cathy Brooks

Hydrant Club doesn’t feel the least bit like a kennel. How did you go about making something this relaxed in the middle of something so boisterous as Fremont Street?