Question of the Day - 08 August 2021

First, yes, what's generally known as Secret Pizza is the worst-kept secret at the Cosmopolitan, if not Las Vegas. It's been there since Cosmo opened in 2010, on the third floor down a long hallway lined with the jackets of '50s and '60s record albums. These days, you can also tell the place by the long line of people waiting for pizza in the hall. 

Secret Pizza launched a Vegas trend of "hidden" bars and eateries that provide a little adventure to find and reach. Cosmo, in fact, has a second hideaway, this one on the second floor at the back of the Block 16 food hall. The Ghost Donkey Bar, which serves a large selection of handcrafted mezcal and tequila cocktails, is accessed by a plain door under an Exit sign with a small colorfully painted donkey on it. You press on the push bar and you're in a whole new world.

A third secret space at the Cosmo is the Barbershop Cuts & Cocktails. First, get a haircut. Or don't. Either way, you can pass through an unassuming janitor door in the salon for a Prohibition-style bar decked out in 1920s' barbershop decor that serves some of the world’s greatest whiskeys.

The latest entry into Vegas' secret spaces is at Resorts World. Here Kitty Kitty Vice Den is a cocktail lounge accessed from behind grocery shelves in Ms. Meow's Mamak Stall inside the Famous Foods Street Eats food hall. But don't try to open the entrance; you need reservations, then you check in at the Stall counter. 

Two more secret passageways were part of the Palms $650 million renovation a few years ago. The Palms, of course, remains closed, but when the Mission Band of San Manuel Indians reopen the place, expected later this year, presumably they'll both return. The first is Sara's, an exclusive supper club that you enter through a plain door tucked away at the back Mabel’s BBQ. The second is Greene Street Kitchen, whose door is a cola vending machine at the side of a small video arcade. (A hostess was stationed there to open the "door" for the timid, unknowing, or confused.)

The Mob Museum, you probably won't be surprised to hear, has an actual speakeasy in the basement. To enter the Underground, you go down to the basement, ring a bell, provide a password, and walk into a Prohibition-era bar and working distillery decorated with artifacts from the 1920s. What's the password? We could tell you, but then we'd have to rub you out. (Seriously, it's posted on the Mob Museum's website.)

In the retail department, there's "Akhob," an immersive permanent art exhibition by light-and-space artist James Turrell within the Louis Vuitton shop at the Crystals mall at City Center.  Akhob is an ancient Egyptian word reportedly meaning “pure water.” The two rooms slowly change colors, completely altering your perception of time and space, during the 25-minute experience. It's free, but you need to reserve well in advance.