Question of the Day - 27 September 2023

If we didn't have to answer this question every year or so, we'd lose track of them all ourselves. We count an even dozen of them, 10 in casinos and two in non-casino attractions. 

As you noticed, Wax Rabbit will be the hidden space at the Durango. It will be accessed through Mijo, the upscale Mexican restaurant. Apparently, there'll be a tequila-storing locker room somewhere in the space, where well-heeled drinkers can store their tequila and, presumably, mezcal. The way we understand it, each locker will come with a rabbit's head, one of which will open the hidden door to the bar. 

At the Cosmopolitan is the Ghost Donkey Bar, which also serves a large selection of handcrafted mezcal and tequila cocktails. It's accessed by a plain door under an Exit sign at the back of the Block 16 food hall on the second floor. You'll know it's the right door when you see a small colorfully painted donkey on it. You press on the push bar and you're in a whole new world.

A second secret space for drinking at the Cosmo is 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 finest whiskeys.

And a third hidden venue at Cosmo opened with Superfrico, the "psychedelic Italian" restaurant, a couple of years ago. It's called the Ski Lodge; you get there via one of the eight doors you encounter when you walk through Superfrico's massive front double doors (ask the doorman to show you which). It has a big stone fireplace, a snowy scene behind the bar, and ski accoutrements scattered around the room. If anyplace in Vegas makes you feel like you're not in Vegas, it's the Ski Lodge bar.

Resorts World also opened with a secret space. 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. 

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.)

Another natural for a speakeasy is Bugsy & Meyer’s Steakhouse at the Flamingo. This one, aptly enough, is called the Count Room. It's one of the easier hidden spaces to find, since it has a sign above the fancy out-of-place door next to L.A. Subs by the food court. 

Which leads us to the 1923 Prohibition Bar at the Shoppes at Mandalay Bay. Obviously, this secluded little bar has a speakeasy theme, but hidden within is a room called the Magician's Study, billed as "an intimate and exclusive invite-only interactive theater experience hosted by a charming international magician in his secret study." There's a whole rigmarole for getting in; if you do it, let us know.  

Late last year, Circa opened its own Secret Bar, hidden behind an overhead door that features a close-up photo of the eyes of Marilyn Monroe, in the high-limit room on the second floor of the casino. 

On the Record is the nightclub at Park MGM; it's hidden behind a two-story record-store entrance off the main casino floor. That leads to an indoor-outdoor space dominated by a full-sized double-decker bus that houses the deejays and audio equipment, along with a karaoke space, dance floor, and a hidden speakeasy in the hidden club called the Vinyl Room.

Then there's the Lock, the requisite speakeasy hidden behind a newish bar at the Horseshoe, Cabinet of Curiosities, on the lower level. You have to make a reservation for the Lock, then look for a phone on the wall of the bar to check in. The “locksmith” apparently instructs you how to get in by "picking the locks." We're told that it's a 90-minute Prohibition-style experience inside the speakeasy. 

Little known is Datamosh, a hidden bar within Meow Wolf's Omega Mart, perhaps the most secret space of them all. We hear that the staff will pretend not to know what you're talking about if you ask how to access it, but here's a hint: It's inside the pharmacy. It serves only eight cocktails. 

And all these are just the drinking spaces. There are others for eating, but that's an answer for another day.