S&G has learned — and LVA staffers have confirmed — that all main-stage shows at Tamares Group‘s flagship Plaza Hotel have gone dark until further notice. A promotional appearance by Best Little Whorehouse in Texas cast members at South Point, a National Finals Rodeo tie-in, was nixed due to the shutdown. The plug has, for the moment, also been pulled on Bite, The Phat Pack and Grand Ole Vegas Revue, due to what have been described as technical violations. Sounds like Tamares hasn’t been keeping the old gal up to code. Good going, Tamares … and great timing, too.
Mind you, even the classier establishments are having problems with the law, too. The Golden Nugget had to close its Carson Street Cafe and employee dining area after racking up 27 demerits with the Southern Nevada Health Department. That’s not quite on the Trump International scale of carelessness but the mention of a “pest infestation” gives one pause about eating at Tilman Feritta‘s place anytime soon. Ironically, the news broke the same day that Fertitta closed his purchase of Isle of Capri Biloxi, which is slated for a $150 million makeover and a Nugget rebranding.
The Texas Fertitta could also take comfort in Golden Nugget Atlantic City‘s November performance, in which it managed to keep its revenue flat with the previous year’s. There’s no point in lingering upon the Boardwalk’s Sandy-decimated numbers. The other two casinos to suffer relatively little adversity were at the far opposite poles of the market spectrum: Borgata was off only 15% and Colony Capital‘s low-end Atlantic Club was off but 11%, despite being slow to reopen after the storm. I guess those guys have found their metier … as grind-joint operators.
Appearing nightly just down the street from LVA HQ are Joe Beaver and Don Gay. I kid you not. They’re dispensing NFR analysis at the Gold Coast, which also hosts something called Buck ‘N Ball tonight. Can we be sure it’s the rodeo in town and not the adult-film convention? Boyd Gaming, you’re being very naughty.
I heard that news about the Nugget the morning after dropping a pretty penny at Vic and Anthony’s.
Thankfully, nothing on my plate moved.
The news that the Golden Nugget has vermin infestation is a litttle like hearing the news that Tiger Woods is a lying dirtbag playa.
Something tells me the Plaza will be history soon. The Grand will bury it. I’m still waiting for them to return a call to give me suite rates for March due to Bill”s closing, now you want a customer service disaster look into that one. The Plaza might look newer, but the infrastructure needed to run it properly is a disaster. I always said if they had spent $ along the way to avoid becoming a dump, it would have been $ better spent, rather than dumping a ton of $ in it to resuscitate it. It was a fun hotel for awhile that I stayed at exclusively multiple times a year for five years or so, now I’m pretty sure I’ll never go back.
It does seem like the energy on Fremont Street has shifted a bit toward the El Cortez, the D and the zipline. For Downtown to have a real comeback, something good needs to happen at the Plaza and the woeful Las Vegas Club. After a recent trip I wasn’t very impressed with the Golden Gate renovation either. I was a big fan of the old deli and the shrimp cocktail was always a draw. And why replace the cool, old pictures of old San Francisco with (yawn) the Rat Pack? Now the Golden Gate looks like every other small casino downtown.