David McKee

Actually, it never left, as any casual visit to the Strip will prove. But, strapped for a marketing position, Trump International is going for the wholesome niche with a vengeance. Stuck with a lemon, Trump marketing execs are making lemonade out of the hotel’s smoke-free environment and lack of gambling. The predictable sneering has begun but …

Can you blame them? With only 26% of Trump’s condo inventory having been sold, no casino and rooms priced to move, the property had to turn weakness into strength. The rooms are nice — if bland — and you needn’t worry about the douchebag/tramp-stamp crowd making the off-Strip pilgrimage to Trump.

You can’t say that about The Mirage, where the wife and I recently passed a half-conscious bikini-clad young woman, being escorted/carried off the property by a man and a dwarf. The lady had just blown chunks on the “out” escalator and appeared about to do so again, whilst the dwarf glared at passersby. I guess he was the “muscle.” It was very Fellini-meets-Jackass. Only in Vegas, folks.

She’s (somewhat) outta here. Wedged in at the back of Crystals, actress Eva Longoria‘s nightclub Eve was about as locationally challenged as it could be. Heck, there are “gentleman’s clubs” on side streets in grimy industrial districts that see more traffic. Trying to lure the bottle-service crowd into the pharaoh’s tomb that is Crystals is rather more difficult. Appropriately enough, Daily Fiasco broke the story that Eve is being placed in a bankruptcy-induced coma or worse. (Attached restaurant Beso remains open and modestly profitable, happy to report.) The official line is that the club is simply going through a makeover of indefinite duration and that — coulda fooled me — nightclubbers are in short supply during the summer months.

It’s difficult to imagine that a nightclub less than two years old could already been “passé,” per the official line. Also, the $2 million expenditure would Continue reading →