Somebody sent us these …

It is difficult to say what looks phoniest about that picture: the cryingly obvious studio background of Venelazzo; the frozen grins on the faces of the agonized-looking models; or maybe it’s the fact that you could go into any Vegas night spot you like and see not one person dressed remotely as well as the people in this shot. Frankly, our reputation as “a place people go to dress badly” is well-earned several times over. I wouldn’t mow the lawn in what some people consider proper gambling and Vegas-evening attire. (Seen recently: casino patron at Caesars Palace in flip-flops, bathing trunks, reversed ball cap and nothing else.) Anyway, the nice people at Rhumbar in The Mirage want you to know that they’re having a weekend-only happy hour — or “day parties,” as we pretentiously call them here — noon to five, with $5 booze. That’s a big step in the right direction, here in the Land of the Eight-Dollar Beer. I’ll drink to that.

Vegas’s fashion sense may suck donkey balls but, hey, give us our due: We’ve surely got more nice bathrooms per capita than any other city in the U.S. But of all the restrooms in all the casinos in Sin City, only one made the 10 finalists of Cintas Corp.’s 2011 “Best Restroom Contest.” (Canada gets a separate plebiscite unto itself.)

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Main Street Station, where one can make an appropriate statement on the fall of Communism but relieving oneself next to (but hopefully not on, that’d be gross) a section of the defunct Berlin Wall, a relic only a few days older than Yr. Humble Blogger. Congratulations to Boyd Gaming for having its “necessary” recognized right up there with hangouts as chi-chi as a Calistoga, Calif., winery to a high-end New York City restaurant called Ninja. (Hey, why don’t we have one of those here?) As Chicagoans say, vote early and often.

Finally, we have some video that Mandalay Bay‘s Laughter Hours at the Foundation Room mailed us …

… apparently as a reminder that it still exists. Duly noted.

Lame. No props to Tamares Group for fumbling the announcement that it will open an Oscar Goodman-themed restaurant in the former Firefly space, above the Union Plaza porte-cochere. The press release was exquisitely ambiguous as to whether Hizzoner Emeritus owns a piece of the joint or is merely lending his name — and a truckload of memorabilia. (A follow-up query yielded squat.) I guess Mayor Carolyn Goodman told her husband to “get that junk out of my office” or something. Considering how camera-friendly the ex-mayor is, Tamares had nothing to show for its new steakhouse except a stock Plaza shot with an “Oscar’s” logo CGI’d onto the façade — a quickie improvisation that wouldn’t fool a child. Anyway, good luck and here’s hoping Las Vegans find Goodman’s recipes less divisive than his mayoral rhetoric.