With today's opening of the new Hooters hotel-casino, The Palms and Hard Rock have some busty competition in luring the 20something crowd to Las Vegas.
I joined the remaining drunken revelers a block east of the Las Vegas Strip (East Tropicana across from MGM Grand) at 3 a.m. early this morning for a sneak preview that began Thursday at 9 p.m.. Most of the crowd had died down, and Cindy Margolis, Brooke Burke, and KISS' Gene Simmons had left (though not together).
Billed as "the cure for the common casino," $130 million and 10 months were spent erasing all traces of the former Hotel San Remo that stood in its space (as well as Howard Johnson's, Paradise Hotel & Casino, 20th Century Hotel & Casino, Treasury, Pacifica, and Polynesian that have all shared residence since the building's inception in 1973).
Curbs were still being painted orange hours before the grand opening.
Much of the renovation was spent on the casino floor, the 696 guest rooms, and the nine restaurants and bars. They may have run out of money by the time attention was placed on the outside signage -- either this remaining San Remo sign on the parking garage is slated to be replaced, or it's part of Hooters' "delightfully tacky, yet unrefined" haute couture.
Fifteen miles of cedar was liberally used throughout the casino, and its tin roof ceiling and splashes of orange make it one of the brighter, playful casinos in town. Were it not for the gaming, you might think you were at a beach resort in Florida.
What sets apart a small casino such as Hard Rock is its classy circular design, with bar in the center, table games surrounding, and slots on the outer rim.
At Hooters, there's no such class (proudly intentional, I'm sure). But gambling at the Hooters casino is akin to gambling in a crowded Hooters restaurant. I felt as stuffed into the casino as a Hooters girl in a tanktop. The main bar greets you at the entrance, which could become a fire hazard when crowded, not to mention a hassle to push through to get to blackjack. I would say the focus is on the brand more than the gaming, but almost 700 slot machines competing with my claustrophobia would say otherwise.
Once past the bar, a party pit showcases Hooters Calendar Girls dealing blackjack from automatic shufflers. A small sign displays table limits, along with a reminder that tipping dealers by betting for them is allowed, the first blatant encouragement of tipping I've seen in a casino.
Rows of slot machines (including Hooters-branded reels) are set at angles, making it difficult to maneuver without bumping into seated players, particularly if you've had a few Hooters cocktails.
A Hooters Ford Thunderbird sits to one side on museum-like display, but you're out of luck because not even three 7s will win it.
In back are further table games with keno to come and a poker room thrown in as an afterthought -- just three tables (no-limit and limit) shoved into what may have originally been a bar.
The bar Porch Dogs had live music blasting rock'n'roll and the club was full of people happily dancing through the grand opening.
Restaurants align the sides of the casino, including the Vegas debut of upscale seafood and steakhouse Dan Marino's Fine Food and Spirits (owned by the former Miami Dolphins quarterback and NFL Hall of Famer), originally from Hooters' home base of Florida.
The ever familiar Hooters uniform can be seen throughout the casino, mainly at the bar and restaurant, the second-largest Hooters restaurant in the country. Outside the Party Pit, table dealers wear regular uniforms. A quarter of the 1,100 employees will don the orange short-shorts and white tanktops that made the chain popular 23 years ago. With the hotel part of the casino not opening until Feb. 6, it remains to be seen whether housekeeping will also wear the uniforms, though this may just be wishful thinking on my part.
There was talk of a possible update of the cocktail waitress uniform, but it all remains the same... and, well, dated. Apparently being a Hooters girl has strict, wholesome family values.
One innovation is the Orange Hotline, a phone installed at each of the 400-some Hooters restaurants across the country that provides a direct line to the reservations desk in the Hooters Casino. If you're craving some three-card poker with your three-mile-island hot sauce, take comfort in knowing you're mere steps away from booking a Vegas vacation.
The Hooters Casino is a nice addition to the Strip and a choice destination for anyone craving their popular wings. But for a gaming experience, I'd rather go across the street to MGM, tanktop or no tanktop.
If you miss the exit and park in Tropicana's open parking lot next door, park at your own risk.
But if you park there anyway, here's the shortcut entrance (through bushes).
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To follow-up and correct some facts posted yesterday on the seven-hour standoff at Harrah's, the man taken into custody was 22-year-old Curtis Billy Bonilla (pictured at right), who shot and killed 43-year-old Philip Anthony McElreath.
