As We See It

In brief: A new climbing gym, hotel rooms at the Gold Spike (again) and more

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The Ultimate Crash Pad suite is shown at Oasis at Gold Spike in downtown Las Vegas Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2014. The Oasis, a boutique hotel owned and operated by the Downtown Project, officially unveiled renovations during a tour Tuesday. The suite was created by combining two of the older hotel rooms.
Photo: Steve Marcus

Rock on

Red Rock Canyon is a “top international rock-climbing destination” (if the New York Times says it ...), but even expert climbers like to brush up in the comfort of a gym. A new bouldering-specific outpost opened in Las Vegas last week, the 11,300-square-foot Refuge. But it’s not just about sick walls. There’s a fitness area for building freaky forearm muscles, and classes to help newbies and next-geners get skilled. If you’re worried about contending with uptight athlete syndrome, just check out the Refuge’s opening-day Facebook post, featuring Grumpy Cat looking underwhelmed. Let the chalky fun begin. —Erin Ryan

Downtown Project Unveils Oasis at Gold Spike

The next evolution

Usually casinos evolve like this: Empty lot --> construction site --> casino --> implosion --> empty lot. The Gold Spike? Not so much. In recent years, the Downtown property has gone from total dive to boutique hotel-ish to Downtown Project dorm and now back to boutique hotel, as DTP opened the Oasis at Gold Spike this week. The 44-“crash pad” property features amenities like bike rentals, turntables and a vinyl library, and coworking spaces (natch), with rooms starting at $49 for a random Wednesday in November. Oh, and there’s this: Bunks are still available for Life Is Beautiful this weekend—for $229 and up. —Sarah Feldberg

Driving the point home

The kudos just keep coming for Checker Cab driver Gerardo Gamboa, who made national headlines last Christmas for finding—and returning—$300,000 in cash in the back of his cab. He got a $10,000 reward from the money’s owner and a “Cab Driver of the Year” citation from the Clark County Commission in January. Now, Gamboa will be heading to San Antonio, Texas, to get an international award: the Taxicab, Limousine & Paratransit Association’s 2014 Taxicab Driver of the Year honor. Call us cynical, but with Uber on the way to Las Vegas, this smacks of beating an already well-established good deed into the ground. —Ken Miller

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Sarah Feldberg

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Ken Miller

Ken Miller is the editor of Las Vegas Magazine, having previously served as associate editor at Las Vegas Weekly, assistant ...

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