As We See It

The Flying Saucer invades Boulder City

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Get your Area 52 photo ID at the Flying Saucer!
Photo: Erin Ryan

Beneath Hoover Dam’s 10 trillion gallons of water, the feds could hide just about anything, like an alien colony or a hangar of salvaged UFOs. For those without access to a covert sub, the best way to explore the conspiracy is to visit the Flying Saucer in Boulder City, a new shop sworn to expose the mysteries of so-called “Area 52” (because Area 51 is so last-century).

Since June, the Saucer has welcomed Earthlings into a “highly radioactive and imaginative” space that’s part curiosity shop, part museum, part specialized library and part rumpus room for owner/resident “alien” Kae Pohe.

The Details

The Flying Saucer
441 Nevada Way, Boulder City
293-1823
Mon-Sat, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“This place is an excuse for me to play with all my toys,” he says, belly laughing and knocking over part of a display with a light saber.

Pohe is a native New Zealander descended from a Maori tribe called The Sky People, and legend has it, they floated down to Earth on clouds.

“I used to say to my sister, ‘We didn’t come down on clouds; we came down on flying saucers. We’re really bloody aliens!’” he says in Kiwi slang, raising an eyebrow. “If the men in black show up and there are helicopters out front, I’m disappearing real quick.”

Pohe is both a “believer” and a jokester, referencing scholarly research on underground bases one minute and showing off his storefront alien’s impersonations of Bill Clinton and Crocodile Dundee the next.

The merchandise has similar balance, from sci-fi movies like Bad Girls From Mars to pulp fiction posters and Australian Bico jewelry, a collection of alien-themed documentaries and books, alien beer and wine, glow masks, abduction insurance, a fleet of radio-controlled spacecraft and personalized Area 52 photo ID. Patrons are likely to find Pohe in the middle, encouraging them to question everything and have a fantastic time doing it.

“Some people say I’m marketing a myth here, and if it’s true, we’re all in trouble,” he says, grinning. Judge for yourself at the grand opening celebration September 24—alien attire encouraged.

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