By John Katsilometes
Earlier this month when Frontier owner Phil Ruffin agreed to sell his hotel and surrounding 35 acres for $1.2 billion to Israeli real estate magnate Yitzhak Tshuva, you probably had the same thought as me:
Whither Gilley’s?
The Strip’s center for bikini bull riding, female mud wrestling, line dancing and all other forms of yee-haw behavior is not long of this world. Don’t expect the joint to be open past July, as Gilley’s General Manager Larry Black noted during a phone conversation this afternoon. The final decision on when to close Gilley’s would fall to Frontier Director of Operations Hal Leonard, but no formal date has been announced.
Gilley’s opened in December 1998, making it one of the Strip’s longest-standing (or, staggering) nightclubs. Ruffin was actually inspired by the mechanical bulls featured in “Urban Cowboy” when he moved to bring Gilley’s to Vegas. The Houston original was shuttered in 1989 and flamed out, for real, in a fire a year later.
To help fill the void left when Gilley’s pulls up stakes, a new country-fied night spot, Stoney’s Rockin’ Country, is scheduled to open just as Gilley’s closes. The club is owned by former Gilley’s GM Stoney Gray. Maybe Gray can organize the city’s longest-ever wagon train to cart cryin’-in-thar-beer Gilley’s patrons to the new spot. Whatever the case, Gilley’s will always be known as the Strip’s original home of the mechanical bull, and where “Lookin’ For Love” will spin for eternity.
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When Wayne Allyn Root talks, people listen. That’s because he does not talk. He shouts. And lately he has been making all kind of noise as a national political figure as a candidate for president for the Libertarian Party. The man who made his mark as one of the city’s more famous sports handicappers has parlayed his penchant for oddsmaking into quite the multimedia empire. He’s also become a force in the political arena, holding fund-raisers for Gov. Jim Gibbons (in the pre-28-percent-approval rating days) and Sen. John Ensign, who joined Karl Rove and other Republican hotshots in October for a fete at Root’s home at Anthem Country Club.
Root has since left the Republican Party, which he says meddles too much in our personal lives (and which also has plenty of presidential candidates) to run as a Libertarian. He might well win the nomination, too, as the British betting house Ladbrokes has listed the man who calls himself WAR (his initials, kids) as an even-money bet to do just that. He is currently the front-runner. Regardless of how this election turns out, Root has said he will run for the U.S. Senate. Care to wager on the outcome?
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Release me: I have received two notices from the campaign of Hillary Rodham Clinton, trumpeting her success among Latino voters. The first release was in English; the second in Spanish. Say this for Hillary, she has it covered.
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United Airlines is offering one-way tickets to Los Angeles for $29 on the travel Web site travelzoo.com. That’s the good news. The bad news is, you have to go to Los Angeles (ba-dum-bum!).
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Vegas moment: A Metro officer perched on a motorcycle unit (also known as “a motorcycle”) on the corner of Maryland Parkway and Flamingo Road hit his lights and siren upon spotting a half-dozen motorists rushing through a red light in that intersection’s turn lane. He could have busted all of them, but picked the unfortunate car that was last in line.
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Nick? Nick Lachey? Nic Cage? Plate on a white Lincoln Navigator reads NIXCHIX (looked like a mother and her two daughters inside, says the reader who reported this plate).
Fabulous Las Vegas appears daily (well, almost) at this Web site. John Katsilometes can be reached at 990-7720, 812-9812 or at [email protected]