A quarter's flip from the not-so-gracefully aging El Cortez, across from the Super 8 Motel, just up the street from the Fremont Medical Center, a new business shows signs of life. Gary Sax, wearing black rockabilly jeans, his blond hair kept surfer-style gives a tour of his 8,600-square-foot soon-to-be entertainment club at Fremont and Seventh Street—inside the Day's Inn—called Take 1, which will be home to singing, dancing, a cinema draft house and something called "movie-oke"—think karaoke, but with acting. The prostitutes and drug dealers of East Fremont are about to see some changes on their street, as Oscar's new entertainment district takes a first step toward fruition.
Sax points to a stage, which will be backed by an enormous movie screen, gestures to the area where a dressing room will be and proudly shows off a dungeon-like green room. There's also a kitchen, which will be subleased, a bar and lots and lots of teal and rattan chairs, bought from some old casino property, which look like they belong in a Day's Inn. With its mirrored ceilings and navy carpet, there's much work to be done before Take 1's July opening. But Sax is amped—this will be the first of the nongaming entertainment district, which runs from Las Vegas Boulevard to Eighth Street, a block north and south of Fremont.
"One of the stipulations as far as the ordinance is we have to have entertainment four nights a week. What we're going to have is a thing called Reelin' and Rockin'," Sax says. "Which is going to be a tribute to all the rock movie musicals throughout the years. Like all the Alan Freed movies, Crybaby, Hairspray, the beach movies, that type of thing. Anything that had a rock performance in the movie, Jesus Christ Superstar, well I don't know if we'll go to that extent, but Grease, traveling films from the disco era, I'd like to do some Saturday Night Fever stuff."
The band will dress according to the movie, changing eras and accents with the flick of a flick. It's a unique concept—something that Sax, who's no newcomer to the entertainment industry—is known for. You may recognize his name from this very paper, which has closely followed the trials and tribulations (or something like that) Sax has faced in establishing an all-male troupe of adults who dress as cows and sing "Moo wop." But even before those days, he's been all over the entertainment map, as an opening act for Dick Dale, Mary Wilson, Air Supply (Air Supply!) and more. Along with partners Benedict and John Ardito—a father and son team—Sax is at least as eager and enthusiastic about this venture as he was with those bovine singers, the Moo Beams.
As with all Vegas ventures not including gaming, there's no telling what the future holds for the revitalization of Downtown. Sax hopes to be the catalyst to jump-start the district, and hopes the people get over their fears.
"I grew up in Jersey. This is, like, nothing. I was mugged on the subways, why should I be afraid here?"