At one time, both the creature called the griffin and the creature called the lively Downtown Vegas scene were considered to be mythological. Now, as Downtown increasingly comes to life, it's more than appropriate that the griffin will become real, too. Make that the Griffin, with a capital G, as in the name of a new bar opening its doors in September at 511 Fremont St., replacing a souvenir shop.
Los Angelenos Aaron Chepenik and Jonathan Hensleigh are the pair behind it. Chepenik brings previous public-house experience as co-owner of The Chalet, a popular hang-out in the Eagle Rock neighborhood, while Hensleigh is better known as a producer and screenwriter behind several Hollywood hits.
While Vegas appealed to Chepenik, it was the situation Downtown that really got his attention. "They've got some motivation for you to come in there, as far as the ease of getting use permits and reduced liquor licenses, and the fund-matching grant for the façade. And also, that area is going to be the only area in Vegas where you can bar-hop."
The barhopping will be possible thanks to liquor licenses that lack gaming provisions, freeing the establishments from having to be 1,500 feet apart.
The front room will be 2,000 square feet and a back area, which will only be open on weekends or busy weeknights, will be 800 square feet. A 40-foot-long bar will run down the deep, narrow space, placing the emphasis on seating, according to Chepenik. "There'll be regular horseshoe booths, some lower banquettes with ottomans and then there's two round fireplaces with low banquette seating around them."
The Griffin name is meant to evoke a feeling of something old school, says Chepenik, "something that goes against the grain of what's going on in Vegas right now. ... There are some '50s and '60s lounge elements to it, and some architectural elements that are even older. You'll feel like you're inside a structure that's a couple hundred years old but has been renovated in the '50s."
"It's going to be stunning in there," he says. "I think people are really going to be impressed."
A DJ will perform weekends to begin with as Chepenik and Hensleigh get a sense of the venue's live-music potential. A jukebox will supply the tunes in front, with the goal being a "cozy, cocktail lounge feel," says Chepenik. "I want it to be the same thing up there every night, so people know what to expect and you get regulars. So they don't show up and there's a band playing they don't like."
The desire to quickly build a regular clientele, a smart business move considering it's off-off-Strip location, will extend to staff schedules, putting bartenders and waitresses on the same nights so they become familiar faces to customers.
Planned to precede the Griffin by about a month will be Michael Cornthwaite's Downtown Cocktail Room, a swank bar being overseen by Risque's old general manager which the Weekly first reported on a year ago. The lengthy renovation has been worth it to Cornthwaite, letting him stay true to his original vision, which will include such touches as a Picasso reproduction behind the bar. "It's going to be a really warm and funky, upscale, big city, urban style," he says. As with the Griffin, there won't be any video poker and the goal will be to attract locals.
"I don't want to compete with anybody on the Strip. I more want the people that work on the Strip and want to get away from it," he says.
For music, look forward to DJs Funky Bad Chad, Douglas Gibbs, Flip and Jason Lema.
Neither Chepenik nor Cornthwaite are concerned about opening competing businesses in the same small area within weeks of one another. In fact, the two consider each other friends and are looking forward to hanging out at each other's establishments when not working at their own.
"To get people down there, you've got to have more than just one place. I'm really happy that Aaron and I are on the same page because it'll just give the people that we're going for another option. It'll give them more and more reasons to come down there."
Wired World
ClubPlanet.com, a website catering to the nightlife community in 60 metropolitan areas in the U.S., will be rolling out a massive relaunch in the next few weeks, says Andrew Fox, CEO of Track Entertainment, the corporation which is helping produce Vegas' upcoming Global Gathering festival through a new company called Live2Net, in collaboration with One Global Events and the Angel Music Group.
As well as a new design, the site will feature "MySpace-esque profiles, video and photo upload sections, local ‘trainspotters' reporting who and what were seen on the scene every night in their cities, and celebrity bloggers," according to a press release.
"We took it to the next level," says Fox, creating something he calls "active networking." In practice it means users will be able to move their mouse over someone's profile and see where that person will be that night. Private instant messages can then be sent so people can meet up. Folks also will be able to upload photos and video from their cell phones.
Fox says they have a "phenomenal team" here, including Marc Jay and Lia Rispoli of One Global Events and Neil Moffit of the Angel Music Group and Godskitchen.
"We've broken Las Vegas wide open," says Fox, "We pretty much have close to 100 percent traction in the market, meaning that every major hotel-casino, bar, club are paying us for something."
Global Gathering Vegas
Hoping to cast a wide net over the crazed Labor Day weekend crowds, Live2Net is bringing the world-famous Global Gathering festival from merry old England to Sin City.
"There'll be something for everyone at our event," says Andrew Fox, CEO of Track Entertainment, part of the Live2Net team that includes One Global Events and the Angel Music Group.
"We've got rock, we've got electronica, we've got DJs, we've got pool parties. It's a whole big lineup," says Fox, speaking to the Weekly from New York City.
"Labor Day weekend, we are bringing our Global Gathering installment to Las Vegas. We've taken over the Palms hotel, and for three days straight, we'll be exposing Las Vegas to Global Gathering, and our partners, Bacardi and the Palms, and internally, our team, have programmed a phenomenal weekend, from Tiesto at the pool on Sunday to Papa Roach on Saturday, to a mash-up on Friday," says Fox, adding that Tiesto will be there as an exclusive engagement for the weekend. In total, half a dozen acts will be featured over the three days, from Thursday through Sunday. (With most out-of-towners leaving Monday, it was decided not to schedule any events for the holiday itself.)
Organizers didn't want to reveal their full lineup, but the Angel Music Group's Neil Moffitt says that the DJs will be playing out at the Palms' Pool & Bungalows while the rock acts will be inside at Rain.
While England's Global Gathering is an outdoor electronica festival that attracts crowds of up to 250,000 people, the decision was made to make Vegas' version a partly indoor event. "I considered doing one outside but it's potentially just too hot," says Moffitt.
"I used to work with Michael Fuller (the N9NE Group's head of national communcations and marketing) and Michael Fuller's a good friend of mine," explains Moffitt. "We sat down and said why don't we do something totally different, which is basically do a VIP weekend at the Palms where it ends our summer season and we announce the '07 activities and we also announce the headliners for some of our shows next year."
As well as the above mentioned musical acts, Moffitt says there will be invite-only suite parties to thank media and others in the club and entertainment industries for their support.
"I don't think, to be honest, there's a cooler casino to be working with than the Palms. I think they've really got their shit together and I'm really looking forward to it," says Moffitt.
Both the location and the added bells and whistles such as the suite parties make Vegas' Global Gathering a different beast than its British parent.
"The Global Gathering in Europe is a completely different concept," says Moffitt. "The concept of Global Gathering started in 2001. Myself and my partner at the time were driving up the freeway and all these big concerts were taking place. And we were just shooting the shit, and he said to me, ‘Why don't we do a festival?'—and this was in January—and I said, ‘Okay, why not?'"
They picked the fourth weekend of July as the date for no real reason, forgetting that weekend is traditionally the hottest one in England. With only seven months to work with, a lineup was quickly assembled, that in Moffitt's words, "was just terrible." Despite that, a crowd of 30,000 showed up. Today, Angel Music is an umbrella for Global Gathering, Godskitchen, Polysexual and Babooshka (two highly successful nights at UK's Code club)and Air (Godskitchen's own club), and according to Moffitt—now a Vegas transplant—produces 3,500 shows a year, 19 festivals and recently did their first non-England Global Gathering event in Miami at the Winter Music Conference.
"We are hoping to make this an annual Labor Day event in Vegas," says Fox. "We not only believe that Neil and the team he's assembled around himself will be extremely successful there, we believe that the festival market—although somewhat crowded—by doing what we're doing in partnership with Bacardi and in partnership with the Palms, that we have something pretty compelling."
Tickets will be $43 for general admission. VIP admission will be $99 and give ticket-holders expediated entry, preferred seating and opportunities to hob-knob with celebrities.