Friday, December 7, 10 p.m.
Ten years ago I’d curled up with my sisters in my sorority house’s tiny TV room for The Real World Seattle or to watch the Princess Diana tragedy unfold. On weekends we’d dress up in stretchy black pants and watch frat boys do frat things. The first couple of years of that decade are a beer-colored blur of keg stands and bad decisions. But the last six have been spent in a similar pursuit but with mostly good decisions and extremely dirty martinis replacing Milwaukee’s Best.
As I know I’ve mentioned before, Studio 54 was the first club I glommed onto after my bewildered appearance on the Vegas hospitality scene. A post-9/11 hiring freeze had marooned me at a buffet with nothing but a walkie-talkie and a manager’s badge, and, well, I was depressed, to say the least. A girl needs a place to work out that sort of frustration! A dance floor and a bar where your first drink is served with a wink and an air-kiss from the bartender. Quick-changing in the parking lot at the Tropicana and dashing across the footbridge or darting through traffic, my girlfriend Krystle and I spent well over two years staunchly loyal to Studio 54’s E.D.E.N. Tuesdays.
My personal tastes and the club scene overall have changed a great deal since those days—they used to serve sandwiches and cookies in the old VIP section!—but I cannot deny the effect the 54 days had on me. Of course, I never had a chance to party at the original Studio 54, as it opened exactly one year to the day before I was born and closed while I could still order off the kids’ menu. But in 2002 it was easy to imagine myself as a regular there, a card-carrying (literally) member with all the privileges, bells and whistles (though perhaps without the heavy drug use).
Arriving early tonight, and this time with a film crew in tow, I am trying to capture a little of Studio 54’s magic and nostalgia at 54 Below, its 10-year-anniversary Winter Ball. As it coincides with a fight weekend, Oscar De La Hoya is the host of the evening and is joined by Bernard Hopkins, “Sugar” Shane Mosley and UFC president Dana White. Not being a member of any fight club, I know nothing of these men other than that Oscar has been a patron of the MGM Grand’s Studio 54 for just about as long as the club has existed, and he raves openly about the staff, the music and the vibe. Undoubtedly, the music has changed the most over the years, though the staff is impressively intact.
“When Studio 54 opened in November of 1997, it was the first and only dedicated nightclub in a casino on the Strip, the first dedicated nightclub in a Vegas casino,” former program director Frankie Anobile has said, “and its first year was a learning experience. The next seven years, 54 established standard after standard for Las Vegas nightlife and made music No. 1.
“Since then,” Anobile continues, “54 has had to compete with celebrity parties, pole-dancing contests and bottle service as king.” But as a mature Vegas club, Studio 54 still enjoys steady business. These days, clubs seem to jump from being the newest thing to maturity almost overnight. “One year is like three to five in the business now.”
Watching the familiar scene in the VIP section, renovated not too long ago, I remark that Studio 54’s signature aerial acts have remained the same, making similar efforts in other clubs look like obvious copycat attempts. In keeping with tonight’s wintry 54 Below theme, sexy ice princesses hand out little goody bags to the ladies, and ice sculptures light up every bar. The staff beams in white-on-white outfits beneath crystal chandeliers and faux icicles. Yes, it may be just another crazy party for them, just one night in a decade of nights, but I leave pleased with the knowledge that silver and white confetti still rains down on the Studio 54 dance floor.
Xania Woodman thinks globally and parties locally. And frequently. E-mail her at [email protected] and visit thecircuitlv.com to sign up for Xania’s free weekly newsletter.