When she opened Coyote Ugly in 2001, Jennifer Worthington became one of the first top-tier executives in the new Las Vegas nightlife scene. From those humble beginnings eventually rose the Pure Management Group, with clubs up and down the Strip. This month, Worthington celebrates the release of "In The Spirit of Las Vegas," a coffee-table book that offers her take on Vegas' past, present and future. These days Worthington splits her time between New York and Las Vegas. In New York she has opened Spotlight Live on Times Square.
Richard Abowitz: Tell me about your new club and why you chose to open it in New York and not Vegas?
Jennifer Worthington: The new project, Spotlight Live, is really an entertainment nightlife concept. We are bringing it to Vegas. We are literally negotiating our lease in Vegas as we speak. The reason we started in New York is that we wanted to establish it as a real celebrity music destination. We are only able to do that because we are on Broadway, in the middle of Times Square. So we have almost every week famous musicians dropping by to jam. We wanted to establish the music credibility side before we brought it back to Vegas. But the concept was always meant to be brought back to Vegas.
Q: How has Vegas changed since 2000 when you got here?
A: The thing that is amazing in my eyes is that it reinvents itself every few years and that means constant change. Every time you fly into Vegas the landscape has changed, the skyline has changed and the business has changed. It really always is the land of opportunity.
Q: What made you decide to write a book about Las Vegas?
A: When I went to live in Vegas it was probably the most uncool place to live. Vegas has since become chic. I am still met with total disbelief by people in New York and LA when I say I live in Vegas. There is still such a misconception of Vegas as a city and the people who live there. Where else can you go and find every major chef? There is every major entertainment offering. This city is so sophisticated, but people still think of it as the land of the $5.99 buffet.
Q: Las Vegas Weekly just did an issue on the icons of Las Vegas nightlife. All of them are men. As one of the first and only women to reach the top here, how was your experience?
A: I think the nightlife industry will always be a male-dominated industry. I am lucky because my career before coming into Las Vegas was in the film business, which is another male-dominated industry. To be honest, I don't really look at myself as a woman. I operate like a man. I am probably the wrong person to ask that question to. I am tougher than most men you meet. This is a tough business, and it is not in anyway conducive to having a family and a regular set of hours. You have to throw yourself into it 24 hours a day and not get home from work until 4 a.m. It makes sense that it is young and it is male.
Q: The New York Times has an editorial today that opens "There is probably no city in America where women are treated worse than Las Vegas." Any response?
A: That is so interesting. From the outside, people looking in might perceive that with cocktail waitresses or whatever. But I see that from an entirely different point of view. You've got women making enormous amounts of money and able to raise families and participate and give back to their community in ways that they could never do working those jobs anywhere else. Bartenders and waitresses are able to make six-figure salaries without a college education And even starting from any job there is tremendous opportunity for career growth and change in Las Vegas.
Q: Were you surprised by how the nightclub scene has exploded since you opened Coyote Ugly?
A: No, it's a natural progresssion. The minute the nightclubs started making the kind of numbers they are calling in, it is natural that people are going to be spending money on them and the corporations are going to come in. Look, the reality is that Las Vegas is a unique locale. When people come to Vegas, either for work or pleasure, the goal may be gaming but the method is really going out to party. That isn't true in New York or anywhere else. And that is why Vegas clubs are pulling in the numbers they are now.
Q: What is next for you in Vegas?
A: Spotlight Live in the next year.