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[The Nightlife Issue]

Meet the mastermind of some of the Strip’s best bottle-service theatrics

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Mike Pampinella, director of All American Design Center, poses in his studio workshop Monday, Aug. 31, 2015. Pampinella creates custom bottle service fabrications for nightclubs. The cake with colored LEDs was made for Omnia. The illuminated water drop bottle presentation, right, was created for Wet Republic.
Photo: Steve Marcus

You’re partying your ass off at one of Las Vegas’ spectacular megaclubs when someone splurges, purchasing a ridiculously expensive bottle of booze. The transaction necessitates one of the club’s over-the-top bottle presentations, which could include a beautiful girl carrying the bottle in an illuminated diamond at the Bank, or a beautiful girl being carried with the booze on a chariot at Hakkasan, or a collection of beautiful girls carted out on a mini-yacht at Encore Beach Club. It’s amazing, and you’ll go home telling stories about it, but it might not cross your mind that there’s a guy who builds all that stuff.

Introducing Encore Beach Club's Ferris wheel: Because circular Champagne showers are so much more well-rounded.

Mike Pampinella is that guy. He started his company, All American Design Center, 15 years ago, doing fabrication for such sexy accounts as the Clark County School District. In 2006 he started doing upholstery and other interior projects for a few nightclubs, and then the Bank commissioned that diamond. Hyde Bellagio noticed and wanted something more grand, so Pampinella built the club a boat.

In typical crazy bigger-is-better Vegas fashion, it kind of snowballed from there, illustrated by his latest creation for Encore Beach Club: a working four-chair Ferris wheel. “They gave me five weeks for that one,” Pampinella says. “We can take anyone’s imagination and bring it to life if the budget is there.”

Most of the custom projects, single or multi-bottle carriers, only take about three weeks, but as the requests become more specific—and physically larger—things can get complicated. Pampinella is working on a vintage English bathtub (you know, for a beautiful woman to sit inside with a magnum of Champagne) that’ll take a little more time to be custom-molded.

“It’s a small portion of my business, but I’m starting to focus on it more because there’s so much demand,” Pampinella says. “People have noticed [these creations] and found out who did it and contacted me, and I never thought something like that would happen. I’m not one to talk about stuff, pretty low-key. I do things for my clients’ gratification and making sure they’re satisfied and they can generate money from the product.”

Spoken like a true behind-the-scenester.

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Brock Radke

Brock Radke is an award-winning writer and columnist who currently occupies the role of managing editor at Las Vegas Weekly ...

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