The face on the $25 chip is immediately familiar, although it harks back to an era, sound and lifestyle not usually associated with this slicked-down city.
Jimi Hendrix, who defined what it meant to be a rock guitarist in the ’60s, is staring out from the “Purple Haze” gambling chip. Try to fit that visage-flat-out foxy, his wild mane lapping over the collar of a Sgt. Pepper jacket-with that of any other single-name celebrity who has ever dominated a neon marquee on the Strip.
Sammy, Frank, Dean, Wayne, Cher, Elvis, Liberace, in their time-no problem. But Jimi and 75-cent shrimp cocktails?
The chip becomes the central focal point on three giant billboards here, and one above the Whiskey nightclub on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles, and in full-page ads bought in the Los Angeles Times and such youth-oriented magazines as Rolling Stone and Details. The message: “Imagine what the elevator music sounds like.”
The ad campaign is designed to stimulate interest in the new Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, where the chips will be used as legal tender.
When the casino opens on March 10, the faces of Hendrix, Tom Petty ($100, “You Got Lucky”) and the Red Hot Chili Peppers ($5, “Give It Away”) will be interchangeable on the felt tables with those of Abe Lincoln and Ben Franklin (“In God We Trust”).
“It was my idea to put Hendrix on the chip,” said Peter Morton, chairman and president of Los Angeles-based Hard Rock America Inc. “And the elevator music: Hendrix to Counting Crows.”
As difficult as it is to reconcile the image of Hendrix-who died of drug-related causes in 1970-with that of the new “family-destination” Las Vegas, it is equally challenging to contemplate how the Hard Rock resort will fit into this land of outlandish pyramids, pirate ships and progressive payouts.
An offshoot of Morton’s popular Hard Rock Cafe chain, the comparatively intimate resort is billing itself not only as “the world’s first rock ‘n’ roll casino,” but also as “Vegas for a new generation.”
Boasts and hype come with the territory here. Still, Morton’s gamble should be weighed within the context of a city that was written off for dead little more than a decade ago and has risen phoenix-like with a myriad of themed mega-resorts. Little seems impossible here.
Like the pioneering Circus Circus, some of the huge new hotel-casinos are actively courting families, offering midway-style games and amusement-park thrills for patrons who aren’t yet tall enough to reach the handle of a one-armed bandit. And, with this new emphasis, it has become difficult to remember when such naughty staples as “Nudes on Ice” ruled the showrooms of the Strip, although the Tropicana’s “Folies Bergere” still hangs in there and nearby topless joints and “escort” services seem to do a pretty good business.
It’s for the in-between generation-the, as yet, not clearly defined Gen X-for whom the Hard Rock will beckon. And who better than Hendrix to lead a youthful charge into this Electric Ladyland of rock memorabilia and slots with guitar-neck handles?
“This is a segment of the market that no one’s really paid any attention to,” said Morton. “Because of the size of our hotel, 340 rooms compared to 3,000, it’s going to be a cool personal hotel. There’s nothing like it.”
In 1993, according to a Smith Barney report, about $297.3 billion was wagered on casino games in the U.S., with competition for the Las Vegas tourist trade coming from riverboats, Atlantic City and tribal casinos, lotteries and racetracks. But take a walk along the Strip or downtown’s Glitter Gulch these days and it’s easy to see that the average casino gambler is no spring chicken.
“For all the hype the press has put into it,” said Terry Jicinsky, marketing research administrator for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, “the demographics have remained constant. Visitors 65 and older represent 18 percent of our market. . . . the 20-29-year-old bracket remains at about 15 percent.”
“The traditional market has been older travelers, probably because they have more disposable income,” he said, noting that a recent survey showed that “the median age four years ago was 50 and it’s now 46.”
“Segments of the market are overlooked from time to time,” said Morton, who launched his original cafe (the “Smithsonian of rock ‘n’ roll”) in London in 1971 and now oversees a 12-restaurant chain with annual revenues of more than $100 million. “When I founded the first Hard Rock, no one was serving American food in London; McDonald’s wasn’t there, Burger King, etc.”
Targeting a new crowd
Young people nurtured on MTV and Nintendo aren’t invisible in Las Vegas but, as tourists, they seem to spend most of their time hanging out away from the tables.
At night, they can be found strolling through the swank Forum Shops at Caesars mall, waiting to spot a star at Spago or Planet Hollywood. Or they might dig into their cash reserves to buy tickets for such elaborate, and expensive, shows as Cirque du Soleil’s “Mystere,” Siegfried & Roy and “Starlight Express.” A new special-effects extravaganza, “EFX,” starring Michael Crawford, opens this spring at the MGM Grand, and the Hilton just announced plans for a Star Trek attraction.
Enter Morton, son of fabled Chicago restaurateur Arnie Morton (Arnie’s, Brio), brother of Amy (the former Mirador) and Michael (Drink), and owner of Los Angeles power-dining mecca, Morton’s.
“Purple Haze” chips aside, while the marketing for the resort isn’t aimed at the post-pubescent types who stand in line at the cafes and wear logo-heavy Hard Rock T-shirts, the appeal is similar: loud, funky music; fresh food-not overly expensive-served in a hip environment; the possibility that a celebrity might drop in unexpectedly; and such prominent objet d’rock as Pearl Jam’s surfboard, Elvis’ gold-lame jacket and an actual Doors “Strange Days” billboard. Families are welcome, and the rooms, while competitively priced, will carry a chic, yet inviting, cachet.
In addition, Morton will attempt to tap into the idealism of youth-and perhaps open himself up for cynical jabs-by declaring the enterprise environmentally and politically correct.
These are terms that might make many men and women in the targeted age group-21 to 45-groan out loud. But how else to describe plans for a bank of specially designated “Save the Rainforests” slot machines, whose returns will be donated to such organizations as Natural Resources Defense Council, Conservation International and Sting’s Rainforest Foundation?
It is a concept that must sound as bizarre to old Vegas hands today as Bugsy Siegel’s vision of a desert entertainment mecca did to the railroad workers and soldiers who populated the sleepy desert town in 1946.
Nonetheless, hotel guests will be encouraged to join in the campaign, as well.
Separate waste baskets will indicate items to be recycled and low-flow toilets will conserve water. The housekeeping staff will use only non-toxic, biodegradable cleaning products, soy-based inks will be employed for printing needs and leftover food will be donated to the homeless. Instead of limousines, Suburban vans will shepherd guests.
All of which should raise more than a few eyebrows in this community known for its kilowatt overkill.
An old hand at social causes
Morton, 46, the father of two sons, is no arriviste when it comes to championing social causes, however.
The Hard Rock chain’s motto is nothing less than “Save the Planet.” Individual restaurants are expected to participate in local causes and Morton himself is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Natural Resources Defense Council and Rock the Vote. His Los Angeles-area cafes feature electronic tote boards that tick off the reduction in size of Earth’s remaining rainforests while also displaying its population growth.
“Environmental concerns have always played an important role in all my ventures,” Morton said. “Now the millions of visitors to Las Vegas will also have an opportunity to do something good for the planet.”
But tourists, no matter what the call letters of the generation, rarely go anywhere merely to feel good about their social awareness. That’s what the charitable-deduction line on 1040 forms is meant to accomplish.
To wit: The hotel-casino will mark its opening with a lavish two-day party. The music will be supplied by such acts as the Eagles-Morton’s “favorite group”-and Sheryl Crow. Another show, hosted by comedian David Spade and featuring such acts as Al Green, Duran Duran and Weezer, will be taped March 10 and shown the following night on MTV.
Concerts will be staged in the Joint, a cozy 1,200-seat showroom (including VIP balcony) with at least one entrance that blessedly doesn’t require waiting in a line flanked by low-percentage slot machines, another favorite Vegas trick. Both new and established talent will headline there.
Perhaps, eventually, the Hard Rock will become the new Vegas home for young adults, turned off by the impersonal mega-resorts and drawn to an old-fashioned style of hospitality more in keeping with the Rat Pack days-minus the quaint mob touches. After a concert in the Joint, the high-rollers would be drawn to the casino in the same way their parents might have been lured to the tables after seeing Sinatra at the Sands.
“That would put us in good company,” said Morton, but “I’m looking at this hotel as no `Field of Dreams,’ (where) just because we open, they will come.
“We’re determined to deliver a great product and we’re going to have the friendliest, most polite dealers, who are actually going to smile, that this town has ever seen. It’s going to be a cool place.”
What the guests can expect
At 11 stories and 340 rooms, the $98 million resort-influenced physically by the famous curves of the Fountainebleau in Miami Beach and located almost directly between the Strip and the airport at 4455 Paradise Rd.-is pleasantly compact. By contrast, the MGM Grand has 5,005 rooms; the New York-New York, when completed, will have 2,159 rooms; and the new wing at the Flamingo alone will add more than 600 rooms to Bugsy’s joint.
While prominent on the entry level, the low-key 30,000-square-foot casino-with its piano-shaped roulette tables-would look undernourished in the garish, stadium-sized playing pits on the Strip. (Caesars has 117,000 square feet dedicated to gambling.) The sunken, circular gaming area, with 800 slot and video machines (Caesars has 2,000) and 33 table games, surrounds a bar that sits under a trademark globe with various Hard Rock catch phrases (“One World, One Love”) orbiting it.
“I’ll be happy with any part of the pie,” said Morton, acknowledging the stiff competition for casino customers. “I just thought (getting into the casino business) would be a great brand extension for the Hard Rock.”
The Beach Club will feature a “lagoon” pool, with a sandy beach for wading. Music will be piped in underwater and, instead of the usual chaise-filled lounge area, there will be a grassy lawn for relaxation and a man-made hill to provide a non-concrete vista.
“It will be the best pool in Las Vegas,” Morton asserts.
In addition to the Hard Rock Cafe just outside the hotel entrance, there will be two restaurants on the lobby level: Mortoni’s, an Italian dining room alongside the pool, and the more casual Mr. Lucky’s 24/7. Room service will offer organic and vegetarian “alternatives,” in addition to basic American food.
The sports book will feature comfortable winged, leather chairs and large-screen televisions.
The hotel rooms, which range in price from $85 to $150, are designed by Aero Studio’s Bill Sofield and Thomas O’Brien, whose recent credits include New York’s trendy Paramount Hotel, Donna Karan boutiques and the homes of Ralph Lauren. Morton’s demands for a “sophisticated” look are met in the rooms’ high-tech fixtures and art deco flourishes in the hallways. French doors in the rooms actually open (a Vegas rarity); the walls hold photos of rock stars and stylish mirrors; and musical themes are worked into the fabric of the carpets and upholstery.
Add to the mix such resort touches as a spa, athletic center, baby-sitting, a 2,000-square-foot Hard Rock store and concierge service and, to continue the Eagles theme, you have the “Hotel California.”
This one, however, will feature a giant guitar-the “world’s largest”-reclining on its porte-cochere. McCarran Airport officials vetoed a more vertical instrument on the roof, as being a hazard to aircraft. (Haven’t they heard of the Jefferson Airplane?)
Morton has teamed with Tom Yturbide, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Harvey’s of Lake Tahoe, which will manage the Las Vegas facility. Harvey’s has owned and operated a 740-room hotel-casino in the Sierra Nevada resort community since 1944.
For now, Morton insists that he’s “totally focused” on opening the Las Vegas facility and can’t consider expanding north or back home, when and if riverboats are approved for Chicago.
A big gamble
Can the call for a more “correct” resort pull customers from the Strip hotels or attract new tourists to the city?
“Las Vegas is still a casino destination, it’s the casinos that drive the town,” said Myram Borders, bureau chief of the Las Vegas News Bureau and a longtime observer of the scene. “I can’t, in all good conscience, call it a family destination, although they’ve expanded the entertainment base.”
Borders suggested that the Hard Rock’s environmental stance might appeal to new residents and visitors from nearby California.
“The growth in population here has exceeded any city in the country and much of it comes from California,” Borders said. The Hard Rock plan “sounds like the California mindset. If they get a California crowd, it could play real well.”
It may be worth noting, however, that one Strip casino, the Silver City, recently abandoned its three-year no-smoking policy, and the number of customers has increased since the change.
This is, after all, a town where money-no matter if it carries the face of Jimi Hendrix or George Washington-speaks louder than good intentions.
