Two Way Hard Three | Las Vegas Casino & Design Blog

I assume he is saying he thinks Spamalot will be short lived? And he would like to see Wynn put MM in its place. ?

Brian - I took his comment as referring to "The Producers."

WOW! That was early, yeah I guess he said Mel Brooks, not Monty Python, oops! :)

Steve was dead on with the article.

Especially the comments about overpriced burgers and cold fires along with most buildings being draped wirth advertisements.

A quick question-

If you are placed in a room that has one of those banners draped over it, is your view completely blocked or are there tiny holes in the ad that you can see through up close?

On the stretched thin brand, I suspect he avoided talking about the other glaring one "Planet Hollywood" because it might seem like he was piling on. From what I have seen it looks like they have done a nice job with the place but I think they missed an opportunity to make the place really cool by leaving out the kitchy movie memorabilia and just kept simple understated lines throughout the place and modern like Red Rock or THEHotel. Focusing on New Hollywood glamour rather than old movies like King Kong and Shawshank Redemption. From what I understand the rooms are really nice but then you might enter the bathroom and hanging on the wall there can be a big picture of Morgan Freeman or King Kong. Wierd and unecessary IMO

He couldn't be more right about the location of AEG's arena, and the traffic nightmare that is sure to accompany it. That will be hell over there; it will be much worse than going to the Thomas and Mack for an event.

FYI to all of you folks: If you've got "worst ideas" I've overlooked (that aren't TOO obvious, like that ugly cloud thing at Fashion Show...) talk about them! I'm always in the market for snark.

You want to talk about how out of place and UGLY the plan for the location formerly known as "The Plaza" is. A dark towering old urban design for a town that is breaking ground architecturally at all other new locations.

Posted by mike_ch

The Plaza is cluttered, no doubt trying too hard to get as many rooms as possible out of the location, but ugly? It's no more NIMBY than the rest of the Vegas skyline, with the possible exception of Citycenter.

Citycenter is at least cutting edge design wise.

The Plaza just looks dark and dreary and without imagination.

But I guess it will appeal to some folks, just not me. If I want to go to the City I'll go to Boston, NYC, or Chicago.

Given that Wynn says on part II of my chat with him (to air on Tues night on "The Strip" on the live show and will be up Thurs as usual) that the designs are in the early phase and that he's advising them, i'm going to lay off the plaza for a while and see what shakes out.

To each their own I suppose. But I don't think Plaza is bad at all. There is a lot there, crammed into a little area, but when you pay 40 Million an acre, you have to choice but to do that, if you ever want to make a profit. I think Plaza's latest renderings look better than Echelon or Fontainbleau, how much all glass towers can we stand. Call me old fashion, but I like different looks.

Posted by mike_ch

Joey named three cities with architecture I like. Heck, I like most of the whole New England area. Vegas, well, I'm kind of glad it's in the middle of nowhere. Heh.

regarding the banner ads stretched over hotel windows. They're the same kind of material as placed on city busses - they have small holes in them, and you're view out to the city isn't really obscured. I've been in the Mirage Penthouse rooms with these ads and had no complaints whatsoever.

Posted by detroit1051

I finally caught Part I of Steve Friess' latest interview with Steve Wynn. (Too many Steve's here.) There is great synergy between the two. It always comes through that Wynn likes to talk with Steve more than he does to others in the media. Part of the charm is that Steve Friess doesn't fawn over Steve like many do. An example that made me laugh was when Wynn was sharing the outstanding sales numbers from the Louis Vuitton store at Wynn Macau. Wynn kept asking Steve Friess, "Isn't that a stunning number", and he wouldn't let it go until Steve finally said it was. A great invterview!

Some interesting takeaways:
*Steve Wynn was effusive about Ian Coughlan, Wynn Macau president. It was the first time I heard Wynn say, "He could do my job." Is Wynn building real management strength and a succession plan?
*Wynn's descriptions of the walls of glass and natural light make Encore sound better and better.
*I don't know what to make of Wynn's statement that the Macau expansion opening Christmas Eve will have a "kinetic atrium". What exactly does that mean?
*"Creating Environments" is a good description by Steve of what he is doing at Encore, Diamond Suites and eventually at Wynn Cotai.
*Louis Vuitton's $20,000 of sales per sq ft in Macau boggles the mind. $54 Million in 12 months is unbelievable for a 2,800 sq ft store.

Can't wait for Part II of the interview.

Regarding banner ads, I've stayed behind Toni Braxton and I still say it makes it hard to focus properly when looking at the street level. The 20% reduction of light makes it feel like I am in a heavily polluted city. Harrah's, squeezing 20% of the light out of Las Vegas for a buck (We won't notice).

I wonder if the new Feature at Wynn Macau is also making its way to Encore as well?

Am I the only one who could listen to Steve Wynn talk all night long? There is just something relaxing about hearing him speak. Each time I listen to him talk, I feel 100% comfortable about the substantial amount of money I have invested in that company.

Even when you consider the endless line of label slaves shuffling by that Louis Vuitton store, that sales number is still ridiculous.

I just listened to the 2nd part live tonight. Its ok, but no new information really. I am sad to hear Encore will not have a theater to add to the mix, it sounds like.

I disagree with Brian that there was little new info in part two of the interview. The insight into what went wrong in the plans for Bette Midler and the stuff about Wynn's friendship with Andrew Loyd Webber was fascinating.

Posted by detroit1051

"Norm" also found Steve Friess' interview with Wynn fascinating:
http://www.lvrj.com/news/12243466.html