Saturday, March 1, 11 p.m.
Ah, Downtown Las Vegas on a NASCAR Saturday night. I ask you, is there anything quite so gloriously and superbly tacky? How can anything rival the buzz of a frosty Miller Lite Tall Boy, a pack of Virginia Slims 100s and fresh wounds from a bar brawl? Tears well up in my eyes when I think of the nearly $200 million these salt-of-the-earthers contributed to Vegas’ collective bottom line last year. Or maybe the tears are just from the insane wind that is turning the streets of Downtown Las Vegas tonight into a snow globe of plastic bags and foreclosure signs that seem to have lost their telephone poles.
I take a long, smoky walk through the Golden Nugget to reach Gold Diggers, the newly constructed nightclub now perching over the Fremont Street Experience at 1st Street, and up 34 steps to the host podium and rope. As part of the Nugget’s $60 million expansion, Gold Diggers debuted on February 8 with a party hosted by Defending the Caveman’s Kevin Burke, thus completing the Nugget’s set of old-school stereotypes: Cavemen and Gold Diggers.
There’s no cover, except perhaps on holidays and other higher-traffic occasions. Hats, jeans and sneakers … it works. The only soul I watch get turned away at the door is wearing shorts and seems to be carrying all of his earthly belongings in a plastic shopping bag.
While Fremont Street and Downtown have been getting a lot of press (thanks to our martini-toting mayor, the commercial success of The Killers and some genuinely great new venues), it’s specifically the east side of Fremont that has been enjoying all the attention. I’d rather stand drunk with my purse open at 3 a.m. on the corner of Fremont East and 6th Street than take even a midday stroll down the Fremont Street Experience. But that could be a matter of personal taste.
Gold Diggers is busy and getting busier by the minute. Inside are three distinct areas: dance floor, main bar and patio. Thought the former is deserted and the latter packed upon my arrival, within one hour this scenario will flip-flop thanks to the weather and alcohol. That’s one risk of opening a nightclub with a large portion of its space left open to the elements. However, unlike Tryst and Blush, which also have retractable walls, Gold Diggers is under the protection of the Fremont Street Experience canopy. Unfortunately that doesn’t do anything about the wind except focus it, strengthen it and send it straight up the dresses of the wedding party that just arrived.
I hunker down at the square patio bar with a spicy Bloody Mary to keep me warm. Just inside, the main bar is backed by an elevated stage where two go-gos in pink lingerie dance cooperatively to songs they appear to despise, exuberantly to songs they love. Madonna, good; Commodores, bad. JT and Britney, all good. Shakira, best; Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock, very bad.
DJ Phat Al, formerly of Polly Esther’s—where until very recently there was a Gold Digger night—is spinning music videos for the flat-screens that dot the club. Like many, I become entranced with the hilarity of our ’80s and ’90s music-video past. It’s strange to hear the clean versions of songs in a nightclub, though; I’d much prefer to hear about Sean Paul “bangin’ on the bathroom floor” than making “love on the bathroom floor.” But again, personal taste.
Beyond the bar, bistro-height tables and chairs are available on a first-come, first-served basis, as is all of the seating on the patio. The dance floor lies beyond, a nicely-sized open space under a small grid of club lights and flanked by two couch groupings reserved for some very reasonably priced bottle service ($199 for Grey Goose!).
Al’s not playing my song, but the dance floor is packed with a crowd who can party all they like without trekking to the Strip or forking over their wedding purse to get in the door. With a burgeoning warm and fuzzy feeling toward Fremont West (still hate NASCAR), I plunge back into the cold, Kanye West’s “Gold Digger,” of all things, escorting me out.
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.