Comdex transforms Vegas into techie world, with strip clubs

Angie Wagner

Friday, Nov. 17, 2000 | 3:54 a.m.

LAS VEGAS - You wouldn't recognize the Strip this week. Instead of tourists armed with coin buckets, it's techies with cell phones attached to their ears. They wear pocket protectors, their collars are buttoned-down and they don't like to gamble.

When they feel lucky, they head to the strip clubs - where the dealing is done.

The country's largest trade show and the biggest computer show in the world - Computer Dealer Expo - has taken over Las Vegas this week.

"It's like a hormone festival of nerds," said Bejan Esmaili, 36, of Berkeley, Calif., who was attending Comdex to get ideas for his Web site.

Comdex is the granddaddy of all conventions in Las Vegas. Some 200,000 people, mostly men, are attending this year's show, taking up almost every hotel room the city has to offer and turning roads and cell phone service into gridlock. They are expected to spend $254.6 million before they head home to their desktop computers, and that's just on non-gambling activities.

The computer show overruns this city that has handled even the biggest spectacles over the years. Comdex is everywhere, beckoning from marquees, advertisements and hundreds of taxi signs. One company even wrapped the huge MGM Grand resort with a 15,000-square-foot red vinyl banner to draw attention to its anti-virus software.

Comdex has come a long way since it first opened in Las Vegas 21 years ago. In 1979, there were only 160 exhibits and 4,000 people attending the convention, hardly noticeable in a city dominated by tourists. But Comdex quickly grew into its own realm. This year's trade show was filled with more than 1 million square feet of exhibits.

"The reason it gets major attention is because of the impact that the computer industry and the Internet has on the daily lives of everyone," said Rossi Ralenkotter, vice president of marketing for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. "It's new advances in technology, the major industry leaders."

But this isn't your typical convention - many convention-goers won't even pick up a quarter to drop in a slot machine. Instead, they indulge in business dinners in the hotel's restaurants, head to the neon city's many strip clubs or summon private dancers to their rooms.

"We have a saying in Vegas that they come with $20 and a clean shirt and don't change either one," said Chris Schneider, manager of the Olympic Garden, a strip club on the Strip.

"I guess because they're all in the industry they know computer chips control the machines. They figure they cannot beat them."

Alan Feldman, spokesman for MGM-Mirage, agreed.

"It's just the way it is. These are people that are here on business to do business. They're not on vacation," he said.

Strip clubs and outcall services, which send dancers to hotel rooms, do rapid business during Comdex. Even the Crazy Girls topless show at the Riviera hotel-casino has a special Comdex version.

At the Tropicana hotel-casino, the AdultDEX convention, which features adult Web sites and products, attracts thousands.

Jorge Bravo, 30, a salesman from Miami, takes potential customers to the clubs for entertainment and, hopefully, a business deal.

"That's a male bonding thing," he said from the convention.

"It looks like a computer class to a certain degree," Mike Beecley, spokesman for Cheetah's, said, summing up the Comdex crowd at his strip club.

Outcall operator Richard Soranno markets to the Comdex crowd - straight to their computers.

His Web site allows men to pick from a selection of nude women, then contact the outcall service and request a visit.

"I wanted to find a way to hit the Comdex people," Soranno said. "When you're into computers, you spend a lot of hours in front of the computer."

But that side of Vegas night life isn't for everyone.

Roger Street and Jesse Knight, who run the computer networking system for a law firm in Salt Lake City, opted for a different revue.

"We watched the fountain show at Bellagio, listened to the jazz band, went to the Aladdin and got some ice cream," Knight, 26, said.

Street, 36, quickly added: "It's not as boring as it sounds. We had a good time."

Rasheen Smith, 22, a Web site operator from Berkeley, Calif., said it's easy to understand why the Comdex crowd gets a little wild.

"These guys sit in front of computers all day," he said.

Smith and the thousands of other delegates meandered through the massive crowd at the Las Vegas Convention Center, hoping to eye the latest technology.

Outside, what seemed like every one of the extra 500 cab drivers put on for convention week operated in assembly line fashion.

"It's wild here this week," said taxi driver Kevin Burns. "This and New Year's Eve are pretty much the same. Traffic's just as bad."

The taxi line grew to more than 100 people and by the end of each day, thousands chose to walk back to their Strip hotels, taking over the sidewalks as well as the streets.

Traffic snarled around the convention center as people struggled to get service to their cell phones. Almost everyone had one stuck to their ear, even if the airwaves were as clogged as the roads.

One man seen getting a foot massage in the hallway of the convention center never stopped talking on his phone.

Another group of people argued about whether jaywalking is a crime in Las Vegas. (It is.) Technobabble filled the convention area and spilled onto the sidewalks.

"We're an OEM manufacturer," Bravo said, explaining what he and co-worker, Peter Irizarry, do.

What?

"Original Equipment Manufacturer," Bravo and Irizarry said in unison.

Got that?

Just another week at Comdex.