VegasBeat — Timothy McDarrah: Le Reve approach a Wynn-win situation

Monday, Dec. 23, 2002 | 9:14 a.m.

Now that the dam has broken with Steve Wynn hiring Hard Rock Hotel President Don Marrandino to run Le Reve when it opens in early 2005, other properties are bracing for more activity -- especially resorts where Wynn has a past.

Often regarded as the father of modern Las Vegas, Wynn built The Mirage, Bellagio and Treasure Island; while he no longer has formal ties to those hotels, he still has friends, former colleagues and professional associates at virtually every property in town.

After calling execs we know at three casinos, we gave up trying to get anyone to talk for attribution about Wynn possibly raiding other casinos for talent.

But trust us, half of the Nevada gaming industry is fixing up its resumes, and the other half is trying to devise ways to hold on to key managers.

Less noticed than the Marrandino hire but equally important, perhaps, was the hiring of Arte Nathan as human resources chief for Le Reve.

Nathan joined Wynn at Golden Nugget in Atlantic City in 1983. He came to Las Vegas in 1987 to help staff and open The Mirage. In 1993 he did the same thing at Treasure Island and then at Bellagio in 1997.

In 2000 he won a Community Acheivement Award from the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce -- and then bolted town and the gaming industry to work for PricewaterhouseCooper in New Jersey.

Now Nathan and his golden Rolodex are back to reprise his role as Wynn's staffing genius. Calls to Wynn and Nathan were not returned Sunday.

Meanwhile, after the Marrandino and Nathan deals were set, Wynn quietly announced that he had signed restaurateur Daniel Boulud to open a fancy dining establishment at Le Reve.

Boulud's New York eatery Daniel is among the nation's finest, and he is preparing to open Cafe Boulud in Palm Beach, Fla.

Wynn has also reached out to Kerry Simon and Elizabeth Blau -- partners in Simon Kitchen and Bar at the Hard Rock -- about opening a similar upscale modernist eatery in Le Reve.

Before trying his hand as a restaurant consultant and helping to open Simon, Blau was the vice president of restaurant development for ... Steve Wynn and then MGM MIRAGE resorts.

Light house

Maverick Records has decided to throw its considerable muscle into making tonight's birthday party for Light's Marklen Kennedy a night to remember at Bellagio.

Madonna's record label, Warner Bros., is hinting that some of its talent may appear at the bash. And that is talent with a capital "T" -- acts include Alanis Morrissette, Michelle Branch, Deftones, Meshell Ndegeocello, Prodigy, Soul Hooligan, and of course, the Material Mom herself.

High five

The White House Christmas tree bears five ornaments created by Nevada artists.

First lady Laura Bush contacted the wives (and husbands, where appropriate) of the nation's governors and asked for ornaments that reflect their states.

So Dema Guinn rounded up a series of ornaments that celebrate birds indigenous to the Silver State.

Las Vegas artist Zoria Zetaruk contributed a hand-painted egg depicting a rooster, "because of its reputation as a stalwart bird and protector of its flock."

Joanne Vuillemot of Henderson based her ornament on Nevada's state bird, the mountain bluebird.

Sharon K. Schafer of Boulder City constructed an ornament around a model of a cactus wren.

Pahrump's own Jose Bellver used the colorful northern cardinal in his ornament, and Larry Williamson of Virginia City featured the Rufous-sided towhee.

One ringy-dingy

Calling Tropicana! Calling Tropicana!

If you do, you'll get a recording: "Thank you for calling the Tropicana: the way Las Vegas was meant to be." Then it offers a variety of options -- for room reservations, press 1, and so on.

What? Las Vegas is meant to be as annoying as a voice-mail system?

From our experience, the Trop is the only major property that does not have a live voice answer your call.

Picayune, perhaps, but it makes some people go elsewhere.

VegasBits

Kristi Yamaguchi was a little embarrassed when it was pointed out to her that she had just walked out of the men's room backstage at Mandalay Bay Events Center just before the "Brian Boitano Skating Spectacular" on Saturday night.

To paraphrase the diminutive ice talent: when you gotta go, you gotta go ...

Actress Judith Light was applauding the show from near the front row. We didn't see her afterward, but VegasBeat did spot show participants En Vogue at rumjungle and Nancy Kerrigan at Red Square, both at Mandalay Bay ...

Not to be repetitive, but once again, a panel by Sun cartoonist Mike Smith was featured in the Sunday New York Times. For the second time in three weeks, Smith was singled out, this time for a panel depicting Sean Penn for visiting Iraq ...

Tip of the toque to Simon Kitchen and Bar Manager Amy Rossetti -- she received her bachelor's degree in finance last week from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas ...

Shellee Renee hosted a champagne holiday toast at Stirling Club Saturday night. Among the revelers: a dapper Buddy Greco and wife Lezlie Anders, Sahara's Germaine Thompson, "X" producer Angela Sampras and her daughter Tiffany, artist and writer Norm Johnson and a fairly incognito Robin Leach, looking out from under a Yankees baseball cap ...

Off the Beat

Sadly, VegasBeat will not appear on Christmas Day.

And unless there is some fabulous, breaking gossip (such as if Santa Claus skips Christmas for a quickie wedding to Charo, and Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez are signed to play them in the movie) we're taking off Friday to come up for some air, and clean off the slate to prepare for 2003.

VegasBeat would therefore like to take this opportunity to thank everyone in Las Vegas -- and in state prisons across this great nation -- who have helped to make this column into whatever it may be today.

You know who you are, and would probably get fired if I ran your names in this space anyway.

Thanks also to professional colleagues Matt Drudge, Jeanette Walls and Ashley Pearson (msnbc.com), Richard Johnson (New York Post's Page Six), Susanna Homan (Chicago Sun-Times), Roger Friedman (foxnews.com), George Rush & Joanna Molloy (New York Daily News), Larry Sutton (People), Bonnie Fuller (US Weekly) and the numerous Las Vegas radio and television commentators who have used our newsworthy material from time to time -- and credited the Las Vegas Sun.

We are grateful.

See you on Sunday, same Beat time, same Beat channel ...