Tuesday, April 6, 2004 | 10:43 a.m.
VegasBeat appears Sunday through Friday in the Las Vegas Sun. Timothy McDarrah can be reached at [email protected] or at (702) 259-4096.
We've already reported about amenities such as the Ferrari dealership in the lobby and celebrity chef Daniel Boulud, who will personally prepare room-service meals for the highest of high-rollers.
Now comes word that the casino mogul is spending an astounding $1.8 million for a pair of winding, curved atrium escalators in the main lobby.
"Usually, an escalator costs something like $90,000. This obviously is a lot more, so they'd better be great," Wynn exclusively told Las Vegas Sun reporter Jeff Simpson.
"And I expect that they will be. Everything at Wynn Las Vegas is going to be the best."
Wynn called the curving electronic staircases "true engineering marvels," which are set to be the "dramatic centerpiece" of the $2.4 billion property, set to open next April.
There is only one other such escalator in the world, a smaller version at the Nordstrom store in San Francisco.
Sweet song
They must have practiced.
The choirs from the Elton M. Garrett Middle School in Boulder City and the Thurman White Middle School in Henderson are playing Carnegie Hall.
The students -- 23 from Boulder City and 85 from the Henderson choir -- leave for New York on Wednesday for the Easter performance of "Hummel's Mass in B Flat."
White's choir teacher Randy Pagel (he was its teacher of the year for 2001-'02) sent in the audition tapes. Pamela Barlow leads the Boulder contingent.
"It is just so exciting for the kids to have an opportunity to do something like this," she told us.
The group will stay at the Grand Hyatt, and also has a Yankees game, a Broadway performance of "Beauty and the Beast" and a cruise around the Statue of Liberty on its schedule.
Celeb eats
When Elton John is in town -- and often when he isn't -- the stars who attend his Caesars Palace show are making Bradley Ogden the de rigeur destination for their pre- or post-show supper.
Over the weekend the restaurant fed Sir Elton and his partner, David Furnish, along with a slew of celebs who attended one of his "Red Piano" performances.
A partial list: "Will & Grace" star Eric McCormack, Matthew Perry, Drew Carey and show castmates Diedrich Bader (Oswald) and Kathy Kinney (Mimi), Martin Short, Tom Green, Kiss frontman Paul Stanley, Victor Garber (Jack Bristow on "Alias"), Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon of Queen, former NFL running back Christian Okoye, "Gilmore Girls" star Lauren Graham and celeb restaurateur Alan Stillman of Smith & Wollensky fame.
Bar stars
Now that tending bar is a competitive sport offering thousands of dollars in prize money, can competitive gossiping be far behind?
Probably not.
But the flair bartending event at Harrah's Carnaval Court the other night was really something to see, and nearly 1,000 people jammed into the small space to watch competitors from around the world (really!) compete for cash prizes.
At the end of the competition tandem competitors (and Carnaval Court home bar favorites) Tim Morris and Steve Pacheco walked off with a $10,000 cash prize, as did semi-pro competitors (really!) Rob Ledgerwood and professional category winner Nicholas Saint-Jean, both Las Vegas residents.
Tattle
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman faces a May 12 hearing in front of the state Ethics Commission.
One of his alleged improprieties was first reported here on Feb. 10 -- when the city of Las Vegas received $2,000 from Jane Magazine in exchange for the city naming a street after a magazine contest winner. Goodman appeared in an ad for the magazine as part of the deal.
Back when we were in New York, it was a Page Six item in the New York Post that led to the so-called "Bess Mess." That was when former Miss America Bess Myerson secured a job for the daughter of a judge in her boyfriend's divorce case.
The resulting scandal eventually touched Mayor Ed Koch and was national news for months.
Look for the pending Goodman hearings to also draw all kinds of national media.
Gossip can be so much more than where Ben Affleck has dinner.
VegasBits
Hunks: George Clooney and Rande Gerber had dinner Saturday night at Nobu (Hard Rock), then drinks at Gerber's Whiskey Sky (Green Valley Ranch). Gerber's wife, Cindy Crawford, was home in Los Angeles with their kids, and bachelor Clooney is between girlfriends ...
Star: Peter Gallagher of Fox's teen hit "The O.C." took in a late performance of "O" (Bellagio) the other night. "The O.C." was taping last week at the Hard Rock Hotel ...
Crude: Max Baer Jr. -- Jethro of "Beverly Hillbillies" fame -- will do a meet-and-greet to promote his own new "Beverly Hillbillies: Bubblin' Crude" video slot machine from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday at The Orleans ...
Diva: A DVD of Barbra Streisand's famous 1993 New Year's Eve comeback concert at MGM Grand hits stores today. Extras include numbers from her 1960s TV specials, "My Name Is Barbra" and "Color Me Barbra" ...
King moves: Mac King fans will be glad to know their favorite comic/magician is moving into larger quarters, at least for the peak tourist season. King, the afternoon headliner at Harrah's for the past four years, will perform his popular "The Mac King Comedy Magic Show" in the Clint Holmes Theater from May through September.
Showtimes remain the same, 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., Tuesdays through Saturdays.
Short: In our item Sunday about the Vegas Dozen, honorees at an April 15 Nevada Cancer Institute benefit, we only noted 11 of the 12. Harrah's headliner Holmes is also in the group of men who are being feted for their community and charitable endeavors.
From Sun wires
Mother's day: Jennifer Lopez's mother won a $2.4 million jackpot while playing $1 slots in Atlantic City.
Guadalupe Lopez, 58, of New York, was playing Wheel of Fortune at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa when she hit for $2,421,291.76 just before 8 p.m. Saturday, according to the casino.
Casino spokesman Michael Facenda denied knowing of any relationship between the jackpot winner and pop celebrity Jennifer Lopez. But Us Weekly and People magazine report in upcoming issues that Guadalupe Lopez is Jennifer's mother.
Every little step they take: Bobby Brown is shooting a new reality TV series -- co-starring wife Whitney Houston -- that he's hoping to sell to a network.
Film crews with Brown's Atlanta-based company, B2 Entertainment, followed the troubled couple -- she's in rehab; he just got out of jail -- while dining out last week with their daughter, Bobbi Kristina, 11.
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