Columnist Jerry Fink: Hookah offers customers Serenity at new lounge

Friday, Jan. 21, 2005 | 8:25 a.m.

Hookah pipes were popular in Berkeley in the '60s.

But then a lot of things were popular in Berkeley in the '60s that have fallen into disfavor in the 21st century.

Politics are more conservative. The sexual revolution is now a footnote in history. Peace protests are passe.

Ah, but the hookah pipe is back.

There now are at least three hookah lounges in Las Vegas, where you can relax and enjoy a Turkish water pipe filled with a scented, mild tobacco -- often in a fruity aroma.

Paymon's Mediterranean Cafe and (Hookah) Lounge, 4171 S. Maryland Parkway, was established about four years ago. The cafe/hookah lounge added a second location, at 8380 W. Sahara Ave., several months ago.

The most recent hookah lounge is Serenity, in the second-floor mall of the Stratosphere. It opened in December.

"It's a very popular thing right now," said Samina Oshun -- co-owner with Emitra Jade Fehr. "Both of us like going to the hookah lounges in town, but we wanted to create a different kind of atmosphere we thought was missing."

They have combined the spiritual essence of the usual hookah lounge, where friends gather to smoke the pipe and chat or meditate, with a Las Vegas twist.

Serenity is a place to party -- DJs on Wednesday nights, spinning Middle Eastern music that fans can dance to; acoustic jam nights on Thursdays featuring the musical gamut; belly-dancing parties.

"We want to create a fun, relaxing place to come to," Oshun said. "You can kick off your shoes, put your feet on the ottoman and feel comfortable as you enjoy a hookah pipe, or some nights you can dance."

The lounge opens daily at noon and closes at midnight weekdays and at 2 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

Oshun says they are working on getting a restaurant license (to sell authentic Middle Eastern food) and a liquor license -- for now, guests buy their drinks at a portable bar in the mall hall just outside of the lounge.

Some nights there is entertainment by a belly dancer or two.

There is a tarot card reader for those in a mystical mood.

Sofas, ottomans and tables supporting the hookah pipes fill the room -- which also has a retail section where you can buy pipes, belly dancing tops and skirts, hip scarves, coin belts, books, pictures, hand-blown glass items and other merchandise.

The lounge was created by two entrepreneurs with diverse backgrounds.

"My partner has a retail background," Oshun said. "I've always been in entertainment. We both got tired of working for other people."

Fehr, who came to the United States from Egypt when she was 14, has managed a beauty supply and day spa business, and she ran the oxygen bar at the Stratosphere.

Oshun is the daughter of Las Vegas entertainer Carme Pitrello, a comedian and vocalist who seems to spend more time on cruise ships than dry land. Oshun has worked in many areas of entertainment -- including belly dancing and magic.

She once performed magic at Caesars' Magical Empire.

Most recently, at the Aladdin, she was a belly dancer and drummer.

"I was raised in Vegas," Oshun said. "My whole life has pretty much been entertainment. I skated at the (now-defunct) Hacienda in 'Ice Fantasies.' I performed magic at the Magic Castle in L.A."

Oshun says she may even perform some magic at the hookah lounge.

What could be more fitting than combining the mysticism of magic and the hookah pipe? When you smoked the pipe in Berkeley, everything seemed like magic.

Lounging around

Michael Lee, former lounge performer at Fitzgeralds, will be at the Westward Ho lounge from 1 p.m. until 6 p.m. Saturday. He also has an upcoming engagement at the Cannery's Pinup Lounge March 16-27.

Lee, a former police officer in Sacramento, spent several years at Fitzgeralds, where he performed a popular one-man show singing classics by such legends as Nat King Cole, James Brown, Otis Redding, Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison.

In addition to music from the Golden Age of Rock 'n' Roll, Lee sings R&B, country and soul.

A "Legend of the Year" competition will be held at Imperial Palace's Tequila Joe's at 5 p.m. Jan. 30. The casino has held monthly competitions for the past year. The past 12 winners will be featured in the upcoming contest, which is co-sponsored by the Imperial Palace and On Stage Entertainment, in conjunction with KMXB 94.1-FM (Mix 94.1) and Budweiser.

The winner will appear for a week in "Legends In Concert" at the IP and receive $1,000 in prize money. Second place will receive $500, and third place will receive $250.

Seven judges will score the contest based on voice, stage presence/charisma, appearance, celebrity likeness, character marketability and overall performance.

The Imperial Palace also announced a change in the format to the "Be A Legend" contest for 2005, which will be held quarterly instead of monthly and feature larger cash prizes.

"While the competition has drawn contestants from around the country, and even England, for the shot at winning an audition with 'Legends In Concert,' the majority of the entrants have been from Las Vegas and Southern California," a spokesman for Imperial Palace said. "The 2005 contest will feature a larger cash prize and focus more on the national scene."

Scheduled dates for the quarterly contest are Feb. 17, May 19, Aug. 18 and Nov. 17.

Blues Storm will perform from 8 p.m. until midnight Saturday at The Saloon, 450 Fremont St.

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