Zingers expands neighborhood appeal

Friday, Oct. 28, 2005 | 7:14 a.m.

Zingers is a paradigm of social detente.

The classy little club attracts an eclectic mix of customers who coexist without conflict at 1000 E. Sahara Ave., a tattered area of Las Vegas that is beginning to benefit from redevelopment efforts and the growth of high-rise condominiums.

"In the year that we have been open we've only had one or two incidents of any kind," owner Richard Ham said recently. "And those were in the middle of the afternoon when people who had already had too much to drink walked in -- I don't know how many other clubs can say that."

Zingers once was Keys, a local bar popular with gays. Then it became the Dakota, which catered to straights.

Last year Ham and his wife, Carla, bought the club and today it boasts of being open to everyone.

It's open 24/7, but 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays are the big times, when Lou Martinez and his band play dance music from a song library that covers all the bases, including pop, standards, jazz and country.

"Ours is a neighborhood bar that stretches beyond the neighborhood," said Ham, who runs a financial and banking company during the day. "It has a certain level of sophistication."

Zingers debuted on Halloween. To celebrate its first anniversary, the Hams are hosting a four-day party beginning Friday and ending with a costume affair Monday.

Martinez and his band perform tonight and Saturday, joined by special guest Elvis-tribute artist Justin Shandor.

Sunday night will feature Christine's Cabaret Show, which includes former cast members of "An Evening at La Cage," the popular drag show that has been at the Riviera for 20 years.

Halloween's entertainment begins at 9 p.m. There will be prizes for costumes that are the scariest, funniest and most original.

Joining the Martinez band will be two special guests: flamenco guitarist Ricardo Griego and vocalist/pianist Don Alexander, who has his own engagement at the club at 9 p.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Ham credits Martinez with the continued success of Zingers.

"Lou knows all about the nightclub business, and I know about management," he said. "The nightclub has obviously been a learning experience for me. There were a lot of aspects I didn't know about, and Lou has been terrific in showing me what he knows."

The two developed a vision of a nightclub that brings back the essence of old Las Vegas, with live cabaret music.

"We want to make it like the old Copacabana, where you have a little, sophisticated nightclub," said Ham, a native of Nebraska. "When I first came to Vegas in the '70s, I found clubs like that. Now they are rare."

Martinez knows the entertainment business inside out, starting at the age of 13 as a drummer in his native Colorado. He managed several clubs in Southern California before moving to Las Vegas more than three years ago.

"Richard is a great owner," Martinez said. "He listens to advice, and he isn't afraid to spend the money to make improvements. He never interferes.

"I've really never seen a club owner so into the music and the musicians."

Ham said the most important thing is the vision he and Martinez share.

"Lou has been here since opening night," he said. "We have basically formed a close-knit partnership that brings us closer and closer to the end vision."

That vision is entertainment.

"Eventually we will have entertainment every night, but we don't want to get to a point where it is so much of a production where entertainers can't be like they were in old Las Vegas," Ham said.

"We don't want it so commercial -- we want the musicians and entertainers to have elbow room to do what they do, which is to entertain without a lot of production getting in the way."

Jerry Fink can be reached at 259-4058 or jerry@lasvegassun.com.