Step into Liquidity

Michael Meyer

Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007 | 2:23 a.m.

Finding your way through the Luxor used to be an experience similar to navigating the ancient labyrinths leading to the tombs of the Pharaohs, except without all of the sexy excitement that comes along with a lifetime career in archeology. Fortunately, all that is changing as the ancient-Egypt theme inside the Strip’s glass pyramid is morphing to reflect the modern desert exterior of the Las Vegas Strip.

At the heart of it all, the new 24-hour Liquidity center bar, when it opens, will be a perfect example of the fluidity and openness that drives the casino’s new floor plans. The “ultra-bar” is designed by Super Potato, the same Japanese design firm behind Strip Steak, the Northern Lights-inspired Aurora bar and Sensei.

The importance of the center bar in Las Vegas has been overshadowed in recent years by the billions of dollars that have been spent on casino theaters, nightclubs, lounges and attractions, but executives are realizing that people still need an easy-to-find central location where they can toss back a few drinks, meet friends and get a tangible grip on the buzzing chaos around them. Heart Bar at Planet Hollywood is a good example, as are the subtly named CenterBar at the Hard Rock and Eyecandy at Mandalay Bay. The new center bars are becoming attractions in their own right for the club-shy who don’t get off on claustrophobia and $8 water.

Liquidity’s own water theme is most prevalent at the geometric center of the great pyramid, where 4,400 spouts rain down a liquid sheet that doubles as a canvas for digital projection, which wraps around a massive pillar in the middle of the bar area. As well as the requisite DJ, Liquidity has a separate booth for the operator of the digital projection system, who can create visual accompaniment to the music, as well as completely customizable images and logos for special and corporate events.

DJs will spin 9 p.m.-3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays as well as Mondays and Wednesdays to coincide with industry nights at LAX and CatHouse. There isn’t a dance floor per se, but Liquidity is a no-pressure place where there’s plenty of space if you want to dance, and ample seating if you’re not yet drunk enough to. Of course, there are always the elevated dance platforms where beautiful dancers compete with the “bustier-clad” servers for sex-appeal points.

More than just an expansive wrap-around center bar with built-in video poker (of course), Liquidity features an intimate corner lounge for bottle service, rumored to be priced extremely competitively (think closer to $200 for a bottle of Absolut, compared to the usual $450). On the opposite corner are two private lounges with lit glass floors, separated from the rest of the bar by a 30-foot wall of water that changes color and reacts when guests walk past hidden sensors.

The rest of the space is open on all sides to the casino, with pony walls, glass and low, natural rock features allowing 360-degree views of the casino floor and nearby LAX, the soon-to-open CatHouse and next year’s Cirque du Soleil/Criss Angel spectacular. The natural stone continues around the bar to the glass liquor tower and up surrounding columns. The result is a cool and relaxed place where you can warm up the evening’s bar tab, check out who’s going into the CatHouse Loungerie (this nightlife terminology is killing me) or the celebrity-driven LAX and plan your night accordingly.

The ultimate goal of the casinos is to provide as many entertainment options as possible to keep you on the property, and the Luxor is hoping that Liquidity will raise the standards of Strip center bars and act as a staging ground for its entertainment venues. But unlike bars such as Eyecandy, which, though technically a center bar, can still feel a little “velvet-ropey” (now I’m just making up nightlife terminology—it’s so easy!), Liquidity is not trying to compete with LAX, preferring instead to be “approachable, intriguing and fun.” Liquidity’s soft opening is planned for December 23, and it will of course be open on New Year’s Eve to handle the overflow of party people.