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twitter“Last Call!”: Two words you wouldn’t expect to hear on The Strip
Monday, Nov. 30, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Sun Coverage
So it’s come to this: Things are so bad that the words “Last call!” could be heard at a bar inside a Strip hotel recently.
Last call? Really? In the 24-hour city, a city where you can get a scotch on the rocks with your eggs? Last call in the city where you can stumble out of a bar into the bright, early-morning sunlight because the barman has had enough of you, and sure enough, you can find a new place, packed with like-minded souls?
Last call. It’s a forlorn phrase — the end of hope, the gathering of dread. A phrase long banished from here.
But apparently not.
The “last call” was heard about 11 p.m. on a Tuesday night, when a co-worker and his Irish relatives were drinking at the Centrifuge, the round bar in MGM Grand with the sculpture vaguely resembling sails of ship.
One of the relatives looked surprised. Last call in Vegas?
Must be a joke, the co-worker said.
No joke, the cocktail server said. When the customer count dips too far to cover the overhead, we close the place, she said — some nights as early as 11.
Mike Green, the Nevada historian, was rueful.
“I hope it’s not a sign this is the last call for Nevada’s economy,” he said.
There were once regulations on last call, he said, but not since World War II, and ever since then, we’ve been known as the city with no last call.
“Frank Sinatra said the problem with Las Vegas is that there’s nothing to do between 8 and 9 a.m.”
Discussion: 21 comments so far…
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Those words should be forbidden in Las Vegas, especially on the strip!
A bar closing in Vegas!!!!! That's like a restaurant closing. Yes bars and
restaurants do close. However I am sure that MGM does have another bar open
24 hours, just like they have a 24 hour restaurant
Another rip off, that's why people will go elsewhere. Have a bottle of rye in your pocket like Boggie. I notice a number of limos dropping people off to stock up on liquor on the way from the airport to the hotel.
u can't blame them if more money going out and not enough coming in what can u do. there was a new TIMBER bar on losee it already close it didn't last long
Vegas is over!!
Who wantss to sit in a bar with no other people anyway?
If I wanted to hear last call I will go and gamble with the wagon burners in Minnestoa
I almost always end up in Centrifuge one time or another when I am in Vegas and they do close but never that early! Usually around 1-2a.m. depending on the crowd but never 11p.m.
Well, I guess there's 100 other bars still open within a 10 minute walk..... My son has already said he wants to "stock up" at Lee's before we get to the hotel on our next trip because of the cost at the bars. Oh, He's 25. I'm doing all the driving.
Why pay $10-$15 for a single drink, when you can spend that $10-$15 on a bottle and a pizza, turn on your own damn music and prevent another drunk driving death by staying home.
"Last call" isn't so terrible. Just think of how many people have gotten lucky as a result of "last call". It's probably the most effective pick-up line in history.
I like Geena's comment (right above this one). You tell 'em! Hey, can I have a slice of that pizza?
They are so worried about the profit that the customers really don't mean much. Loose some money to give good customer service? NO WAY
I was just there last Thursday thru to Sunday. As we walked back into the Paris hotel at about 5 am one of my girlfriends noticed the bar was still open, with people milling about and enjoying drinks and in shocked amazement uttered "Are you kidding me, where on Gods green earth am I?" To which I replied, "You're in Vegas baby, there is no closing time"..... Well, well, well, apparently they roll a bit different in some of the joints. But then again, when there are so many bars, in so many locations its not surprising that at certain times there aren't many patrons.
I truly hope the economy pics up and the tourists come flooding back en mass to get Vegas back up and running full throttle. It's a city I genuinely love and hope the best for.
Come on... It's not like there is NO OTHER BAR open in MGM Grand! Let's not get too crazy with this...
Mr. Coolican, either you're knowingly disingenuous about this or completely ingorant. This is a non-story. Every nightclub in Las Vegas has last call, as do most of the restaurants and many of the lounges in the hotels on the Strip and all over town. They have for years. And, technically, it's not really "last call" since there's another bar open within staggering distance of the one you're being asked to leave so employees can go home.
The perception that there's no "last call" has more to do with gaming regulations than the vice of drinking.
What a lame article... A bar closing... Uh, hello, bars and reastaurants DO close...
It doesn't mean the Sky Is Falling as the article title would have you believe.
I'm sure there were a dozen other locations inside MGM at that moment where you could get a drink.
And you wonder why news agencies are downsizing...??? You serve bad food and drink or write worthless atricles and you close for longer than just the night.
Wow MGM really? billions spent on CC but not pennies (compared to CC) to pay a bartender, etc at a casino bar... pathetic...
UCSB: Absolutely!!! The more the merrier!! Anybody else in?!?
Only a liberal rag would print such a lame non-story. Centrifuge is a bar-club that caters mostly to the sports crowd and has bartenders dance around on the bar to rev up the crowd. There are several other 24/7 bars in the MGM like the main bar and the Zuri lounge all of which are fun...even Rouge if you can handle all of the ruby redness!