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Published Monday, June 28, 2010 | 12:56 p.m.
Updated Monday, June 28, 2010 | 7:32 p.m.
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Mandalay Bay today moved to immediately evict the Rumjungle nightclub in Las Vegas, but a judge issued a restraining order allowing Rumjungle to stay in possession of its leased space for now.
Mandalay Bay has been in litigation with Rumjungle’s owners over terms of the club’s lease for some two years, and Rumjungle tried to avoid eviction by filing for bankruptcy earlier this year.
A bankruptcy judge in Las Vegas last week threw out the bankruptcy case after Mandalay Bay attorneys complained the bankruptcy was filed in bad faith as part of Rumjungle’s litigation strategy in the lease lawsuit.
After dismissal of the bankruptcy case, Mandalay Bay acted today to close the club. Mandalay Bay has said it has the right to do so under a provision in the lease in which Rumjungle allegedly failed to achieve sales levels agreed to in the contract.
A sign went up this morning stating the club is permanently closed and Mandalay Bay, owned by MGM Resorts International, even invited displaced Rumjungle workers to apply for jobs at MGM Resorts.
But Rumjungle was successful in getting Clark County District Court Judge James Brennan to block the eviction.
"The restraining order was granted this afternoon after Mandalay Bay locked the club’s doors, evicted Rumjungle employees and issued a press release stating Rumjungle was permanently closed," Rumjungle said in a statement.
"We’re very pleased and grateful for this ruling, which will allow us to continue operations until our issues with Mandalay Bay are resolved," said Neil Faggen, manager of Rumjungle. "We promised our employees and the thousands of people who enjoy Rumjungle’s entertainment that we would fight to keep our doors open, and that’s what we’re doing."
Rumjungle maintains Mandalay Bay violated the lease when Mandalay Bay opened a competing venue, eyecandy.
Rumjungle insists it has the contractual right to be the only nightclub on the property.
“We’re looking forward to a final resolution of this dispute in court,” Faggen said. “In the meantime, we were not going to stand by and allow our doors to be locked and our employees left in limbo.”
Mr R Jungle said "This is the nicest place I've ever been tossed out of."
I'm not sure anyone really cares or will notice that they've shut down. We'll wait for the news of whatever is going to take it's place.
Sad to see it close. Rum Jungle had a great feel to it and I loved bringing out of towners into it for a quick drink or two before moving on down the strip. Really the only reason to stop in Mandalay Bay.
Good riddance. That place sucked. I was there Saturday night for about 10 minutes. The music was obnoxiously loud and sounded terrible, and I like loud music.
Mandalay is a nice place with a lot to offer. Getting rid of this dump is a good move.
other than when Lance M ran bar there that place sucked
It was decent earlier in the night. I had drinks there before going to Trattoria del Lupo. I rather liked both places.
Maybe it's just me, but perhaps clubs like Rum Jungle could attract/could have attracted more people if they played something other than Hip-Hop constantly. That gets REALLY boring really quick. You can't sing along or hardly dance to it. Matter of fact you can't really hear it at all. They crank it so loud that it becomes just noise that you automatically tune out, and all you can feel is the bass. Which with the way most artists sample songs now, just constantly gets recycled from one song to another.
Certainly trends in music and society change. But it seems that the newest dance clubs actually have talented DJs who don't just know to play actual dance music EVERYONE will like, but also know how to set their sound systems up to that you can actually hear it.
Rum Jungle like many of the fallen clubs and bars of Vegas past all seem to have failed to understand this. Simply placing some moron in the DJ booth who doesn't know anything other than to crank the volume and bass up, while playing 20 different mixes of the same song every night is NOT enduring to customers.
that place su-ucks.
I'm glad to see a judge blocked MGM's heavy handed tactics. First they violate the terms of the lease by opening their own nightclub, Eye Candy, and although it's a complete failure the impact on the opening had a negative affect on rumjungle.
You have to ask yourself why Mandalay invested so much money in Eye Candy when they are the majority owner of rumjungle in the first place.
See what happens when tenants don't roll over and bow down to MGM International.
Someone needs to look at the next deal that's already been inked with Angel Music Group.
A pox on MGM International.
Rumjungle is still open, just called them, Sun went to press too quickly on this one. Glad to hear it, we have had some great times here! We love Rumjungle.
NOTHING GOOD comes from hanging out in Las Vegas Hotel night clubs.
How would you know if you don't go.. not that we would want you there anyways since you sound like a complete dud
Kvg2009 :
Have fun smoking. drinking, doing illicit drugs, picking up tatooed ho's and putting it all on daddy's credit card you spoiled little brats..
Good bye rumjungle. Ahh...the stolen tips, banged cocktail waitresses, ecstasy overdose deaths, vampiric leather-skinned douche lawyer, blow, and all of the other shenanigans that went on there. Good times.
Go to MIX! The view is beautiful.
uh-oh gramps is upset. take your meds and go to bed EP. isn't it too hot for you to be up and moving?
DMC, it is just you (and probably a small amount of the population). While there is a lot of garbage out on the radio, the clubs do play a wide mix of music. Mashups were big last year. There is always the 3 or 4 rock song break. And my least favorite - House Music. That stuff is garbage and is only worth a damn if you're frying your brain on ecstacy. Hip Hop gets the club jumping. Watch the dance floor empty out for rock music and after one techno song. Just because you don't know the words and can't dance to it doesn't mean the majority of the people that go to clubs don't rock out to it. If you're looking for older music, a club probably isn't where you should be going.
When the Frontier was in it's heyday you never saw people smoking, drinking, doing anything illicit...oh wait, who owned it again? And don't even start on the ladies for hire - no comparision between today and your time. You paid for pleasure, not quality. Environ, hot dry air is causing memory loss.
But at least they gave you a free shrimp cocktail, comp you for dropping 20 dollars on penny slots, and had the best damn black jack odds this side of Carson City.
A great place like Vegas should have live bands.
DJs went out in the 70s with disco.
newman2 :
Your right, vice was around in plentiful quantity back in the old days, however it wasn't flaunted quite like it is today. We didn't use drugs, and the gentleman and ladies were discreet and well mannered. The clubs and pool parties these days are like taking a stroll down a city ghetto street on a hot summer day or night.
Have some respect for the people who work there and their families. Rumjungle may not be what it was a long time ago, but it's a job that supports our family.