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Tuesday, May 11, 2010 | 2 a.m.
Sun Coverage
- For job at pool parties, bring your resume, of course, and your bathing suit (3-6-10)
- Casinos prepare to pull plug on pool parties for season (10-3-09)
- How clubs were punished: Warn, warn again (8-19-09)
- Metro: Prostitution, drug activity found at topless Rio pool (7-29-09)
- Rio closes topless pool after Metro Police check (7-28-09)
- Pool party season opens in Las Vegas with wave of celebrities (4-19-09)
- Rehab’s spring break-like party calls it quits for season (9-26-08)
A volatile mix of Strip debauchery — topless women and pools filled with booze-buoyed partygoers — may be running its course.
Some nightclub managers, who run the poolside dayclubs, say they may be more trouble than they’re worth.
Last summer, Metro Police arrested 11 people at the Rio’s Sapphire Pool, a topless pool run by the Sapphire strip club. The Rio ended up shutting down Sapphire Pool. Even nontopless pools have gotten scrutiny: Officers arrested eight people at a Hard Rock Rehab party last summer for drug and prostitution charges during an undercover enforcement check.
The enforcement followed Planet Hollywood’s acknowledgment last summer of illegal and illicit activities at its Prive nightclub, prompting its temporary closure. That put nightclub operators on notice that lewd behavior at clubs would not be tolerated. Such monitoring is being extended to party pools as well.
Clark County enforcement officers are sending letters to the clubs, reminding them that topless sunbathing must be separate and obstructed from other guest areas, off-limits to minors and cannot been used for contests, parties or special events while topless sunbathing is taking place.
It’s that last part that has caused the most consternation. The topless pool scene has grown to include DJs, dancing and celebrity appearances. Although they don’t call them parties, they have included headlining performers, birthday celebrations and resort anniversaries — the normal kind of fare that’s offered at nightclubs run by the likes of Pure Management, Light Group and Tao Group — which all run topless pools in town.
Hard Rock and Light Group — which operates the adult-only Liquid pool at Aria and the topless Bare at Mirage — each changed their minds about opening topless pools this season. Off-Strip, Green Valley Ranch Resort has also discontinued topless sunbathing at its pool, the Pond.
Light Group President Jodi Myers said one reason it decided against topless sunbathing at its new pool is because the no-party policy limits the club’s marketing. Phil Shalala, vice president of marketing at the Hard Rock, said they felt it was a gimmick that had run its course.
Gaming Control Board member Randall Sayre said regulators will work with Metro again this summer to conduct enforcement checks at pool parties.
“Both Metro and Gaming Control have an ongoing interest in these venues and continue that interest going into the new pool season,” Sayre said.
County officials last summer considered strengthening codes relating to European sunbathing and the definition of pool parties, but no action has been taken.
Nice let's take the"SIN" outta SIN CITY whats next? A Mormon fully clothed pool party...Or Pure or Light will put on LDS night at one of their venues on a weekend...Quit caving in to idiots who ruin it for the rest of us..
Anyone who has a problem with this should go to Disneyland.
These kids have no class or morals anyway, they are simply drugged and boozed up tattooed wannabe celebrity types with no sense of self, most of whom are spoiled rotten who expect everything handed to them. GET RID OF THIS CRAP and return Vegas to a place for grownups.
Nothing against lab dancers, but these "party pits" everywhere in the casinos with 6-5 b-j, loud music and lots of silicon everywhere my eye can see are totally inappropriate. You may attract the 5 dollar player this way, but not the player with deep pockets. Classy places such as Bellagio don't need this shid, and still make money. Dumps such as Vegas Club or Plaza have it, and if you take a closer look you will see that there's something missing. It's just not matching with the rest of the casino. Wouldn't it make much more sense to legalize prostitution instead of tolerating it but still not making it legal, and giving the player looking for "action" the opportunity right inside of the facilities. So, put tags on the floor, guiding the tourists to the pool, restaurant, buffet, cashier, massage, cinema, bowling, etc. And keep the casino pit party-free. This would be the right way to go. What the casinos seem to be trying is only halfway a plan. Looks like a zero-concept to me. Even with topless pools. Wouldn't change a thing. The people won't gamble more this way.
From Switzerland
I'm sure some muslim tourist, somewhere, lodged a complaint.
Sun - Please continue to keep us abreast of this situation as new developments come to light.
I like to see Sarah Palin in one of those Pools....shooting a moose from there... :D
why dont they make all pools topless like in europe, they have less sex crimes, no-one bothers even staring, it is just normal...
when you prohibit anything you make it more desirable
ahhh... woke up today figured i'd go back to judging the world. oh wait, i actually have to go to work
Make Las Vegas like a trip to any other city in America and watch the tourists visit every other city in America instead.
another point, they charge access for these pools, just go and sit in the back garden strip off and enjoy sun for free, european tourists will simply go to another place, they like to strip off, so they will end up in a less restrictive city.
Day Life? Night Life? Party everytime? What is that? And when do they sleep? The pharma industry needs to come up with a pill that gives you 4 hours of relief for every 1 hour you rest sleeping. This would perhaps work out.
Another thing the casinos have to understand: If somebody spends hundreds of dollars at the pool , during his "Day Life" session, there will be less money left for gaming action. It's a simple math. The only question is: What weighs higher to these profit focused managers? Also, a 25 dollar cocktail at during the "Day Life" cries for a 5 dollar tip at least. I wonder if there ar e really enough of such people around, willing to sponsor this new "Life".
If they are profitable, we'll have oodles of em'.
If they become unprofitable, we won't.
"The enforcement followed Planet Hollywood's acknowledgment last summer of illegal and illicit activities at its Prive nightclub, prompting its temporary closure. That put nightclub operators on notice that lewd behavior at clubs would not be tolerated."
All this points to the REAL problem with these pools -- police harassment enforcing arbitrary, stupid rules. Topless women and no party??
MR906, mrjb, labdaddy, markp, gettocard -- you guys all called this one right. Until America gets over its nudity paranoia we will never be free.
It's about freedom, People, not what's "allowed" by the authorities. Anyone who doesn't like fun have the choice of staying away, not limiting the choices the rest of us have.
Bottom line is they are not working, are not worth all of the headache and scrutiny, and are probably not that profitable when you look at all of the expenses for increased security. Shut them down, throw the operators out of town...these have become one big cesspool!
It should be obvious that most of the developed world permits topless bathing. And (gasp) in front of minors. Topless women are not roped off, they are often there with their children.
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If you go to Sweden to a municipal pool you will often see a hundred topless teenage girls.
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This is ridiculous that a gaming control board should worry about something like this. Who really believes that that topless women promotes drug sales, and prostitution.
tcrawford take your wife for a romantic weekend to south of france, you can go nude there without anyone bothering to look..
There was television show about these types of events at the Hrd Rock,it was intended for the most part for the simple minded. I got a kick out of the old woman who was a Hard rock employee who was in charge of the events. She was a real air head with not any supervisor skills.Of course it was obvious she was in over her head on all counts.
paco -- amen!
Then there's Toronto which removed all laws against going topless, and a topless woman news team went to work. Haven't heard anything negative about that.
"... let us put it to the test, so as to learn *why* this prohibition exists. Moral prohibitions . . . are suitable only for ages when reason is subjugated . . ." -- Friederich Nietzsche 1880 "The Wanderer and his Shadow"
In case anybody forgot; it was the 'Puritans' who founded this country and that puritanical attitude is still very inherent in most of us.
Those were the very people that England ran off it's native soil; the rejects, remember?
Where is that Burka?
Seriously... there are 5,000 people at Rehab at HR every Sunday - so they arrested 11 people at the Rio - big woo. That's hardly epidemic.
Nevada had legal boxing when it was banned elsewhere. They had gambling and "quickie" divorces and marriage in the thirties, unlike other states.
Now we are playing catch-up. legal pot in Europe and California (De facto) - legal prostitution - legal Indian gaming - Internet gambling....
The bible thumpers are going to kill Nevada with their morality...and Lowden and Ensign are casino owners, Sandoval headed gaming control, like Reid.
..business people see the state as friendly to gambling and mining, not other industries...
We are losing the party zone image and are not friendly to non-gaming businesses
I don't know that I really care one way or the other about topless swimming pools. Not my thing, don't go there, don't see how it impacts me.
What I get a kick out of is the Flamingo... As one pit boss said, "They got a pit with go go dancers when you come in on one end of the casino and Donnie and Marie in the Theater on the other end. They don't know what they want to be."
Good observation. Know your market, whatever it is. I like choices. If I don't like what your offering, I won't patronize you, just don't subject me to it.
"In case anybody forgot; it was the 'Puritans' who founded this country and that puritanical attitude is still very inherent in most of us."
silverstate -- who "founded" this country is definitely open for debate. If you mean the new colonists who slaughtered the natives for fun and burned "witches" to keep their society pure, they weren't the founders. That would be the guys who fought that war of independence and gave us an organic law which included guaranteeing freedom of conscience/religion.
As for "that puritanical attitude" -- speak for yourself. I had an ancestor or two on the Mayflower, and my attitude is a pole apart.
It's called liberty -- you should look into the concept.
"Some nightclub managers, who run the poolside dayclubs, say they may be more trouble than they're worth."
Really? Making money hand over fist is too much trouble?
Much ado about nothing. In select, secure places there is nothing wrong with this. Once politicians and the cops start screwing with things it all goes south. Oh,...and prostitution should be legal in Clark County,...just sayin
If you go to Europe topless bathing is the norm and no one thinks anything of it except for dumb American tourists.
skerlahdee -- more like harassment from the cops and stupid laws passed by the County.
1957 = the year of the first topless show in Las Vegas: Minsky's Follies at the Dunes
2010 = the year Las Vegans forgot what Las Vegas was all about
topless, not topless...who cares? some of those "bathing suits" leave absolutely nothing to the imagination anyway. not that i'm complaining.
All they wear now for a swimsuits is two bandaids a a cork.
This clip says it all...the whole scene is ridiculous
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zK2VIPEiq...
Debauchery? Where???
always amazes me how many polarizing comments get posted to one article is so little amount of time... guess the high unemployment rate gives too many Nevadans too much time on their hands to just rant and rave at a "TV Screen" as they used to do before the internet... does anyone hope someone hears them and that gives them satisfaction? i dunno... ranting and raving is ever so popular, especially when you don't have to put your face or your address on your posts.
The edition today is really boring.
All of the news must have been pent up and today being Wednesday and nothing else to do but get the zipper caught and unleash the Freudian use of the newspaper articles as a means of expressing the contempt of those who are in your mind low lifers and those who "use" the low lifers. Some readers can only wish that the readers and employees of media publications were desexed by those who adore them. The newsboy who delivers the latest edition to your desk to to your dressing room wishes that you were a enoch and he were the main alpha male in the topless swimming pool.
Prostitution popping up at these Topless Pools...
Duhhhh
What a surprise!
There is a time and place for everything and as far as I am concerned prostitution should be legalized but I do not want to see it before my eyes at a Strip Hotel when I am on vacation.
Oh, wah wah wah! Legalize prostitution and tax it like in Europe. Between consenting adults, sex happens. Deal with it.
Prostitution popping up at these Topless Pools...
Duhhhh
What a surprise!
Right,and then you gotta factor in the Pimps "Hangin out" poolside like vultures , some of the (not all) "Hoes" stealing peoples property,and on and on and on...
Then the whole scenario gets racheted up to a whole new level..
And then Management and Hotel Security has to bring in the "babysitters" and turn the whole thing into a police environment...they used to have a good handle on the cockroaches when this town was smaller, now they have to keep their eye on ever single little iota because of D-bags (No, not "Dirt" bags, either)
If I want to see breasts, I'll just look in the mirror. Obviously, Americans (especially the idiots who come to Vegas - and the ones who live here) cannot handle the beauty of the female form and must make it sexual, lewd, shameful. Personally, I wouldn't go to a topless pool party, but I'm in my 40's. If I were in my 20's I may think differently. I see enough breasts in ads all over the city that I've really seen all I need to. Breasts are for nursing babies, nurturing men, and sometimes they get cancer and must be removed. Y'all are making way to big of a deal out of this.
"Gaming Control Board member Randall Sayre said regulators will work with Metro again this summer to conduct enforcement checks at pool parties."
What is an "enforcement check"? Do they allow ride alongs?
Here's a couple of tips if you want to "freeroll" Rehab at the Hard Rock on Sundays.
--Go to the top of the HR parking garage. The south part of the lot overlooks the pool. Bring a pair of binoculars. Be warned: Eventually security will come up there and chase you away...
--Play poker at the HR on Sunday afternoons. Make sure you play at a table as close to the front of the room as possible. Make sure your seat faces toward the entrance of the room. The scenery is quite stunning...
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