Vegas Magazine - Niche Media - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/260044
VEGASMAGAZINE.COM 117 PHOTOGRAPHY BY GLOBE-PHOTOS (BISSET); RON GALELLA/WIREIMAGE (LEBROCK); BARBARA KRAFT (TRYST) changed the nightclub business in Las Vegas," Drai says. "Steve doesn't care about money. He spends the money he has to spend." So why did Drai leave? "I left because Steve started telling me what to do. I told him to f- - - off. I said, 'You don't tell me sh- -. That is our deal.' He paid me lots of money to leave." Pressed for a number, he says, "It was under $20 million. I was making [almost] that every year. I owned a third of the club, so I made $15 million a year. But I was happy to leave." On the eve of his Las Vegas resurrection, with the reopened Drai's After Hours, Drai's Nightclub, and Drai's Pool Club all getting ready to debut (not to mention Indigo and the gay club Laison, which will move permanently into the temporary Drai's After Hours space at Bally's), Drai says he's excited about his future here. His name is as powerful as ever. And he adds that Steve Wynn told him he has been banned from Wynn and Encore for fear that he will poach nightlife talent. "I don't need to go there to take people," he says, laughing and shrug- g ing. "People wa nt to work for me. I have t he best tea m in tow n. You have 10 or 12 g reat nightclub host s in a ll of Vega s. Five of t hem a re work ing for me now." While that might be a matter of opinion, harder to dispute is that Drai has returned to Vegas nightlife in a big way. He'll be opening his spots against no new competitors and seems to have more freedom and more control than ever before. After showing a tiny bit of doubt by saying he hopes he's doing everything right, Drai revs right back up and tries to quantify aesthetics. "I think my new place will be five times prettier than XS. When people see it, they will want to come back and party and have a good time. It's going to be insane." V Drai and former wife Kelly LeBrock at the Oscars in 1985. Tryst, one of Drai's former clubs. Drai and Jacqueline Bisset in the late '70s. Drai's rooftop nightclub and beach club will anchor The Cromwell, opening this spring. 114-117_V_FEAT_Drais_Spring14.indd 117 2/10/14 5:40 PM