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/593724
photography by bryan Steffy (Zoe); reid gardner (newton); greg autry (filicia) from left: I met the lovely Rachel Zoe, a special guest at the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund's Super Saturday shopping event, at a brunch hosted by Make-A-Wish Southern Nevada at Barneys New York in the Grand Canal Shoppes; Wayne Newton posed with me after our tour of his fabulous ranch; the delightful and charming Thom Filicia and I talked "Decorating from Top to Bottom" at an event at the Las Vegas Design Center, cohosted by the Interior Design Society, to beneft the Las Vegas Philharmonic. The sheer number of celebrities and over-the-top experi- ences that Las Vegas can pack onto a four-mile stretch means that if you walk around long enough, you might begin to relate, as I have, to Peter Sellers's character in Being There. In that movie, simpleminded Chance, the gardener, is mistaken for upper-class businessman Chauncey Gardiner, who, through happenstance and proximity, becomes an unlikely trusted associate of famous people. Or for those of you unwilling (or unable) to go back with me to 1979, I give you Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump, ambling through life, digitally inserted into vintage newsreels and histori- cal photos by director Robert Zemeckis. For instance, there was the time I wandered into a red-carpet appearance by Priscilla Presley, who gamely pretended we were friends for the cameras. Afterward, I was stalked into a public rest- room by a rabid fan—of hers, not mine—who just wanted to be in the same room as someone who had touched Elvis's former wife. Recently, I attended a sneak peek of Wayne Newton's Casa de Shenandoah, the entertainer's 52-acre ranch newly opened to the public, to ogle his prizewinning Arabian horses, Rolls-Royces, and Franklin Roosevelt's own desk. While I was there, I ran into Mr. Las Vegas himself, who graciously gave me a tour, explain- ing that a Baccarat crystal-legged table in the billiard room had been commissioned for an Indian maharajah 300 years ago but was being used as a rug stand before Newton rescued it, shipped it to Vegas, and placed it in front of a wall of big-eyed Keane waifs. It was a priceless experience—but not literally. You can book the "Exclusive Mr. Las Vegas Experience," but it's priced on request. That's sort of how Las Vegas goes, of course. Most things are available for a price, and you'll inevitably see some luminary or another. After all, there are plenty of hidey-holes on the Strip, but not being seen is not really the point. Because we're dedicated to conveying both the reality and surreality of our town, we're debuting a new back page dedicated to the experiences that we and our writers are seeking out, both to help you make the most of your time here and also to give you a glimpse behind the scenes. Consider my suggestion box open; we'll gladly entertain your "only in Vegas" ideas, though I per- sonally stop short of two exclusive Vegas opportunities: finging myself off the 800 -foot-tall Stratosphere and getting paddled by a "nurse" for not fnishing my "Bypass Burger" at the Heart Attack Grill. Most other things are fair game. Follow me on Twitter at @andreabennett1 and on vegasmagazine.com. andr ea bennett Letter from the editor-in-Chief 36 vegasmagazine.com