Brief pay-to-park history; how Ross and Wynn nearly went commercial

By John Katsilometes

Saturday, Oct. 31, 2015 | 2:24 p.m.

The Kats Report Bureau is abuzz with transportation concerns as they relate to the new Las Vegas Arena. We have been reminded this past week that MGM Resorts International might enact parking fees for events at the arena.

The venue is to seat 20,000, and the vision for arena partners MGM Resorts International and AEG is to book it every weekend. Ideally, 41 regular-season home dates for an NHL franchise would be the cornerstone of that plan. Consequently, MGM Resorts officials have been addressing parking concerns since the venue was announced, and the idea of charging patrons to park at MGM hotel garages has been openly discussed for several months.

In February, during the announcement of the season-ticket deposit campaign to lure an NHL franchise, MGM Resorts Senior Vice President of Arenas Mark Prows talked of parking for events at the arena.

“We haven’t fully decided on whether we’ll charge for parking or not. There is a parking model we’re looking at relative to paid parking, but it hasn’t been fully vetted yet,” Prows said at that time. “It’s possible, especially in the two garages that are closest to the arena, that we will charge.”

The two closest garages to the arena are Monte Carlo and New York-New York. There also are several thousand spaces at Aria, MGM Grand and Excalibur. Those garages represent a lot of untapped parking revenue and also a lot of untapped walking.

Another reality: Every venue hosting major pro sports franchises across the country charges for parking. The Staples Center in L.A., also an AEG facility, charges $20 to $50 for parking at L.A. Kings games. Even in Las Vegas, fans at pro events pay for parking; the city charges $5 to park at the Cashman Field parking lot for 51s games. And, hey, it’s $10 to valet park at Smith Center and $5 to park in the city lot to the west of the venue, so paying to park for sports and entertainment is already happening here.

More from the streets:

• In researching a story about Steve Wynn’s relationship with Frank Sinatra for the Dec. 6 “Sinatra 100: An All-Star Grammy Concert,” to air on CBS, I came across the Golden Nugget commercials from the early 1980s. These starred Wynn and Sinatra, as Wynn had booked the superstar headliner to perform at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Wynn paid $10 million to Sinatra for a three-year run at those hotel-casinos. It was a great investment still paying off, as Wynn established his reputation as a resort owner who books only top entertainment.

The commercial titled “Towels,” in which Sinatra tells the then-Golden Nugget owner, “Make sure I have enough towels,” was completed in a single take in the hotel’s Chairman’s Apartment. But that classic spot was written for Diana Ross, headlining at Golden Nugget in Atlantic City at the time (and who opens this week at Venetian Theater).

“She wanted to do the spot,” Wynn says in a video clip recalling these commercials. “I wrote the spot. You know how all the divas have a lot of baggage? She walks into the Chairman’s Apartment with all of the bags. I’m standing there, ‘Hello, Miss Ross. I’m Steve Wynn, and I own this place.’ And she says, ‘You make sure they take care of my bags.’ She gives me a tip, and I say, ‘Baggage?’ ” But Ross declined to film the spot, saying it was funny but also disrespectful, as Wynn recalled.

But the idea of Wynn being tipped to perform a service task remained, and Sinatra loved it.

“We’ll do it at the joint downtown,” he told Wynn. And the tip Sinatra gave Wynn? A five-spot. We need to know what Wynn did with that $5 bill …

• On the topic of things that happen at Wynn/Encore, Nicole Kaplan is a puppeteer.

She is, honestly. Kaplan is one of the six singers in “Steve Wynn’s Showstoppers” at Encore Theater and the wife of “Jersey Boys” cast member Graham Fenton. But she also is an accomplished puppeteer (which also is a really fun word to say, repetitively).

Kaplan learned the art while performing in “Finding Nemo: The Musical” at Disney World in Orlando, Fla., where she worked for years before moving to Las Vegas. Kaplan performed puppetry and also sang while performing the lead role in that show.

This long-latent talent came to light last Monday at “Mondays Dark,” which was themed for the work of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, primarily “South Park,” “Team America: World Police” and “The Book of Mormon.” This was a really blue show, baby. Lots of adult content and naughtiness.

Kaplan performed “The End of An Act,” the song about how awful the film “Pearl Harbor” was, from “Team America.” Also in “Mondays Dark” was the great puppeteer Scott Land, who performed a routine with a Donald Trump puppet whose hair weave flew free. Land performed and directed all the puppet work in “Team America” and has a studio in Las Vegas.

After the show, I remarked to Nicole (and to Graham, who was in the audience but didn’t sing) that it was amazing that someone could turn puppetry into a lucrative entertainment career. That’s when she said, “Hey, I’m a puppeteer.” With a little practice to knock off the rust, she can still carry a scene with a puppet.

This adds some dexterity to what’s staged at Encore Theater. We need to get Wynn and Phil McKinley to want to add a number from “Avenue Q” to “Showstoppers.” They’ve already got the star.

• On the topics of props …

There is a certain order of tribute in VegasVille: Being depicted on a casino chip, a star on the Las Vegas Walk of Fame, having a street in your name, being honored with a statue at a hotel entrance or in wax at Madame Tussauds Las Vegas at the Venetian.

Oh, and building wraps.

Add to that list: Being honored with a shrunken head at the Golden Tiki, which opened in August on Spring Mountain Road in Chinatown. On Thursday, Carrot Top was so honored, and his miniature likeness is the first in what is hoped to be a series of famous tiny noggins on display at the 24-hour hangout.

The Golden Tiki is managed by Branden Powers, longtime nightlife official in Las Vegas, in partnership with Seth Schorr, Jeff Fine and Joe Cain. The Las Vegas burlesque community favors the place, so that quality alone gives it unique credibility.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWiththeDish.