Thursday, Nov. 6, 2003 | 8:20 a.m.
LAUGHLIN Music of the Eagles filled the Edgewater's 150-seat Kokopelli Lounge. It was standing room only for Hotel California, a tribute band to one of the most popular rock/country bands of the '70s.
"Take it Easy." "Desperado." "Heartache Tonight."
The middle-aged crowd, standing and sitting shoulder to shoulder, mouthed the words of the familiar songs from their youth.
"Lyin' Eyes." "Tequila Sunrise." "Take It To The Limit."
"My God, the memories," grinned Phoenix resident Paul Martinez, 49, who was squeezed into table seating next to his wife at one of the most popular lounges in Laughlin one recent weekend.
He and wife Deborah, 46, met at an Eagles concert 25 years ago.
The couple were on their second trip of the year to this gaming community on the Nevada side of the Colorado River at the state's southern tip.
They will get a chance to see Hotel California again and experience the romantic nostalgia when the group returns for a lounge engagement from Nov. 18 to Nov. 20.
The Martinezes say they prefer the laid-back lifestyle of Laughlin to the hectic pace of the more congested Las Vegas, 100 miles northeast.
"It's like Las Vegas was back in the old days," Martinez said. "There's not a whole lot of traffic and they treat you right."
The entertainment in the showrooms and lounges is, in most cases, comparable to what is offered in Vegas.
"It's cheaper, too," Deborah said.
On Halloween you could have seen country music legend George Jones at Harrah's RioVista Outdoor Amphitheater in Laughlin for $25. Last week ticket prices for a Jones performance at Sam's Town in Las Vegas started at about $40.
Several of the resorts on Casino Drive in this remote gaming community have familiar names -- Harrah's, Flamingo, Golden Nugget.
Some are not so well known outside the area -- Riverside, River Palms, Ramada Express and Edgewater (whose parent company is Mandalay Resort Group, owner of Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Excalibur and Circus Circus in Las Vegas).
All of them cling to a two-mile stretch of the northern bank of the 1,700-mile-long Colorado River. The state line between Nevada and Arizona runs down the middle of the 800-foot-wide stream.
You see many of the same names on marquees in Laughlin as you do in Vegas -- Jones; Joe Cocker, who sold out a 13,000-seat concert at the Edgewater in August; Debbie Reynolds, who is currently at the Riverside's "Don's Celebrity Theater."
One of the Riverside's most popular headliners is the comedian Gallagher, best known for smashing watermelons.
"We use him three times a year," Roy Jernigan, entertainment director for Riverside, said. "He's the only guy I use three times a year. Most other acts we use once or twice."
Jernigan says it isn't difficult to book the entertainers in Laughlin.
"Once I show them they can make money, there's no problem getting them," he said.
Desert fun
Over the years, Laughlin has evolved into an entertainment oasis.
High-energy entertainer Earl Turner, who had performed in a small showroom at The Rio in Las Vegas a couple of years ago, is the resident headliner at Harrah's Laughlin.
The male strip show "Thunder from Down Under," a hit at the Excalibur in Vegas, is equally popular with Laughlin ladies when the hunks perform at the Edgewater once a month. Their next engagement is Friday.
Bill Cosby performs in Laughlin. So do Roy Clark, Mel Tillis, Tony Danza, Lesley Gore, Vicki Lawrence and dozens of others.
Entertainers who perform in Laughlin are the same ones fans can see in almost any major metropolitan area in the nation. The only difference is that Laughlin's population is barely 10,000, if that.
Two miles south is Bullhead City, Ariz. (population 30,000); 30 miles southeast is Kingman, Ariz. (population 20,000); and 25 miles southwest is Needles, Calif. (population 6,000)
Yet more than five million tourists a year come to Laughlin to gamble and to be entertained.
Jernigan says the reason for the high number of tourists is not only the friendly atmosphere and the great entertainment, it's the bargains.
"The secret word in the 21st Century is packaging," he said. "If you don't package, you go out of business."
A package includes the hotel room, meals and entertainment.
During the recent weekend when Hotel California was packing in fans for free at the Edgewater, Eddie Carrol was performing his one-man tribute to Jack Benny at the Ramada Express' 1,000-seat Pavilion Theater for $15 a ticket.
"This guy's great," Harold Wilkes, a retired trucker from Los Angeles, said. "I grew up listening to Benny on the radio. Sounds just like him."
In the Ramada's Caboose Lounge, where such Las Vegas dance bands as Chazz and Perfect Choice occasionally perform, Irish entertainer Pat O'Brien was singing his mixture of traditional Irish songs and classic rock.
The Riverboat Ramblers Strolling Dixieland Band was amusing fans at The Boiler Room Brew Pub on the Colorado Belle.
Mary Wilson was at the Riverside's 1,000-seat Don's Celebrity Theater.
In the 300-seat Club Flamingo Showroom, "A Really Big Shew" was almost sold out.
"Shew," which has been touring the nation for more than 10 years, is a tribute to Ed Sullivan. It stars Jerry Hoban, one of the country's top Sullivan impersonators, who introduces a cast of performers including plate spinners, jugglers, acrobats and tribute artists.
"It's really cool to recreate the Sullivan show," producer Gene Siler said. "This is my baby."
Siler likes to keep the show fresh by rotating acts every couple of months, but one act he keeps is the plate-spinning couple from Hungary, The Amazing Villiams -- who appeared on the original Sullivan show between 1960 and 1963.
"I like Laughlin," Siler said. "It's slower paced and relaxing. The cast loves it."
Competing with Vegas
Tony Adams is spokesman for the Flamingo, which also has a 3,000-seat arena that often features such acts as Harvey Korman and Tim Conway, Charo and Roberta Flack, along with heavyweight boxing events.
Adams says when Vegas' economy was hurt by 9-11, the city to the north began coming after Laughlin customers.
"They put up signs around here that read, 'Only 90 minutes further to Vegas,' " he said.
But it didn't do any damage to the loyal Laughlin fans.
"They don't like the hustle and bustle of Las Vegas," Adams said. "They like the small-town atmosphere here."
Dance fever
And they like the dancing.
At the Golden Nugget they flock to Tarzan's Nightclub, which features DJ music.
At Harrah's, it's the Baja Blue Restaurant & Cantina, which turns into Baja Blue After Dark at 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
And at Riverside it's either the Losers' Lounge -- with live Top-40 bands nightly, two levels of seating, two full-service bars and two dance floors -- or Lightning Strikes, The Dance Club!
Don Laughlin can be found at Lightning Strikes two or three nights a week, either on the dance floor or sitting at his designated stool at the bar.
Laughlin, owner of the Riverside, is also founder of the community that bears his name.
The workaholic says he doesn't care much about entertainment; he's too busy to sit through an entire show by performers at his Don's Celebrity Theater.
But the Minnesota native loves to dance.
"It keeps me in shape," said Laughlin, still trim and fit at 72.
Laughlin is a ballroom dancer, but he doesn't insist that Lightning Strikes DJs play his kind of music.
"If they did, there wouldn't be any customers," Laughlin said.
His passion for dancing compelled him to build a walnut dance floor at the entry to his 6,000-square-foot penthouse on the top of his 28-story hotel.
The floor, emblazoned with the letters "DL," sits on a rubber base.
"It's easier to grip and push off," Laughlin said, demonstrating one of his smooth moves.
Laughlin used the same construction for floors in the studio at the casino, where guests can take lessons, and in Lightning Strikes.
It is the same meticulous attention to detail that has made Laughlin so successful.
Laughlin's road
Laughlin's road to wealth began by trapping minks when he was growing up in Minnesota. While in the ninth grade he used the profits from his minks to buy slot machines -- although slots were illegal, authorities mostly turned a blind eye to them in those days.
When his principal told him to choose between school and slots, he noted he was making more money than the administrator, so he quit.
In 1952 Laughlin moved to Las Vegas and worked in casinos until he bought his first bar in 1954, which he sold for a profit a few months later and opened a second bar, the 101 Club, which he sold in 1964.
In 1966 he bought a a bankrupt bar, bait shop and motel at a place then called South Point along the Colorado River.
From the bait shop grew the Riverside hotel and casino, which eventually became so successful it attracted other casinos.
But the success hit a speed bump in the mid-'90s with the proliferation of Indian casinos.
Kevin McGowen, marketing director for the Edgewater, says Indian-owned casinos have hurt the town a little.
"Visitors may make a few less trips here each year -- instead of coming here six times maybe they will come four times," he said.
Laughlin also said there was a decline in visitors because of Indian gaming, which might have hurt expansion plans of some casinos or stopped others from locating in Laughlin.
But Laughlin said growth, which declined in the mid-'90s, is back on track, increasing at about 4 percent per year.
To help turn around the economy, McGowen says Laughlin may be turning the tables on Vegas, which tried to steal its customers.
"We see Vegas as our next big opportunity," he said. "We're starting to offer packages -- dinner, rooms, entertainment. This is the escape for Las Vegans."
That's fine with Tim McGraw tribute artist Peter Phillips, a native of Canada.
Phillips, who sometimes appears at the Cannery and New York-New York in Las Vegas, performs in Country Music USA at the Riverside.
He says some entertainers may have a negative opinion about appearing in Laughlin, but not him.
Phillips said, "People appreciate you more here."
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