Friday, Jan. 3, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
There is nothing in New York, N.Y., remotely like New York-New York. It's a helluva town.
"I think it's great," said a former New Yorker, who was attending a VIP party at the newest Strip property Thursday night. "They left out the muggings, the traffic jams, the smog and the noise."
It's what they've put in it and around it, however, that should make New York-New York the most desirable city in Las Vegas for years to come -- at least until they put up Paris.
Aesthetically, the 2,034-room hotel-casino is a city within a city, the designers taking care to see that the Gotham theme didn't stop with the skyline. And even if they didn't follow the blueprint to the exact specifications, the ambience says "New York" inside and out.
Prefabricated brick and stone structures built to resemble office buildings and apartment houses are everywhere, and if you're ever in the market for an art deco fix, this is the place.
Some of the more interesting touches are some of the most inconspicuous.
The chair backs surrounding the gaming tables, for instance, are designed to look like black tuxedo jackets. The bronze door handles at each entry point are shaped like Lady Liberty's torch.
Big-screen televisions throughout the property show motion picture clips with a New York theme or location. A canopy built to resemble a subway car, replete with handholds and period advertising placards, covers one of the slot stations.
A circular light post extending through a canopy over the Empire Bar comes to a needle point and has neon-trimmed attachments jutting out from the top to form an abstract Empire State Building.
The limousines are painted to look like Yellow cabs, as are the bumper cars in the arcade.
Most New Yorkers would recognize the New York-New York version of Times Square by the exploding neon signs, but would surely note the absence of prostitutes, drug dealers, panhandlers and adult-oriented businesses.
Beneath the signs is the Bar at Times Square, whose calling card is the now standard dueling pianos.
Kitty-corner from the bar is The Motown Cafe, which would be a natural for Detroit-Detroit, but here seems incongruous. A Motown Cafe employee explained that the concept failed in the Motor City under another name, but succeeded in New York.
He thinks it will work here because of the enduring popularity of the artists.
"I was conceived to this music," he said.
With its myriad display cases of Motown memorabilia, the facility is along the lines of Planet Hollywood, All Star Cafe and Country Star. But it will go them one better with its own musical group, the Motown Moments, who will perform live on The Motown Cafe stage.
Also notable here is the Marvin Gaye memorial on the second floor. It is a room ringed with photos of the late singer and packed with tables and chairs for dining.
Next to the Motown Cafe is a replication of a New York City neighborhood, with cobblestone streets and building facades containing retail outlets and eating establishments on the ground floor.
"We wanted to lay it out in a way where you could get lost inside of it and at the same time know where to go," project designer Sacha Schwarzkopf said.
The neighborhood is an amalgam of Greenwich Village, Little Italy and Soho, and conspicuous by its detail: fire escapes and window boxes attached to the buildings, street signs, graffiti-covered newspaper stands and mailboxes, "for rent" signs and the backs of television sets in windows, hidden courtyards with period advertisements fading on the walls, and facades of stone, brick, plaster and cast-iron.
Schwarzkopf said he wasn't trying to create a specific time period, but was attempting to mix the old with the new, the dilapidated with the maintained.
"In New York, you can have an 1880 building with a 1990 interior," he said.
It is within the confines of these streets where New York-New York's street performers work. Musicians, a sleight-of-hand magician and roving newspaper boys all ply their trade here.
As independent contractors with the hotel, they were the only employees who would -- or could -- speak with the press.
"I'm not allowed to talk to the press," said one man, unloading glasses. "Sorry."
That left only Marty Moore, vice president of marketing, to answer the question if New York-New York's employees had been told to speak with New York accents.
He gave a smile and a denial.
"We just ask the employees to be friendly, to enjoy their jobs and enjoy the guests."
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