Park MGM’s unique offerings could attract more locals to the Strip

By Brock Radke (contact)

Monday, Jan. 7, 2019 | 2 a.m.

Los Angeles nightclub gurus Jonnie and Mark Houston planned plenty of surprises inside their first Las Vegas venture, On The Record at Park MGM. The illuminated entryway reminds me (a child of the 1980s) of Michael Jackson’s iconic video for “Billie Jean.” There are karaoke rooms, surely a first for a nightclub inside a Strip casino. There’s a hidden speakeasy, the Vinyl Parlour, where guest bartenders prepare cocktails based on their patrons’ musical tastes. The DJ booth in one corner of the main room is built from the front end of a classic Rolls Royce, which is only a warm-up for the vintage double-decker bus on the patio with another DJ booth and a full-service bar built inside.

But the biggest surprise I got from exploring On The Record before it opened on December 28 came in a conversation with the Houstons, twin brothers who have designed and opened some of L.A.’s hottest night spots.

“We are just excited to be able to create something that complements Vegas and we just want to make it a fun environment. And locals are very important to us and we want them to embrace and love this concept,” said Mark Houston. “We’ve been embedding ourselves within the community while trying to find out how we can add this other layer of entertainment, and I know I’ve seen and heard from a lot of locals going to [T-Mobile Arena] and excited about exploring The Park and the other properties that are adjacent.

“We’ve seen this new wave of community coming together on the Strip. Wherever I travel around the world, I always want to know where the locals go. I don’t want to be steered like cattle and told what to do, I want to see where they eat and their favorite local dive bar and find those experiences that are authentic.”

There’s no doubt about it—locals are hanging out on the Strip in huge numbers like never before, thanks to the Vegas Golden Knights and their exciting NHL games at T-Mobile Arena, located between Park MGM and New York-New York. On The Record, one of the newest pieces of the finally complete renovation of Park MGM from the Monte Carlo resort of old, was certainly not created specifically to attract Las Vegans to the Strip.

But the fact that the Houstons and their collaborators at MGM Resorts International are considering locals at all speaks volumes about the state of this area of the Strip. It also sheds interesting light on the overall approach for the renovation.

“I think Park MGM did a great job of embracing locals,” said Jonnie Houston. “A lot of people shy away from the Strip and don’t always feel welcome. If you think about everybody collaborating together, with Eataly and Roy Choi and us, plus NoMad and Bavette’s, there are so many elements that are trying to be local-friendly. I think locals will go there more than any other hotel property on the Strip, and that’s an important thing that attracted us to the whole project.”

Park MGM President and COO Patrick Miller, a native Las Vegan, said the same sense of discovery that occurs within the On The Record club informs the entire experience at the refreshed resort. No matter where you live or how much time you spent at the Monte Carlo, you’ll find something new and different at Park MGM.

But making anything on the Strip more approachable for locals goes beyond building something new and different.

“I was born and raised in Las Vegas and I love this town, and I know the Strip has always been that place where it’s special occasion time, or maybe you go to a show every once in a while,” Miller said. “What we’ve seen is that frequency is increasing. There are certainly a lot of great neighborhood spots now but the Strip is becoming more approachable.

“For Park MGM, we know the Knights have changed our city dramatically and the whole city comes together 40 nights a year and it’s in our front yard slash backyard. We think of T-Mobile as being a part of this. But we also think about date nights, or going to a concert at Park Theater like Lady Gaga or Bruno Mars, or maybe just grabbing dinner. The Strip is the spot for that.”

Eataly, the 40,000-square-foot plaza of all things Italian food, is the most obvious example of a Vegas Strip attraction that might appeal to locals as much as tourists, and Miller calls it the capstone of the property. Strip pedestrians can access Eataly right off Las Vegas Boulevard, including a wine shop, a bakery, a specialty foods marketplace and booths serving gelato, Nutella, cannoli and other sweet treats. And that’s just one side of Eataly.

You can eat there—in lots of different ways—or you can buy food to take home and cook. That’s not unique to Eataly, which has locations all over the world, but it is unique to the Strip. Many observers assumed Eataly Las Vegas would be more dining and less market, but that’s not the case.

The Strip version does have some new features created just for Las Vegas, like the chef’s table area in the main marketplace where a group of guests can sit at a counter and watch their meal being prepared, after they’ve strolled throughout the plaza and selected their own customized menu and ingredients. It’s perfect for bachelor or bachelorette parties. While some Eataly pieces currently stay open until 11 p.m., 24-hour service is in the works.

Hip new restaurants on the Strip have been known to attract curious locals but Eataly is a true attraction.

“We don’t market heavily to locals but we knew this property could exist in that regard,” Miller said. “Eataly really sets that tone. It’s a great venue because of that casual element. It’s not a fine dining experience if you don’t want it to be, and in other markets it really becomes this neighborhood gather spot. I think Eataly can fill that void for Vegas as well. It’s only been a week but we’ve seen a lot of locals come down to experience it and we’re proud of that.”

Roy Choi, another L.A. transplant, is the chef behind Best Friend, an eclectic, mostly Korean restaurant at Park MGM, located in between Eataly and On The Record. The creator of the famous Kogi BBQ food trucks and other popular, casual Southern California restaurants, Choi said last year that he wanted Best Friend to be considered a locals’ spot on the Strip.

“It’s a unique spot specifically on the Strip to have this Korean barbecue joint serving these fun, Southern California classics,” Miller said. “It’s not something you’re going to find somewhere else.”