Las Vegas Weekly

October 6, 2008 · 3:25 PM

As world’s only Playboy Club (for now) turns 2, Hefner extols ‘cleavage central’

By Robin Leach

Photo: TVT

Hugh Hefner ushers in the Playboy Club at the Palms in 2006. Daughter Christie Hefner is second from right.

It was exactly two years ago tonight (Monday) that playboys Hugh Hefner and George Maloof opened the first new Playboy club -- and glamour, glitz and gorgeous girls were back in vogue! Fifteen years earlier, the final remaining nightspot of the one-time huge empire shuttered its doors. The 52nd-floor Vegas Playboy Club -- almost at the top of the Palms Fantasy Tower -- has reigned solo for the past 24 months, but if financial markets ease there should be a companion club in Macau next year!

Photo: TVT

Bunnies aplenty!

Hugh Hefner, the proud publisher of Playboy magazine has been a regular visitor here -- often with his three-pack of galpals and Girls Next Door stars Holly Madison, Kendra Wilkinson and Bridget Marquardt. Celebrities from both Hollywood and New York have also flocked to “cleavage central in the clouds.” European designer Roberto Cavalli made over the traditional Bunny tuxedo and cottontail costume. Philippe Starck created the crystal chandeliers to match the never-ending parade of pulchritude on the 60 centerfold and cover pictorial plasma screens.

Photo: TVT

George Maloof, Hugh Hefner and Michael Morton.

“It has been a fabulous success story,” said George Maloof. “The rabbit logo has to be the most recognizable of any in the world, which is why we have ours 30 feet high, lit up on the 24th and 25th floors, so it can be seen from the Strip, the I-15 and up to a mile away! We resurrected the brand for the 21st Century and thanks to Hef and the Girls Next Door TV show a whole new generation has become fascinated with the Playboy image. Its also the first time that gaming and lounging have been integrated.”

Photo: TVT

Hugh Hefner and the crew from The Girls Next Door.

Hefner told me: “It’s magic, it’s wonderful. The bunnies came back and the legend was re-born. I’ve had a lot of adventures in my life, but this truly is the cherry on top of the cake! A dream came true when we recreated the classic cachet in the perfect town with the perfect partners for the next generation.

Photo: Denise Truscello/WireImage

Jenny McCarthy.

“Our major clubs closed in the early 1980s. We closed Las Angeles, Chicago, and New York about the same time. I think that having operated very successfully for a quarter of a century, I think it had run its course. The club scene had changed and I think that in that time frame the bunnies seemed rather old-fashioned. Now, fast-forward to now and things that seemed passé or out of date then have a retro cache all over again that is remarkably appealing. The Palms Playboy Club is a combination of both retro and contemporary.

Photo: Denise Truscello/WireImage

Jenny McCarthy and her bunny brethren.

“When we did the first Playboy club in 1960, I was very influenced by Casablanca with Humphrey Bogart. I wanted to do a variation of Rick’s Café America. I wanted to do a bar that I could hang out in with my friends, but it became so hugely popular that very quickly we let people open licensed clubs in Miami and New Orleans and then we went on to open clubs ourselves in New York and LA, In 1963 we opened the first casino in London and it became the most successful casino in all of London. So for the ’60s and much of the seventies, the club was very popular.

“With Playboy Vegas we recaptured some of that sizzle, but in more of an upscale way. We became the first gaming operation in Las Vegas that has a door charge, but unlike the original clubs this is not a membership operation. One of the most fascinating parts of it is the Hugh Hefner sky villa, a two-story suite, a variation of the Playboy pad that we used to promote in the magazine in the 60’s and 70’s. It is the ultimate high-roller suite in the world: two-stories, it includes an elevator, it includes a pool that juts out on the side of the building, and it is very contemporary. It reminds me very much of the first Playboy apartment pads that we used to promote in the magazine in the 50’s and 60’s. It even has a round bed just like the original round bed in the Chicago mansion - rotating and vibrating. The villa also has a sauna steam and massage room so it is very, very special.

Photo: N9NE Group

Kid Rock, George Maloof and Holly Madison

“We are very happy with the girls we found as dealers and servers to represent Playboy Vegas. Today’s bunny is simply a variation on the theme: the bunnies from the very beginning were very much like the centerfolds for the playmates of the month, which is a girl next door wholesomeness, beautiful in face and figure, but also with personality, very outgoing, which is very important for the bunnies themselves because they will be representing the club and the brand.

“The marriage of Playboy, Vegas and the Palms is an obvious fit. Las Vegas itself has gone through variations over the years. Back in the ’60s when the Playboy clubs were very popular we didn’t go to Las Vegas because we couldn’t. Our casino operations in London did not permit the possibility of going into Las Vegas, because in those days Las Vegas was by and large in the hands of the boys. Then Las Vegas went through a kind of family oriented thing, and now going back to a retro sense and referring to themselves as Sin City, and what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. So once again it is rooted in adult entertainment. So we more naturally fit in as the most famous adult brand in the country, in the world. We are the most natural fit and the Palms is the youngest most successful brand in Vegas and makes more money per square foot than any other casino in Vegas.

Photo: Playboy Club

Mavs owner Mark Cuban holds court at the Playboy Club.

“In terms of the extension of the brand, the most remarkable thing that has happened over the past dozen years is its attraction to a female audience. Part of that is reflected in the hugely popular TV show The Girls Next Door on E!, and more than half of the audience is female. We did not anticipate that. We knew we would have the guys, but we weren’t sure about the women. When Sarah Jessica Parker was doing Sex and the City, she was wearing the Playboy necklace around her neck. Vogue, Women’s Wear Daily, and Cosmo and a number of other magazines were featuring Playboy fashions. So what has incredibly happened over the years is that a brand that was thought of as male chauvinism has now been embraced by a whole new generation of post-feminist women, as a sign of their own personal empowerment, and nothing could make me happier than that.”

There’s a delightful historical memento captured on the walls of the Playboy Club, which is operated by the N9NE Group run by Michael Morton. His father, Arnie Morton of the famous steak chain, was Hef’s second in command of the sprawling original Playboy Club empire 50 years ago. A photo of then 10-year-old Michael dancing with one of the original Chicago bunnies hangs on the wall at the Palms proving the long legacy and timeless tradition over half a century!

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