Las Vegas Weekly

July 19, 2010 · 5:09 PM

Kristi Holden: ‘Las Vegas has always been here waiting for me’

By Robin Leach

Kristi Holden.

Photo: Isaac Brekken

From July 14 through Aug. 4, Robin Leach will be relaxing under the Tuscan sun on his annual vacation and will keep his eyes on what’s happening in Las Vegas from Italy. Meantime, a kindly crew of Las Vegas celebrities and VIPs has agreed to write guest columns for Vegas DeLuxe.

By Kristi Holden, guest columnist

“When we grow up, let’s move to Las Vegas and be strippers!” said a young playmate of mine out of the blue. “Odd,” I thought, and then, “Well, that is the last thing I want to do! Be naked in front of people?” Growing up in a small Colorado mountain town, Las Vegas seemed scary and otherworldly. Though I had never been to the “city of sin,” I somehow knew all about it at a very young age. Las Vegas, after all, is perhaps the most infamous city on the planet!

Las Vegas reminds me of a line in The Godfather, Part III: “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.” I have traveled here at various times before becoming part of the Phantom -- the Las Vegas Spectacular family at The Venetian. Each time I visited, I was a different person, growing and learning. Even though I never wanted to stay and was always ready to get out, this city has always been in my peripheral vision just waiting for our destinies to coincide.

I studied dance in my youth. After one summer of dance camp, I was invited by a guest instructor to travel to Las Vegas the next summer to take classes and participate in the Tremaine Dance competition. My reluctant mother allowed me this opportunity, as she was assured that I was with a safe and wonderful host family. I remember how hot it was but always looked forward to the sweaty walk with my new “sister” to 7-Eleven for a Slurpee. “What do you mean it’s over 110 degrees today?!”

Photo: Isaac Brekken

Anthony Crivello as The Phantom and Kristi Holden as Christine.

I just couldn’t imagine how anything survived here. When walking through the hotels between dance workshops, the casinos were drenched in smoke, yet the glittery lights and the sound of coins clanging down the slot machine mesmerized me, knowing there was this invisible line I could not cross to join the city of ultimate pleasure. I remember driving down The Strip with my host family feeling small and intimidated by the overwhelming nightlife, and the ominous gold lion was the only resident on the vacant MGM Grand construction site. It was a fun and interesting summer, and one that I’ll never forget.

As a teenager, I was trying to decide where to go to college. My devoted mother drove me to Las Vegas to investigate UNLV’s College of Fine Arts program, and on our way, we stopped in beautiful Zion National Park to camp overnight. After leaving the cooler climate of Zion, we could feel it getting hotter and hotter as we drove closer and closer, the A/C blowing at its limit. After the university tour, I seriously considered attending UNLV. However, I was indecisive about how I wanted to start my life as a young adult and declined the invitation to attend. Truthfully, despite the promise of cheap casino buffets, the thought of living in the hot city of sin was not appetizing.

Years later, my husband and I moved to L.A. On several occasions, we drove through Las Vegas to and from Colorado visiting our families, always enjoying the evening view coming and going, as it’s always spectacular and enticing! Year after year while passing through on I-15, we’d see new casinos and jumbo screens luring drivers to stop, let go of all their cares and have fun.

As my life was moving forward and evolving, so was Las Vegas, visibly so. We usually needed to stop off The Strip for gas, but we’d always scramble to remember what exit was the “safe” one for a quick fill-up. Somehow we’d usually end up near a strip club, and I’d remember with an uncomfortable curiosity my young playmate’s idea of our future career. Then we’d hop back on I-15 and leave Las Vegas and its pleasures behind.

Phantom -- The Las Vegas Spectacular just celebrated its fourth anniversary, and I am moving into my fourth year of living in the city I never thought I’d call home. When I first arrived as a new member of Phantom, a girlfriend said, “You know you’re a local when you call Desert Inn ‘D.I.’ ” Well, I guess that I’m officially a local, and all my previous misconceptions are gone. I love Jubilee!, Peepshow and the various Strip shows and have friends in them wearing … well, almost nothing. I don’t worry about what exit is safe.

It does get hot here, but it also has dreamy cool weather. It’s more than just a desert climate, and I love the afternoon scenery of the Red Rock Mountains from my neighborhood. I can now cross that imaginary line on the casino floor and love playing the penny slots. Despite my previous decision to not attend, I’m now a board member of UNLV’s College of Fine Arts. Yes, I work in Sin City! However, what happened to all the cheap buffets? Over the years, Las Vegas has evolved, grown, accepted new slogans, er, “ideas,” and so have I.

Life is full of transitions, and like the ever-constant changing skyline of The Strip, life’s skyline is always being broken down and built back up. Hotel casinos being torn down and new ones hugged by towering cranes have marked my progress in this life, and I realize that Las Vegas has always been here waiting for me despite my initial aversion. When I started Phantom in 2007, The Strip skyline was marked by crane after crane. When I drive by MGM Grand now, I think about that empty lot with the lonely lion when I was so young and full of indifference for this city I’ve come to love. I took Las Vegas for granted, but I now realize everything it has given me, and I am grateful.

Photo: Don Chareunsy

David Walrod, Kristi Holden, Deven May and Shawna Laing at Singing Outside the Lines in Clark County Flamingo Library Theater on May 2, 2010.

Last year, my husband and I took a trip to Mount Zion, and I thought about the journey to UNLV with my mother when I was becoming a young adult. I have come full circle. Maybe I never chose Las Vegas, but it has chosen me. So while I’m here, I’m going to enjoy every minute. It really is an amazing city! I guess I’m also a little less prude now. So what if I show some skin (wink, wink)?

Kristi Holden portrays Christine in Phantom -- the Las Vegas Spectacular at The Venetian. Tomorrow’s guests columnists are comedians Grandma Lee and Louis Anderson.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter at Twitter.com/vegasdeluxe.

Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

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