Las Vegas Weekly

Courtesy of the Artisan, your weekend is served

The lounge inside the Artisan.

A new afterhours that is not in a strip club??? We like! With a soft opening last weekend, the always-hip Artisan Lounge quietly began its afterhours. On Friday and Saturday nights at 2 a.m., house music takes over the boutique hotel’s bar and lounge as guests are surrounded by ornately framed reproductions of artwork from the likes of Renoir, da Vinci and van Gogh. With the goal of keeping the property’s unique charm intact, only small changes will be made, such as the addition of a custom DJ booth designed to match the decor, and minimal lighting.

And now for the best part: If you have one too many of the decently priced drinks, there’s a late-night menu available and a special room rate of $59.99 for partiers. Basically, attendees can party Friday night, check in at 9 a.m. Saturday morning and stay until Sunday at 2 p.m.

Predictably, a few kinks have had to be ironed out from Week 1, such as trying to charge all guys a $20 cover; paying a cover is a foreign concept for nightclub employees. But following some sad faces and a lot of whining, industry employees now get in free with their business cards.

Thus far, resident DJs announced are Josh Abrams, Jeff Retro, Oscar Molina and Dave Onex, but two big, internationally known acts might sign on in the near future (sorry, we’re sworn to secrecy). Till then, guest DJ/producer David Hopper is scheduled for this Friday, and it looks like we might have found a new favorite late-night spot.