The whole thing started a few weeks ago when the Gaming Control Board announced the massive fine against the hotel for, they say, not properly supervising the goings on at the clubs, which are both owned by the Miami based Opium Group.

Maybe that company’s name should’ve been a tip off of what was to come. But I digress.

The infractions cited by the GCB included everything from underage drinking to “lewd and lascivious” behavior. Calls to the police and emergency services jumped significantly after the club opened.

After seeing what the GCB came up with, the county board that oversees liquor licenses began looking for a shredder in which to put those for Prive and The Living Room.

The clubs will close this week but may reopen after representatives from the hotel and the nightclubs have a chance to plead their case.

There are several things worth mentioning about this story. First is that just because Planet Hollywood got nailed for what was going on at Prive doesn’t mean that it was the only club at which this was happening. I’ve been to most of the big nightclubs in town and on almost every occasion I saw stuff going on that shocked me, and I worked in nightclubs in Los Angeles for more than a decade. I’m certainly not excusing anything that happened at Prive, but this was not an isolated occurrence.

Second, you have to give Planet Hollywood credit for taking their punishment quickly and quietly. They didn’t try to fight the ruling, they just paid the fine and immediately got to work on trying to fix things.

Lastly, I will say that it’s a little too bad. Prive was one of the few Las Vegas hot spots that I could actually stand going into for any extended period of time. It was a much more laid back experience that most clubs – more of a party vibe than a competition to see who is dressed the best or can spend the most money at the bar. Hopefully this will all get straightened out soon and Prive can start partying again (only this time with people over 21 who keep their clothes on).

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The building of the dam was a big deal, one of the largest construction projects in history at the time and when it was complete it was the tallest concrete structure in the world. This big deal garnered a lot of attention from dignitaries, government officials, and celebrities alike, all of whom wanted to come to Boulder City to see what was going on in nearby Black Canyon.

To house those VIPs, the company built the Boulder Dam Hotel, which opened to guests in 1933 and went on to host everyone from Bette Davis to Boris Karloff.

But a colorful history does not make a building immune from modern realities, especially when those realities involve a major recession that is sending multi-billion dollar hotels on The Strip into bankruptcy, much less small hotels 25 miles away.

The owners of the hotel fell behind in their mortgage payments recently and the hotel was forced to shut its doors after 76 years in business.

But the closure was brief. An anonymous donor ponied up over a quarter of a million dollars and after being shut down for 11 days, the Boulder Dam reopened its doors last week.

The owners say that the donation will allow them to keep things going for at least 18 months, which they hope will see them through to better times.

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