What’s New In… Las Vegas

Experience the ever-changing landscape of Las Vegas. Learn about the newly opened Fontainebleau Hotel, the Horseshoe, the stunning Sphere arena and a lot more!

I’ve taken a spin around the High Roller, the world’s second largest observation wheel (Ain Dubai in the UAE is the largest), more than once in the past year and each time it feels like I’m looking at a different Las Vegas.

The tower that sat vacant at the north end of the Strip for more than 15 years, for example, is now the super luxe Fontainebleau Hotel, while budget-friendly Bally’s got a refresh and the sign atop it now reads the Horseshoe. Then there’s that giant orb sitting on the east side of the Venetian which broke ground in 2018 and at last opened to the public in September of 2023 as the 18,600-seat, LED light-lit arena the Sphere.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Legendary Strip fixture the Tropicana permanently closed its doors in April to (allegedly) pave way for a new ballpark in the heart of the city. The Mirage was snatched up by Hard Rock International and will transition in a few years time to a Hard Rock Hotel complete with a guitar-shaped tower. Plus, neighborhoods like Fremont East and the Gateway District are emerging as LGBTQ-friendly hangouts boasting the likes of a new gay hotel and new gay nightclub respectively. Sometimes it seems the only constant in Las Vegas are my losses at the craps table.

High Roller and Sphere in Las Vegas (Photo by Suzyanne16)

Not that I’m complaining. The perpetual ribbon cutting on new hotels, bars, nightclubs, restaurants, and attractions, plus an everchanging roster of live entertainment, is why Vegasphiles like myself keep coming back again and again. If you haven’t visited Vegas recently, here are ten new and newish places, you’ll most definitely want to keep in mind when planning you next trip.

When I arrive at the airport, I pass a billboard of lifestyle diva Martha Stewart hoisting a half-drunk glass of wine. She is wearing her trademark Mona Lisa smirk and looking slightly flush. I wonder if my own experience at the Bedford (3655 S Las Vegas Blvd, Tel: 702-946-4361. Caesars.com/paris-las-vegas), Stewart’s new Paris Las Vegas restaurant, will replicate her performative giddiness. The Bedford is delightfully tucked away in a nondescript corridor where the cacophonic clang of the slot machine is noticeably absent. An open kitchen reveals a staff keeping furiously busy (as if Stewart herself were watching over them) while the dining room is leafy and serene. The endive stalks on the salad I order are splayed in meticulous petal fashion and dusted with little bits of gorgonzola for texture and flavor. The meat on the half chicken, meanwhile, is so tender I relax the iron grip on my knife and fork. There’s also a single parker roll, light and airy like a savory puff of cotton candy. A meal at the Bedford isn’t cheap, but then again neither is Stewart’s copper cookware collection. Besides, the point of the Bedford is to make its well-heeled guests feel like they’re being whipped up a casual country feast by Stewart at her country home in Upstate New York.

“Do I sign here to promise I won’t get into any trouble,” I ask the check-in agent while filling out the hotel paperwork. “Actually, we hope that you will get into trouble,” he says with a wink. I’m at the Bent Inn & Pub (1100 E Ogden Ave, Tel: 725-305-9458. bentinn.com) the new LGBTQ+ “straight-friendly” hotel that opened in January 2024 and is the latest project from industry stalwarts Mark Hunter and Greg Kafka. At Bent Inn, guests enter through the 24/7 bar which is often bustling with locals and boasts a full kitchen. Beyond the bar is a large pool and hot tub surrounded by guestrooms that either spill onto the pool or have patios or balconies. Plus, each room boasts modern amenities and cheeky queer touches as in pulp fiction wallpaper featuring titles like “The Devil is Gay,” and “Satan was a Lesbian.” The location is in locally loved Fremont East and near uber-hip hangout Fergusons. Clothing isn’t optional at Bent Inn, but that doesn’t stop me from asking the bartender about an au natural hot tub soak. “If your shorts slip off while you’re submerged in water…” he says winking once again. In pool season, I see myself here daily.

“You are quite tall; where are you from” asks Aura, the robot who picks me out of a crowd of around two dozen people. I tell her Los Angeles and then comes a joke: “Did you drive or fly here?” I flew. “Your arms must be quite tired,” she says with her hands clasped around her belly perhaps to keep her circuitry from falling out. The future is here and it’s all part of The Sphere Experience at Sphere (255 Sands Ave, Tel: 725-258-6724. thespherevegas.com), a custom-built stadium boasting an exterior consisting of 580,000 square feet of shape-shifting LED displays. (One minute it’s a giant eyeball, the next a thousand bouncing basketballs, then a lava lamp, etc.) Also part of The Sphere Experience, which allows Vegas visitors inside the stadium when concerts aren’t happening, is a 45-minute queue for an avatar scan which prompts a downloadable 3D video of your avatar self. But the biggest draw is Darren Aronofsky’s “Postcards from Earth,” which happens inside the stadium and offers a glorified IMAX movie that dazzles as it takes visitors to every corner of the earth and to a fictional world as well. Tickets start at $79 per person, so save some dough by having cheap Mediterranean afterward at nearby Miznon.

As I wash my hands inside one of the men’s bathrooms at 63 Las Vegas, a new shopping complex located next to the Cosmopolitan, I hear birds chirping. Can this be right? It is indeed. That’s because I’m at two-story ARTE MUSEUM LAS VEGAS (3716 S Las Vegas Blvd, Tel: 702-725-7200. lasvegas.artemuseum.com), a fully immersive venue where visitors encounter a series of installations that intertwine art and nature for the digital age. “Forest,” for example, offers mystical creatures and a pumped in fragrance (for sale in the gift shop) designed to stimulate the senses, while colorful “Flower” offers an infinity of falling petals and a piano player.

Jungle Glow (Photo by Arte Museum)

“Live Sketchbook,” meanwhile, offers visitors the chance to use crayons to color their own animal, which is then digitally inserted into an ever-evolving jungle panorama. I color an elephant in queer rainbow colors and watch in astonishment as he walks amongst the animal assemblage on the wall blinking and flapping his ears. But the pièce de résistance is “The Garden,” a 35-minute loop that twice stirs my soul thanks to a razzle dazzle Vegas tribute and a kaleidoscopic hat tip to the Impressionists.

People come to Vegas in search of both money and a money shot (as in amazing Strip views) and the terrace at new steak and seafood restaurant Ocean Prime (3716 S Las Vegas Blvd, Tel: 702-529-4770. ocean-prime.com) at 63 Las Vegas happens to have one. Unfortunately, a gusty windstorm keeps me inside, but the interior is its own work of art. The banquettes at Ocean Prime are spread across the chic dining room like the teacup ride at Disney, each one a beautiful crescent-shaped booth draped in rich caramel fabric. As I remove my hat per the restaurant’s dress code, a grateful GM says, “We had a no-ballcap policy at the Beverly Hills location until Leo walked in wearing one.”

Ocean Prime Las Vegas, Prime Cheeseburger (Photo by Juliana Bigler)

I start the night with Berries & Bubbles, a combination of Belvedere vodka, Gran Marnier, berries and dry ice—an overflowing witch’s cauldron in a martini glass. “It’s okay to drink it,” my server says sensing my reluctance. The Point Judith calamari appetizer offers a collection of chewy rings that taste slightly sweet when paired with the tangy dipping sauce. Then there’s the blackened snapper, a beautiful piece of fish resting over a bed of leafy Swiss chard and corn emulsion. Ocean Prime is a romantic winner and a dining room full of canoodling couples proves it.

Through the spread legs of a cowboy clad only in a holster and a “willy warmer,” I see the priceless look on the face of an aghast audience member, her hands cupped steeple fashion around her mouth to conceal total embarrassment. Above her, “The Mayor” in the circus show Atomic Saloon is artfully swinging a yo-yo around his private parts while wiggling his booty in her face. The audience is going nuts (pun definitely intended) for it. Welcome to theater troupe Spiegelworld’s skin-baring salute to the Wild West featuring pole-straddling studs, hilarious whores, and ping-pong pooping nuns. Atomic Saloon is one of several raunchy shows around town bearing the Spiegelworld name (Absinthe being the most famous), and I’m here because I’m champing at the bit for the troupe’s highly hyped summer 2024 opening of DiscoShow (3535 S Las Vegas Blvd. spiegelworld.com) and adjacent restaurant Diner Ross. Both promise a polyester-clad throwback to NYC in the ‘70s when nightlife was at its gayest and most fun. I can’t wait.

Jaymes Mansfield at Queen Las Vegas Brunch

“Welcome to dining in the dark,” exclaims ample-chested host Fantasia. “At a drag show, shit happens.” I’m at Queen (1215 S Las Vegas Blvd, Tel: 702-982-8259. queenlv.com), a concrete cabaret and nightclub tucked inside the Thunderbird Hotel featuring drag shows, go-go studs, and clubland vibes. It’s the newest addition to the city’s LGBTQ nightlife scene.

A windstorm has just knocked out power in the city’s Gateway District where the bar is located, but this is drag brunch and the show must go on. “Alright, bitches,” she says to the packed house, “raise your glasses and on the count of three yell Yes Queen!” One by one the chiseled bar staff loses their shirts and to a choreographed snap of fans the first queen struts across the dining room to Selena’s “Cumbia Medley.” Thanks to the power outage each queen is working extra hard and all us brunch diners know we’ve stumbled onto a special afternoon. One Queen leaps from a banquette and into splits to Christina Aguilera’s “Your Body,” and just when I think she can’t be bested another performer does the same, but adds cartwheels and somersaults. Host Fantasia closes out the afternoon with “Murder on the Dance Floor,” an appropriate number considering how hard these queens killed it today. She reminds the room, “What happens in Vegas stays in my tits.”

At Fontainebleau Las Vegas (2777 S Las Vegas Blvd, Tel: 833-702-7272. fontainebleaulasvegas.com) I expect to hear the Etta James song “At Last” pouring through the loudspeakers and onto the casino floor. That’s because this Vegas newcomer on the Strip’s north end is longtime in the making. Originally constructed in 2008 and sitting vacant ever since, the Fontainebleau finally swung open its doors December 2023 offering a treasure trove of luxury offerings and chic clientele to match.

I stake my ground at swanky upstairs lounge Nowhere and am glad I do because I stumble upon an upbeat Saturday banger featuring throngs of preppy boys in navy blazers and collared shirts hunkered around a pool table (one is playing his pool stick like it’s a cello), and a nattily dressed group of older women struggling to keep their tipples confined to their martini glasses while swaying to the swing band. Marked by cream-colored columns, plush furnishings, fresh-cut flowers, and foamy cocktails, my friend, a Vegas local, proclaims Nowhere his new favorite lounge. Just then, two drunken dudes stumble out of the toilet and toward us. “We just had anal sex in there,” one says jokingly. I may have found my new favorite bar as well.

I’m obsessed with the servers at Scotch 80 Prime (4321 W Flamingo Rd. Tel: 866-942-7780. palms.com) at off-Strip Palms Casino Resort. Clad in purple velvet smoking jackets, I wonder if their haberdashery is a nod to the resort’s long-gone Playboy suite. Actually, the ubiquitous retro vibes and name itself are a nod to the Vegas neighborhood Scotch 80 where Howard Hughes once lived and where homes today are still highly sought after.

Scotch 80 Prime Seafood Tower

The Palms is owned by the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, making it the first tribe to own and operate a casino resort in Las Vegas. I go steakhouse classic tonight starting with a bivalve matchup of East vs West Coast oysters on the half shell. A wedge salad, meanwhile, offers a softball-sized hunk of iceberg lettuce topped with thick cuts of lardon, smoked ranch, egg mimosa, and blue cheese. Then there’s the Wagyu burger done medium rare and featuring two layers of cheddar on a bun—toasted to hold it all together (according to Chef Marty). The fellas next to me seem to know their way around a wine menu. I can’t decide if they’re queer, and wonder if gaydar diminishes over time. Just then, the sticky toffee pudding for dessert (the restaurant’s twist on a Gordon Ramsay dessert classic) arrives and it’s mind-blowing. No wonder the entire staff nudged me toward it.

A few years ago, I sidled up to a guy in the hot tub at Qua Spa at Caesars Palace (3570 S Las Vegas Blvd, Tel: 866-227-5939. caesars.com/caesars-palace/hotel). After a few minutes of conversation and a little bit of “below-the-bubbles” heavy petting he treated me to cocktails and Strip views at SkyBar at the Waldorf Astoria. If I ever bump into him again, I’m returning the favor by taking him back to one of the newly renovated guestrooms at the Coliseum Tower for bedroom tomfoolery. Caesars has been a Strip fixture since 1966, and as of November 2023 boasts 400 splashy new redesigned rooms featuring Roman-style chaise lounges, glass-enclosed showers, Striato marble flooring in the bathrooms, and newly upholstered beds. Plus, the Coliseum Tower elevators open right onto Dominique Ansel, the irresistible NYC pastry shop famous for inventing the cronut.

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