Nightclub owner sees racism behind locked gate

Nightclubs in Vegas usually avoid politics, but on a recent early Saturday morning I observed one of the rarest sights you’ll ever see at a Strip property. I was at the Caesars Forum Shops, one of the most trafficked malls in the world, to view a protest.

As private property, most any protest there would usually result in arrests for trespassing. But this protest was different: The protesters were customers and employees of the popular nightclub Poetry, which brings a lot of business to the Forum Shops. No one was arrested; casino security observed from a respectful distance.

In an e-mail and conversations before the event, organizers and participants had referred to this as a “silent protest.” But by the time the march took place, the term had morphed, to quote Poetry nightclub owner Michael Goodwin, into a “silent observance.”

Poetry, located above Wolfgang Puck’s Chinois, has been involved in a tenant-landlord dispute with Caesars and the landlord of Forum Shops, Simon Property, and is in court with both (the next hearing is set for Thursday). Because of the pending litigation, Simon Property declined to comment for this article. Caesars did not respond to a request for comment.

At the center of the dispute is the closing of the main interior entry from Caesars to the Forum Shops at 1 a.m. At that time Poetry is the only business still open in the Forum Shops. So, to access the nightclub after the gate closes, patrons must go outside the resort to walk from the casino to the club. The result is that spiffily dressed clubgoers must walk through a service entrance past doors labeled for emergency use, then outdoors past piles of trash to get to the high-end-marketed nightclub.

For locals the geography is not too challenging, but according to Goodwin, this obtuse entry process has proved too much for many tourists who can’t find a way into the club. “This used to be a peak hour, but now our business goes down at 1 a.m. Tourists see a sign that says the Forum Shops will open tomorrow, and it does not even say how to access Poetry.”

And Goodwin says he has no doubt what the motivation is behind the closing of the gate: racism. Poetry has a large number of African American patrons, and Goodwin believes race is the reason behind this gate being closed. Hence the non-protest protest as described by Goodwin: “We are not calling it a protest. We are calling this an observation of racism in action. The fact of the matter is that we feel the harassment we take and the treatment we get here is based on us being embraced largely by a black clientele. Why did they close the door that is our main entrance after four years at business?”

Local radio personality Mike P. from station Power 88 agrees. “They put a huge wall up to prevent African American people and people who like hip-hop from coming to Poetry,” he said, while waiting for the gate to shut. “Instead of walking through a nice air-conditioned casino, we have to walk through a dirty back alley. Why is there a wall here? Why are minority people forced in through a back alley in 2008?”

So at about 12:45 a.m., about 100 club employees and patrons, many holding drinks, all well-dressed, marched past the various boutique stores and other designer offerings to the casino entrance. The racially diverse crowd waited quietly for the gate to close; a few feet away, customers were feeding banks of slots on Caesars’ gaming floor. As the gate closed at 1, some of the protesters booed. One woman yelled out, “Where is Barack Obama when you need him?”

Then everyone walked back to the club, past the emergency door, through the service hallway, past the open trash, into another service hallway and finally back into Poetry to resume dancing and drinking and hopefully catch a glimpse of the night’s porn-star hostess (who did not take part in the observance).

Maybe protesting isn’t what Vegas clubgoers will ever be known for, but sometimes, as the Beastie Boys once said, “You’ve got to fight for your right to party.”

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Liberace as literary muse

What is the difference between a great writer and a regular person? Perhaps it is thinking of Spinoza and imagining fiction in even the most banal Vegas experience: a visit to the Liberace museum.

Joyce Carol Oates recently gave her first Las Vegas reading, which attracted about 400 people on a Saturday night to the University of Nevada Las Vegas’ student union building. Before reading a story centered on Emily Dickinson, Oates told the audience her reaction to earlier in the day becoming one of the countless tourists to visit the Liberace museum:

“It was so interesting, and I could imagine a person writing a story about it. When you first come in it is so campy and extravagant and fantastic. And then, as you really look into it -- there is a guide who talks about the life, particularly the end of the life of Liberace -- it suddenly takes a turn and becomes very poignant.

“It becomes almost an emblem of the human spirit with a focus on Liberace’s great courage and chutzpah. As Spinoza said, ‘We yearn to persist in our being,’ and almost to the very day he was dying of AIDS, he was still performing and still himself. And I think any of us who are writers or artists or human beings can find a resonance in that.”

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