"Who knew standing still could be so exhausting?" I remember thinking at Pure around 2 AM on Wednesday morning. I was in the DJ booth with Hollywood and Vice watching them work the computers and turntables and the crowd. Nearby was basketball player LeBron James dancing up a storm to the delight of the crowd and, seemingly, himself. At some point, DJ Hollywood announced the arrival of Floyd Mayweather Jr., and earlier there had been a quick performance by rapper Too $hort.

 

Nightclubs have so transformed the Strip over the past few years that I forget what a baby business they are in Las Vegas. Pure, which is already an institution in Vegas, only opened on New Year's Eve 2004. The club's main competitor, Tao, came later. If fact, in a sort of belated fashion, on Tuesday, for the first time, Las Vegas actually got a legal definition and a few regulations on the books, specifically aimed at nightclubs on the Strip (as opposed to taverns, supper clubs, and banquet halls, etc). Clark County Commissioner, Chris Giunchigliani tells Review-Journal, "We never had a definition for nightclub. Now, we'll have one in connection with the resort corridor." And, so in essence, I was at Pure experiencing the first night in the official existence of the nightclub scene on the Strip. Perhaps, no one else knew the night was a birthday party, but no one else packed into Pure seemed to need an excuse to party.
(photo courtesy of Pure)