Sam Nazarian’s new Hollywood club has a Strip connection
The north end of the Strip is something of a magnet for Sam Nazarian.
The nightlife official’s SBE Entertainment group, which briefly rebranded the Sahara as SLS Las Vegas nearly a decade ago, is now partnering with Resorts World and Zouk Group. The result is Zouk LA, taking over SBE’s choice Nightingale space in West Hollywood in the spring of 2024.
The club will be operated by the same team that runs Zouk Nightclub at Resorts World. Expect such high-caliber nightlife superstars as Zedd, Jack Harlow, Deadmau5, DJ Snake, Kaskade and RL Grime to toggle between the Strip and West Hollywood.
Since his efforts to restart Sahara under its new name, Nazarian has turned his focus on restaurants and nightclubs worldwide. In 2020, the 48-year-old hospitality magnate sold his stake in SBE’s hotel division to Accor Hotels.
Nazarian found a winning opportunity with Zouk Group, which in Las Vegas operates the explosive Zouk Nightclub at Resorts World.
The SBE-Zouk partnership places Nazarian in a new business relationship on the Strip, with the nightclub giant out of Singapore and also hotel Resorts World operator Genting Group.
“We’ve always been looking for great, strategic partners to grow our food and beverage business, and up to 2020 we’ve only put my restaurants close to my hotels,” Nazarian said in a recent online interview. “But since I sold to Accor, we’ve been looking for partners to add to our product service, culinary talent and entertainment. Zouk Group, as a whole, is a great strategic partner for us.”
The new L.A. club is being redesigned by a former SBE in-house designer, Christian Schulz, of the boutique design agency. Studio Collective. The 16,500-square-foot space “will evoke frivolity, decadence, and an innate feeling of novelty associated with modernity and breaking with tradition,” from an SBE description.
The company says the nightspot will reflect the Vegas club’s attention to glamour and luxury.
SBE operates out of L.A., Miami and New York. The company Nazarian founded in 2002 still has a strong presence in Las Vegas, operating Hyde Lounge at the top of T-Mobile Arena; S Bar, Kumi Japanese Restaurant and Bar and Citizens Kitchen + Bar at Mandalay Bay.
The path along the Strip has not always been smooth for Nazarian, whose company along with Stockbridge Capital Group bought the Sahara in 2007. The property was shut down four years later for a widespread overhaul and rebranding as SLS Las Vegas.
The resort reopened in August 2014 (with Iggy Izalea and Lenny Kravitz headlining the VIP party). But Stockbridge announced the following December that Nazarian would not be part of day-to-day operations. The change was made after state gaming regulators had become concerned with incidents in Nazarian’s past.
But given how much time has passed, and SBE’s global reach, those events seem radar blips in Nazarian’s current business empire. Ever confident, Nazarian was asked to put that period of his life in context, and what was his takeaway from the Sahara-SLS Las Vegas experience.
“I think that it was a great experience. I was very proud to be able to take a project like the old Sahara, and be one of the first projects to open after the recession,” Nazarian said. “I am very proud of what we built there … For me, I will always try to disrupt the lifestyle sector, and I think it’s pretty safe to say we did do that with SLS. It was a great milestone, and we’re off doing great stuff now, too.”
What Works in Vegas
Two-time “America’s Got Talent” champ Shin Lim and his featured guest, mentalist Colin Cloud, at Mirage Theater.
The magic duo continues robust sales at Mirage Theater. I caught the show Thursday night. You get why Lim won an international contest show — twice — even without giant effects. A piano, a chair, and a table draped in felt for card tricks is about all the adept illusionist requires. And Cloud, a classic showman, is strong enough to front his own show. Did I just put a thought out there?
Cool Hang Alert
Phil Stendek is an original artist who has amassed a two-decade career in the same spot on the Strip. The loop master marks his 20th anniversary on Saturday night at the House of Blues Restaurant at Mandalay Bay.
Stendek’s performances are similar to the methods that have made Ed Sheeran a superstar. Stendek performs a one-man show in which he records riffs and beats with a loop station, playing the tracks in repetition to create a full-band sound. His act has at once evolved while scaling back.
“When I first started playing there, I did a thing where I played with live drums, and I brought in a metric ton of equipment,” Stendeck says. “Then I started to figure out, over time, that to entertain in Las Vegas you have to be a little less loud.”
Toting his magic loop machine, Stendek was originally a novelty, but the craft is far more commonplace today than it was in 2003. Nonetheless, the artist who moved in from St. Louis carved a niche with his singularly entertaining production, mixing covers and originals. “It’s me, kind of rocking out the crowd while they’re eating.” A dinner and a show, right? Catch Stendek from 8 p.m.-11 p.m. Saturdays, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Sundays. No cover. We recommend the beat-salad.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
