Tonight in L.V.: El Cortez’s 75th anniversary, Todd Hoffman at SEMA, Day of the Dead, WSOP
TONIGHT IN L.V.
It’s the 75th diamond anniversary celebration of the downtown El Cortez, and executives and customers celebrate with a 4-hour champagne and cake party. The bash takes place at Club Cortez with entertainment inside The Parlour Bar.
Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky were among the 1945 owners of the El Cortez purchased by Jackie Gaughan in 1963. My Keep Memory Alive friend Kenny Epstein purchased it in 1975 but sold it to IKE Gaming in 2008. Kenny, his family and Mayor Carolyn Goodman will be on hand.
Reality-TV giant Todd Hoffman of Discovery Channel’s “Gold Rush” arrives for the four days of the SEMA auto-parts convention. Todd this season makes a major gamble mining in Oregon, and I’ve learned that things don’t, ahem, pan out well in his bid to dredge 5,000 ounces. Todd last year pulled in more than $3 million in gold.
Halloween has ended, but our friends from Mexico and Central America continue celebrations today with Dia de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, with decorated skulls lit up and more. Day of the Dead is a merger of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, the latter originally celebrated the next day.
Las Vegas poker professional Qui Nguyen is the runaway chip leader with 197,600,000 as we reach the World Series of Poker November Nine Main Event at The Rio. Two other Americans, Cliff Josephy and Gordon Vayo, join the Final Table starting at 5:30 p.m. The winner walks out of The Rio with the $8 million first-place prize and platinum bracelet.
Celine Dion resumes her residency at The Colosseum in Caesars Palace.
The Tony Marques Band plays at The Park in Toshiba Plaza near T-Mobile Arena.
Five members of The Boston Brass play jazz and classics at UNLV Chamber Music Series.
The Front Bottoms, Brand New and Modern Baseball hit it out of the ballpark at The Chelsea in The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
Bishop Briggs, Wind and Wave and Kaleo raise the roof at Brooklyn Bowl in The Linq Promenade.
Carlos Santana, his wife Cindy and tennis ace Andre Agassi launch an educational tablet game program for students at Agassi College Preparatory Academy.
The City of Las Vegas and Downtown Vegas Alliance host guests from downtown Denver, Phoenix and Santa Monica at The D Las Vegas to learn insights and successes to adopt and benefit the future of downtowns.
As Thanksgiving and Black Friday loom, remember that it’s only 55 days until Christmas!
TOMORROW IN L.V.
For the first time, the world’s top bull riders and fiercest bucking bulls put it all on the line at T-Mobile Arena for the 2016 PBR Build Ford Tough World Finals through Sunday. The purse is $2.3 million for 35 athletes competing from Australia, Brazil, Texas and North Carolina.
Joining them are five qualifiers from the last three nights of Blue Def Tour Finals at South Point Arena: Dener Barbosa, Emilio Resende, Neil Holmes, Zane Cook and Juliano da Silver, but not Chase Outlaw, the tour champion and finals event winner Monday night. However, he did win two belt buckles and nearly $80,000 for his efforts.
The rider with the highest score for the six rounds earns the PBR Built Ford Tough World Finals title and $250,000 for first place. CBS Sports will broadcast every round at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 12:30 p.m. Sunday.
Carlos Santana returns to House of Blues at Mandalay Bay through Nov. 13 to continue his residency “An Intimate Evening With Santana: Greatest Hits Live.”
We’ll preview the show Band of Magicians opening at Tropicana on Thursday and meet the young American chefs who have learned all the tricks — and stunts — of the new Benihana at Fashion Show.
