Aria’s Gold Boutique transitions from lounge to club with open bar

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Let us offer the presumptuous but probably accurate observation that you, like us, never got the chance to hang out with Elvis Presley at his favorite after-hours joint.

But don’t despair, because a pretty reasonable facsimile of the kind of place The King might have liked to unwind can be found at Gold Boutique Nightclub and Lounge at Aria.

Gold, a production of The Light Group and Cirque du Soleil — the latter’s "Viva Elvis" show runs in the nearby theater — is an "intimate, sexy, chic" venue, says Andrea Duran, director of marketing for Gold.

Gold also is funky. How funky? Funky enough to incorporate monkeys as a design element and as part of the club’s logo.

"Elvis loved monkeys," Duran explains.

Besides: They’re monkeys! Case closed.

Gold’s design elements also include such touches as chandeliers, cool knickknacks, replicas of gold records hanging on the walls and comfortable easy chairs, all of which help create a lush feel and sultry look in a cozy room that accommodates just a few hundred people.

Think of it as attending a cocktail party in a really cool living room, with a vibe that begins as relaxed and gains energy as the night progresses.

"During the day, it’s more of an ultra lounge," Duran explains. Then, around 10 p.m., Gold begins its nightly transition into "a boutique nightclub."

From 10 p.m. to midnight on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, guests can avail themselves of well drinks and domestic beer at an open bar — the cover during those hours is $10 for ladies and $20 for men — to serve as a sort of windup into full nightclub mode.

Bottle service begins at $150, and the cocktail menu includes the signature "24-karat Martini" whose ingredients, Duran notes, include "real gold flakes."

Music is provided by a roster of resident DJs through an aural menu that includes tunes from the ’50s to the ’80s. Gold pays particular homage to that latter decade via a weekly ’80s night, "which no one else is doing on the Strip," Duran says.

"We include all of the different genres of music from the ’80s, and don’t just focus on hip-hop," she adds.

Gold Boutique Nightclub and Lounge at Aria, 3730 Las Vegas Blvd. South, is open from 6 p.m. to 4 a.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. There’s no cover on Tuesdays and Wednesdays — Wednesday is industry night — and cover is $10 for ladies and $20 for men from 10 p.m. to midnight on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturday.s After midnight, cover is $10 for men while women are admitted free.

For more information, call 693-8300.

Contact reporter John Przybys at jprzybys@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0280.