If you're hanging out in Vegas and looking for a cool, dark place to sip a bright, blue drink, to snuggle with your squeeze

and maybe cop a feel — or if you simply want to luxuriate in the ambiance of the last pimp culture before this one, the Peppermill Lounge is your destination. Located on the east side of the Strip across from the Stardust Casino, the Peppermill is vintage Vegas — a dark, low space with a long, low bar, old-time gaudy carpets and indirect lighting, neon and black. The room is arranged into a grid of crepuscular niches with low couches on three sides, separated from one another by an improbable profusion of fake, white cherry blossoms that glow radioactive mauve in the black light. The trademark of the Peppermill, its centerpiece, is a sunken, round conversation pit just inside the entrance. Its circle of couches surrounds a dazzling aqua pool with an eternal flame burning in the center, fumes ascending into a cone-shaped copper hood. You get a glimpse of this drop-dead, Playboy-deco artifact, with Joe Pesci lounging in it in Scorcese's Casino.
These days, the Peppermill's clientele is less ominous, mostly local artists, hookers, minor criminals and gently confused citizens of Nebraska who have just wandered in. For real criminals and more autentico old Vegas, you should stroll east down Stardust Avenue after drinks at the Peppermill and dine at Freddy Glessman's Piero's. Try the osso buco, admire the LeRoy Neimans and scope out the geriatric wiseguys holding forth at the adjacent tables.

Peppermill's Fireside Lounge
2985 South Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas
(702) 735-7635
Recommended drink: The Scorpion — six shots of mixed hard alcohol, fruit juice and two scoops of ice cream, blended and served in a sixty-ounce glass.
(Photograph by Shane O'Neal)

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