Riviera

Riviera Hotel Files For Bankruptcy

The owner of the Riviera Hotel & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip has filed for bankruptcy protection. Riviera Holdings Corp. filed Chapter 11 under a pre-negotiated deal that will end up transferring the ownership of the company to secured lenders. The reorganization plan has the approval of a majority of the lenders holding parts in it's nearly $248 million in debt. The filing has no impact on the day to day running of the Riviera hotel and casino in Las Vegas and the Riviera in Black Hawk, Colorado which remain open.

Riviera Holdings lost $4.5 million as revenue fell in the first quarter. While room occupancy was up, the average room rate in Las Vegas continued to fall as the hotel competed with other Strip properties which have also been dropping their prices.

Like many Las Vegas properties, the Riviera has been affected by the drop in tourism. The property itself has also suffered because of its north Strip location. Many of the casinos on that end of the glittering boulevard have been torn down or sold to make room for new resorts. Unfortunately the economic turmoil has meant that many properties haven't been built or, like the Fontainebleau project, have been delayed. Visitors to the Las Vegas strip tend to cluster in certain areas, most likely visiting other properties that are a short walk away.

Tags: Las Vegas, las vegas nevada, las vegas strip, Riviera, riviera hotel

Celebrate the Economic Recovery with Ten Days in the Riviera

by Jonathon Ramsey (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Yachts & Sailing

Times were a little hard last year, and probably the only way to show that your unconquerable soul remains in tact is to get seven of your friends and €100,000 ($140,000 U.S.) together for a ten-day tour of the French Riviera, seven of them spent on a 100-foot yacht. No, really, anything less that that and there could still be some doubts...

The escapade, organized by Montreal's Pure Entertainment Group, begins somewhere in Western Europe, where you and your fellow sailors will be flown in a private jet to Nice. From there it's all high living: seven-day cruise (the pictured yacht is one of the fleet), two nights in Monte Carlo at the Hotel De Paris and four bottles of Dom on arrival, a two-hour massage for each person to put vigor in your legs again, and dinner at Alain Ducasse's Louis XV.

Travel dates are open from April 1 to September 1, 2010, and operators are probably standing by to take your booking. There might be easier ways to show you've turned it all around, but the words "French Riviera" are known to work rather well.

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Tags: france, french riviera, monte carlo, pure entertainment, pure entertainment group, riviera, yacht

Itama SeventyFive Classic Italian Motoryacht

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Yachts & Sailing

Itama Yachts, founded in Italy by Mario Amati in 1969, matched timeless style with the latest engineering. The sleek, powerful, blue-and-white boats became an instant hit with jetsetters and sportsmen on the Italian Riviera. The company's latest and largest offering, the $4 million SeventyFive (above), continues that tradition with new technology and style to spare. The 75-ft. motoryacht features high bows, a spectacular curved profile and a distinctively sleek structure created by a slim central roof.

An enormous carbon fiber and glass windshield and retractable canopy covers the cockpit, and large sliding sofas can be joined to form a vast horseshoe seating 12 people on deck. The layout includes three cabins and three baths below, as well as a twin crew cabin. Elegant materials are employed throughout, including natural teak and steel, wooden parquet floors, linen lacquered wall paneling and mosaic tiling for the bathrooms. With its twin 1823 hp MTU engines the yacht boasts peak speeds of up to 43 knots.

Tags: carbon fiber, CarbonFiber, Italy, Itama, motoryacht, Riviera, yacht

Baume & Mercier Riviera Magnum XXL Flyback Chronograph Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

Now up to 45mm wide (up from 43mm) the Baume & Mercier Riviera Magnum XXL beats the older XL in size and design for the look of the sportier version of the standard Riviera watch that wasn't exactly stuffy to begin with. Complications include a 30 minute flyback chronograph powered by the automatic mechanical Ref. 8834 movement that is likely a modified Valjoux 7750. The dial of the watch is something you've probably noticed. Call it skeletonized, call it a "view to the movement," the dial is actually a black tinted sapphire crystal. The text and Roman numerals are applied directly on the tinted dial in luminant.

The case is PVD coated steel with a cool looking sandblasted look. Everything about it is big from the four large hex screws, chronograph pushers, and massive crown. It is hard to tell in the images but the left side of the case is decorated with vertical cutaway slits (Baume & Mercier says they are meant to remind you of a car grill). The case is also 200 meters water resistant and features a exhibition caseback. Despite what is likely broad appeal, the Baume & Mercier Riviera Magnum XXL Flyback Chronograph watch will be limited to just 1000 pieces. A nice action version of the already sporty Riviera Magnum watch line.

Ariel Adams publishes the popular watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: baume mercier, BaumeMercier, chronograph, magnum, riviera, watch, xxl

The Classicist: Cannes Gives Up on Glam

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Yachts & Sailing, Events, The Classicist, Wealth

Sad but true: the recession has hit the upcoming Cannes Film Festival in the South of France next month, an international symbol of glamorous excess. Cutbacks are being made everywhere, from ritzy parties to the type of food being served, the AFP tells us. For starters, Vanity Fair has canceled its annual star-studded party, the social highlight of the festival, while the VIP nightclub Jimmy'z lost two key sponsors, Fendi and Swarovski, and Louis Vuitton said it would skip AmFar's big-ticket AIDS charity fundraiser.

"We're experiencing an unprecedented world crisis and it's also affecting the Riviera and Cannes," says Michel Chevillon, head of Cannes' hotel association. "Companies are sending fewer people, for shorter periods." 70% of the area's hotels have frozen their room rates compared to last year, and many are taking bookings for less than the full 12-day period, something normally unheard of at festival time, Chevillon tells the AFP.

Overall attendance at the festival is expected to be down for the first time in decades. "People are afraid it will hurt their image to be seen in a place associated with wealth," Cannes deputy mayor David Lissnard tells the AFP. Yacht charters are also suffering, as brokers struggle to find clients in Cannes' port, where all 60 berths for megayachts were booked up in anticipation. "There's a lot less demand this year for yacht rentals and a lot of pressure on prices," says broker Valerie Ruiz, who rents out yachts up to 200-ft. for the festival.

Gallery: Cannes Film Festival

Tags: Cannes, Cannes Film Festival, CannesFilmFestival, celebrity, entertainment, Fendi, festivals, France, Hollywood, hotel, LOreal, Louis Vuitton, LouisVuitton, movies, Riviera, South of France, SouthOfFrance, Swarovski, Vanity Fair, VanityFair, yacht

Continue reading “The Classicist: Cannes Gives Up on Glam”

Riviera's Famed Proven�al Hotel to Re-Open as Apts.

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Real Estate Developments

A famed Art Deco hotel on the Côte d'Azur that's been derelict since 1973 is being turned into a luxury apartment building catering to the bon ton. Developer Cyril Dennis is relaunching Le Provençal, on the border between Juan-les-Pins and Cap d'Antibes, where the likes of Coco Chanel, Winston Churchill, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald once frolicked.

The London Telegraph reports that Dennis is transforming the 45,000-sq.ft. beachside property, built in 1925, into 56 luxury units with 360-degree views, indoor / outdoor pools, private gardens, Porsche kitchens, marble floors, Turkish baths and aquariums. He describes the Provençal as "the last jewel in the Cap d'Antibes," an area where top-drawer villas now go for over $200 million thanks to an influx of superrich oligarchs such as Roman Abramovich.

Gallery: Le ProvenÃ§al

Tags: Art Deco, ArtDeco, Cap dAntibes, CapDantibes, Coco Chanel, CocoChanel, Cote DAzur, CoteDazur, Ella Fitzgerald, EllaFitzgerald, F. Scott Fitzgerald, F.ScottFitzgerald, French Riviera, FrenchRiviera, Le Provencal, LeProvencal, Riviera, Roman Abramovich, RomanAbramovich

Campari Celebrates Summer in Style

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Spirits

In our Classicist column about Veuve Clicquot's collaboration with Riva Yachts the other day we fell to musing about Dolce Vita style on the Riviera. Of course, nothing exemplifies seaside sprezzatura quite like Campari, the classic Italian aperitif. The bold red spirit with the sexy ads starring Salma Hayek (above) has been around since 1860, but that doesn't mean they've run out of things to do with it. Campari and soda is the classic combo - and one of our seasonal staples - but the company has come up with several spiffy new cocktails for summer. See the gallery for recipes, including a couple that can be made in large quantities for parties.

Gallery: Campari Summer Style

Campari Sgroppino - created by mixologist Tony Abou-Ganim

Campari Passion - created by mixologist Jacques Bezuidenhout

Tags: Aperitif, Campari, Dolce Vita style, DolceVitaStyle, Italian Riviera, Italian style, ItalianRiviera, ItalianStyle, Italy, La Dolce Vita, LaDolceVita, Riviera, Salma Hayek, SalmaHayek, Summer cocktails, SummerCocktails

The Classicist: Veuve Clicquot Clicks with Riva Yachts

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Spirits, Yachts & Sailing, The Classicist

Renowned French champagne house Veuve Clicquot has teamed up with luxury Italian motoryacht maker Riva to produce an amazing new Grande Dame Cruise Collection of coolers and accessories for discerning yachtsmen. It's nothing short of a match made in style heaven of two very chic European marques. The top offering from the collaboration is an $80,000 made-to-order cruising trunk that resembles a small boat in itself and harks back to the golden age of traveling in style which we reminisced about recently. For something done on such a grand scale it's rather refined, a luxurious design without resorting to odious "bling" to attract those with more money than sense.

The trunk comes packed with four bottles (1988) and two magnums (1998) of Clicquot's coveted La Grande Dame champagne, six Riedel crystal champagne flutes and elegant table settings for six people. A smaller limited edition Cruiser Bag comes with a single bottle of Grande Dame and two flutes for more intimate occasions, and a matching ice bucket is crafted with marine flair to spare. All pieces feature the same lacquer work, mahogany inlay, chrome detailing and leather trim found on Riva's beautiful boats.

Riva, which dates from the 1800s, is an icon of the Italian Riviera's Dolce Vita style. The company first captured the attention of movie stars and the international jet set in the '50s. Its classic wooden craft, which inspired the Cruise Collection, have been owned by the likes of Brigitte Bardot, Richard Burton, Sophia Loren, Aristotle Onassis and Prince Ranier of Monaco. Their yachts, including more modern designs, can be seen at the chic European seaside resorts where the bon ton gather, and they have their own line of elegant nautical-inspired clothing as well.

Gallery: Veuve Clicquot & Riva Yachts

Tags: Brigitte Bardot, BrigitteBardot, Champagne, Dolce Vita, DolceVita, France, Italian style, ItalianStyle, Italy, Riedel, Riva, Riviera, Sophia Loren, SophiaLoren, veuve clicquot, VeuveClicquot, Wooden boats, WoodenBoats, Yachting, Yachts

Continue reading “The Classicist: Veuve Clicquot Clicks with Riva Yachts”

The Most Stylish Moments in the History of Cannes

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Apparel, Events, Men's Style

The Cannes Film Festival, which began today in the South of France, has always been more focused on artistic merit than the blockbusters of the Academy Awards; that makes for a much more interesting mise-en-scène in our view. The cool crowd has always gravitated to the Riviera for this annual cinematic happening, not to mention the chance to compete for those little gold palm fronds. Along with the Met Costume Institute Gala it's easily one of the year's most stylish events.

As Cannes enters its seventh decade, this seems like the perfect time for a slideshow of some of the most classic style moments in its vivid history, including this rouge carpet scene from 1998. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was nominated for a Palme d'Or that year and its star Johnny Depp sported a midnight blue shawl-collared dinner jacket at the premiere. Meanwhile his co-star Benicio Del Toro (right) stuck to a classic tux, while Depp's date Kate Moss looked kind of like she'd been attacked by an angry emu -- but in a hot way. Click below for the full parade of stylish stars.

Official Selections [Men.Style]

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Tags: Benicio del Toro, BenicioDelToro, Cannes Film Festival, CannesFilmFestival, expire-images2009-5-13, Fashion, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, FearAndLoathingInLasVegas, Hunter S. Thompson, HunterS.Thompson, Johnny Depp, JohnnyDepp, Kate Moss, KateMoss, Men.Style, Palme dOr, PalmeDor, Red carpet, RedCarpet, Riviera, South of France, SouthOfFrance

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