And then, to the left, there is The Spa, which just re-opened as a part of a $35 million property renovation. Surrounding the casino there is a movie theater, a bowling alley, a food court, an upscale “restaurant row,” over 100,000 square feet of conference rooms, 796 hotel rooms, including 7 penthouses straight out of Entourage. At the center of it all is the Lucky Bar, dripping in Swarovski crystals, (there are 3.1 million pieces of crystal on the property), where cocktail servers deliver drinks in custom gold plated dresses. The casino’s vaulted room holds the familiar Las Vegas tableau of gamblers congregating around gaming screens. To the right is a sign marked “Casino” that leads to the cavernous interior of the Red Rock complex. To the left is a sign marked “Spa” with an arrow pointing toward a hallway ending in two heavy glass doors. Stepping off the elevator at Red Rock in Summerlin, Nevada, requires a moment of cognitive dissonance.

On the opposite side of the hotel, ten miles to the east, is the infamous Last Vegas strip. The scrub-covered, sandstone formations are a rock-climbing mecca with hiking and mountain biking galore. Beyond the highways are neat rows of cookie-cutter houses, a Spanish-style Lego-land ending abruptly at the foothills of the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, which glows pale pink in the fast-moving morning sun. Looking down there is the white roof of a shopping mall, an orderly parking garage, a spiraling freeway system. The view from a luxury suite on the 17 th floor of Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa, encompasses a vast suburban scene framed by jagged mountains.

Summerlin red rock casino