The Stirling Club – Photo Courtesy of Mahsa Razavi/The Stirling Club

A Stirling (Club) Reputation

BY STACEY GUALANDI

Las Vegas is synonymous with reinvention and renewal. The persistent practice of taking something old and making it new again is almost built into the city’s DNA.

The Stirling Club is no exception.

This exclusive enclave-for-elites opened in 2001 as a private club for Turnberry Place residents, and within a short time, became the go-to hot spot for members and their guests. Local entertainers, impersonators and headliners—like Tom Jones and Clint Holmes—would pop in every weekend to join Kelly Clinton-Holmes and her band for a jaunty jam session.

It served as a monolith of luxury, with a rich Vegas history…until recession forced the once-prominent club to close in 2012. But after several attempts by different investors to revive the property, DK Hospitality Management partners Richard Ditton and Debra Kelleher eventually won out and The Stirling Club was back.

In 2019, the upscale 73,000 square-foot private city club and event space re-opened in the heart of the city, across from the Las Vegas Convention Center and minutes from the Las Vegas Strip. Hoping to “attract the clientele of today’s Vegas,” Kelleher and Ditton—the visionaries behind its rebirth—are also relishing a return to its posh past.

A charcuterie selection at The Stirling Club
Photo Courtesy of Mahsa Razavi/The Stirling Club

“We need to weave the history of this place into it,” says General Manager and COO Tony Angotti. “But we can’t only rely on the history of this place to move forward.”

The new investors originally brought in Angotti as a consultant, but the well-respected food and beverage industry pioneer now has full autonomy. His “sterling” reputation as a premier restaurant operator (Jeremiah Tower’s “Star’s” in San Francisco; Michael Mina’s “Aqua” in Bellagio; Joël Robuchon’s “L’Atelier’ at MGM Grand, to name a few) and his historic years overseeing F&B for MGM Grand and Mandalay Bay, made perfect sense for a project of this magnitude.

“I think in 2020, we will be fully functional,” says a candid Angotti. “We want to have a hundred percent of the club working, and today it’s not…but the finish line is really close, finally. The vision is to say, ‘Hey: Now that we’re fully functional, we can show new and old members what we can do and what the club really has to offer.’”

Those offerings include an opulent oasis of options to explore: a top-of-the-line fitness center; an amenity-filled wellness and med spa; a spectacular pool and pickleball court; the return of the Spirit Lounge and Stirling Dining Room; a cigar and wine room; and endless event space ready to rent. Angotti even confirms a future Starbucks.

Cigar Lounge at The Stirling Club
Photo Courtesy of Mahsa Razavi/The Stirling Club

“In addition to taking care of our existing membership and addressing the day-to-day operations, we really want to start focusing on getting large groups in here so we can take a deep breath, run this the way we need to, and have a steady increase in revenue from private events,” says Angotti.

One thing is for sure: this self-described poker enthusiast loves a challenge and is willing to make a bet he can honor the past while welcoming the future of The Stirling Club 2.0.

Pot Roast served at The Stirling Club
Photo Courtesy of Mahsa Razavi/The Stirling Club

CHIC COMPASS: Was there much of a learning curve when you came on board?

TONY ANGOTTI: No. I was at Mandalay Bay for three years as vice president of food and beverage [and MGM before that]. In those three years, I was responsible for $1 billion in food and beverage, so everything [was] on a massive scale…like on steroids. Everything you look at is one little tweak, and you save either $1 million or you lose $1 million. All of that made me acutely aware of what the minutia has to do with the big picture, but also kept me focused on if you stay true to what that is, and just deal with the minutia in accordance to how it feels in the big picture, you’ll never be unsuccessful.

Men’s Sauna, The Stirling Club
Photo Courtesy of Mahsa Razavi/The Stirling Club

CHIC COMPASS: How much are you relying on The Stirling Club’s history?

TONY ANGOTTI: We will always respect [the Club’s] past and never lose sight of the people who were here from the start, but what we are trying to do now with every event or with every opportunity we have, is to weave something more modern into it. The times have changed in the last 20 years and so some of that old stuff is cool, but a lot of people are doing that—the nostalgia, the glamour—but it’s not going to help us capture new membership to do things the old way. We have to rethink what we did in the past and reinvent for the future.

Indoor Pool at The Stirling Club
Photo Courtesy of Mahsa Razavi/The Stirling Club

CHIC COMPASS: What changes have been made?

TONY ANGOTTI: If you look around, [there are] no big tapestries, no overblown furniture, and, for lack of a better term, the overdone gaudiness of something. It doesn’t exist here anymore. It’s still comfortable, but it’s cleaner. As long as you’re comfortable in a room, it doesn’t really matter what it looks like; but it does to us, to be able to say this is the vision of us moving forward and the kind of people we want to attract.

Yoga Room at The Stirling Club
Photo Courtesy of Mahsa Razavi/The Stirling Club

CHIC COMPASS: What about entertainment?

TONY ANGOTTI: We had two guys who call themselves “The New Black”: they are a part of a crazy heavy metal band. They understand that we’re trying to get hipper and cooler, but they can’t do heavy metal, so they put together a fun, lounge-y soft rock thing. It’s amazing. We’re [always] trying to do things like that so people understand who we are, where we’re going, and how we’re going to get there.

The Stirling Club Entrance
Photo Courtesy of Ana Studios

CHIC COMPASS: There are several different membership opportunities, but are non-members still welcome?

TONY ANGOTTI: We are private now, but we do enough things that are still public that people can come to. If you’re not a member, you can’t come for lunch, unless you come with a member. But we do a couple of different things each week that people can come to and can see on our website now. On special occasions, like New Year’s Eve, we give members the opportunity to purchase tickets first and then anybody outside can purchase. We also do a dinner and magic show where we give members the first shot for a week to buy tickets, and then open it to the public.

Men’s Sauna – Photographs Courtesy of Mahsa Razavi/The Stirling Club

CHIC COMPASS: As someone who enjoys poker, do you have a poker analogy for your role in bringing back The Stirling Club?

TONY ANGOTTI: I was dealt a great hand and I’ve played it perfectly I think. Ha!

The Stirling Room
Photographs Courtesy of Mahsa Razavi/The Stirling Club