Taking a risk with an untapped market in the most competitive city in the world, two veteran club owners — Keith Slifstein & Alan Chang — look to make a name for themselves by redefining “Latin Luxury.”
(NOTE: This story was written by Kristofer Kay and appears in the January 2025 issue of ED Magazine.)
Ask any good gambler worth their sand and they’ll tell you that it takes a lot more than luck to win big in Las Vegas. Keith Slifstein understood the odds as he enjoyed his early retirement while living in Scottsdale, Arizona with his wife and three daughters. The former hockey player (he was drafted by the Rangers in 1988) and veteran club owner/operator bet big on a number of venues in his native New York dating back to 1993, only to sell his shares and leave the industry clean after the pandemic.
The good life lay quietly in the desert he thought. But like the card player who cashes out after taking the house, the “itch” or the desire to pony up once more hit Slifstein like a slapshot. He just needed to find a first-rate market, the best location and most importantly, the right teammate to get him back in the game. Enter Alan Chang.
“Keith and I had been looking at a few locations for some time when he called me one day and said The Library was up for sale,” Chang recalls. “And I was very honest with him. I told him I wasn’t interested at all.”
Alan had every right to express his reticence at the idea. For one, The Library, as the property was previously known, is located a little over a mile from Chang’s flagship club, Peppermint Hippo, in north Las Vegas.
“It didn’t make much sense at first; being so close to where I already am, a new club would cannibalize what we’ve already built,” Chang adds. “But, I let some light in. I told Keith if we do something totally different with this location then I’d be interested. So we got to kicking around some ideas.”
The difference Slifstein and Chang discovered was to focus on a niche, one largely untapped in the adult nightclub space — the Latino market. The duo made plans to establish a high-end, adult cabaret infused with Latin culture for a blue-collar, local clientele.
“When I say ‘Latin’ I mean when a guest walks in they’re going feel like they’re in Little Mexico, or spending a night in Havana,” emphasizes Chang. “Operating another club in Las Vegas didn’t interest me, but doing something like what we’ve set out with Las Toxicas was very appealing.”
After doing their due diligence, the pair discovered that almost 35 percent of Clark County is Latino.
“It’s a market that nobody’s actually reached out to try to take in a meaningful direction beyond a name on a marquee or their entertainer base,” Slifstein adds. “From the music and our staff to the events we hold, Las Toxicas has an authentic Latin flavor.”
While Las Vegas was already home to one established Latin club, Slifstein and Chang wanted to give their club a particular flair customers would come to expect while living or visiting Las Vegas. That advantage was held by Chang, a former executive for major club chains operating in Sin City for the better part of a decade, and current Chief Executive Officer of The Peppermint Hippo chain, based in Vegas but with nine other locations across the US.
“Alan had dealt with the trials and tribulations of operating a club [in Las Vegas], which is decisively the most competitive club market in the world,” says Slifstein. “He had all the groundwork set already. So for us to come in and do another club, we were three steps ahead of the next guy who would think about trying the same thing. I’ve been in this industry for 30 years so, for me, I wanted to get back into it only with someone who was at the top of their game and Alan is the future of this business.”
“Operating another club in Las Vegas didn’t interest me, but doing something like what we’ve set out with Las Toxicas was very appealing.
– Alan Chang
La Vida Tóxicas
If luck can assist the players who come to Las Vegas, then location is what helps club owners who find success in the neon jungle. Even the casual customer may recognize the building, located at 2112 Western Ave. For over two decades it was Cheetah’s, a Vegas destination seen in movies and television; most notably it’s where writer Joe Eszterhas found inspiration when penning the screenplay for what would eventually become 1995’s feature-length skin composition, “Showgirls.”
Bought and sold twice over since then, Slifstein and Chang, along with their partners, made the decision to not rest on its famous facade but to completely overhaul the property and make it distinctively Latin, starting with their staff.
“We wanted all of our managers to be bilingual,” Chang notes. “That was essential. Sure, communication is key. And as far as any type of sales and customer relations you want to be bilingual. So since we’re predominantly a Latin club, I’d say that 80 percent of our customers at this point are Latin.”
On its grand opening date of November 15, the club had a staff completely comprised of Latin-based hospitality professionals, including the entertainers. Heading into the holidays the Toxicas staff knew they would be dealing with locals first, with tourists and the convention crowd expected to hit the town the second and third weeks of January. It proved to be a soft but educated learning curve for everyone to acclimate.
“The Latin community is very hospitable,” Slifstein mentions. “When you come into our club, you feel like you’re in Mexico, but our staff will talk to you in English if you speak English. If you speak Spanish or Portuguese, we’ve got you covered. Again, the Latin culture is extremely friendly. They’ll come right up to you and talk to everybody. After five minutes in here, you feel like you’ve known everybody in the club for 10 years.”
Ironically, the only two people on the Las Toxicas staff who aren’t fluent in the Spanish dialect are Slifstein and Chang themselves.
“After five minutes in here, you feel like you’ve known everybody in the club for 10 years.”
– Keith Slifstein
La Fiesta Tóxicas
In Spanish nomenclature, “Las Toxicas” translates to “the toxic ones,” a slang phrase commonly used to describe a woman with a domineering personality. At the club, however, it’s taken more tongue in cheek to promote the authenticity of a guest’s experience.
“Like Hippo, everything comes from a comic view of things,” denotes Chang. “And I gotta give all the credit to my Director of Operations, Cisco Gutierrez. He thought of the name and even thought up our mascot, the parrot. He knew the dancers and our customers were gonna love it. It’s just funny. We don’t want to take anything too seriously. This is supposed to be a fun working environment and we know it’s a business, but people that want to come in here want to have fun, and we want our staff to enjoy themselves and have fun too.”
To help elevate the club’s credibility, Chang and Slifstein have a team comprised of industry veterans that include Dennis Guevara (VIP Manager), Shay Martinez (Service Manager), Alex Barrera (Entertainer Manager) and Lisa Blackmon (Office Manager). In addition to Mexico, the entertainers have roots in Spain, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Cuba, to name only a few.
“We wanted to be sure we didn’t whitewash the club,” Chang assures. “Customers can spot that easily. We don’t pay the cabs for dropping off guests and we keep the cover charge at five dollars for locals because we want that local base. We want the local guys who are working at the hotels and the casinos. We want them coming in to have a good time and we want to make it affordable.”
Despite appealing to locals, the entertainment value at Las Toxicas is still on par with Vegas nightlife, offering more than just drink specials to bring in the crowds. “We really want to bring in some well-known Latin DJs,” Chang says. “They have a built-in customer base already which we find really helps draw a diverse crowd and helps us expand our name to the Latino community.”
“We don’t pay the cabs for dropping off guests and we keep the cover charge at five dollars for locals because we want that local base.”
– Alan Chang
Keeping with its agenda of maintaining its blue-collar clientele, Las Toxicas offers $25 private dances and $2 Budweiser drafts 24 hours a day. Yes, you’re in Las Vegas, physically at least, but inside their club, you will experience a hospitality much more akin to what you would find south of the border. If the formula works perhaps the toxic ones will find its reach beyond the borders of Sin City.
“This is our first run at this,” says Chang. “So we’re going to see how this works. And so far, it’s working out really well. I think we have a good model and from here, considering our ties with Hippo, we will probably look to expand in the near future.”
Slifstein echoes the sentiments of his partner knowing that his latest tenure in the adult nightclub industry is time well spent and that Sin City is only the beginning for Las Toxicas.
“We’re going to stay in our lane,” says Slifstein. “We want to be the club of choice for the Latin community: high volume, low cost of entry and a fun party place. With that marketing plan, I think we can expand to set the different areas in the US like Arizona, Texas and New Mexico. We’ll be headed in new directions.”
For more information, please visit lastoxicas.com.