LUCKY CHENG’S
BEST RESTAURANT & BEST DRAG SHOW
“All That Drag” is the drag dinner experience at Lucky Cheng’s on the Strip that adds a touch of sassiness and comical Broadway satire to this already hilarious and entertaining Drag Queen Cabaret venue. Enjoy a one of a kind dining experience in this award-winning Pan-Asian cabaret restaurant featuring Chef Ken Huff and Designed by Tracy James as top Drag performers sing live, lip sync and dance throughout the dining room. Your Drag Queen host will keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the night with a twisted and witty sense of slapstick humor. Audience participation is a major part of the show, no one watches from a distance, as they all become part of the evening’s entertainment. Lucky Cheng’s brings the audience past the limits of illusion to dance with its Legends and Divas. Prizes are given to those who dare become a contestant. (Don’t be afraid to enter; Britney Spears did). A barrage of incredible talent from the world over will be Lucky Cheng’s nightly lineup from comedy to drama, Broadway to Burlesque. Lucky Cheng’s is no ordinary drag experience. Forget what you know about lip-syncing female impersonators. The Lucky Cheng’s girls will have you laughing to tears with their irreverent sense of humor and perfect comedic timing.

TOWN SQUARE
BEST SHOPPING
Since opening just in time for the holiday shopping season last year, Town Square has become one of the hottest shopping destinations Las Vegas has ever seen.... and we do mean hot. Town Square is an outdoor shopping experience similar to Victoria Gardens in Southern California, and our summer temperatures can make staying outdoors for too long an unbearable experience. Luckily, this destination is full of cool shops and has plenty of misters in the trees to make your day fun no matter the time of year (but we still think fall and spring are the ideal times to shop here). For the most part, this place is fashion central, but it offers plenty of stores for the whole family. Town Square also boasts one of the city’s nicest cinemas, Rave Motion Pictures, offering stadium seating and digital projection in all 18 theaters. Dining options include California Pizza Kitchen, Claim Jumper, Texas de Brazil and Brio.

EROTIC HERITAGE MUSEUM
BEST MUSEUM
The Erotic Heritage Museum encompasses over 24,000 square feet of permanent and featured exhibits designed to preserve wonders of the erotic imagination as depicted through the artistic expression of acts of sex and love. About a quarter of the museum features gay art, lifestyle displays (there is a glory hole display that must be seen) and historic cinema chronicling gay pornography from its origin to present day. In keeping with the legacy of the American Sexual Revolution, the Museum is dedicated to the belief that sexual pleasure and fun are natural aspects of the human experience, that such pleasure must be made available to all, and that our individual sexuality belongs to each of us.

LAS VEGAS ATHLETIC CLUBS
BEST GYM & BEST CRUISING SPOT
Many local residents find Las Vegas Athletic Clubs (LVAC) to be the most convenient gyms in town. LVAC has locations in almost every part of the city, huge spaces with a wide array of amenities such as running tracks, top of the line gym equipment, Olympic size pools, saunas, the most reasonable monthly membership fees and last, but definitely not least, a sea of hot men for your viewing or working-out pleasure. Varying depending on your taste, it wont matter whether you like to run after a hot guy in front of you (on the treadmill, in case you need good inspiration) or ask someone to give you a spot (just make sure you concentrate on your benching and not the view of the guy standing over you). Hot boys in this gym are everywhere!

LAS VEGAS PRIDE
BEST GAY EVENT
In 2008, the Southern Nevada Association of PRIDE, Inc. hosted its most successful PRIDE Festival to date. Held at the beautiful Clark County Government Center, attendees were able to browse more than 200 vendor booths. CeCe Peniston, Georgie Porgie, Jennifer C, and Terisa Griffin headlined the festival entertainment line-up. This year also saw the exciting addition of Las Vegas PRIDE’s first Gay Travel Expo with information for LGBT-friendly travel destinations from across the world. Traditionally held in May, Las Vegas PRIDE’s festival beats the heat of summer. Each year the proceeds from the festival are used to help fund local non-profit organizations and programs. More than $40,000 was raised and donated back to the community during the 2008 PRIDE Event Line-up. Locals are already looking forward to next year’s PRIDE Festival which will be held on Saturday, May 2, 2009.

FUEGO RAW TALENT
BEST SHOW
Fuego Raw Talent, the brainchild of Nicole “ND” Durr (from Havana Night Club), brings together a huge cast, many of whom immigrated from Cuba, to tell the 75-minute passionate story of the search for the Laptop of Life (LOL), said to hold the ultimate secret the world is after. Fighting to find and hold the LOL are Sir Real and Miss Conscience Guilt, who travel through a multitude of surreal situations on their journey. Fuego Raw Talent takes stage lighting it to an entirely new level with “exclusive video illusions.” Projectors throughout the theater send trippy images across the walls, screens, scrims and even the performers’ bodies, immersing the audience fully in this bizarre world.

THE CENTER
BEST NON-PROFIT
The Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada got its start 15 years ago and has constantly served as an important social and support hub for our local LGBT community. Open Monday-Friday, The Center boasts a computer lab, book and video library, meeting space for various organizations, STD testing and more. The Center’s main fund-raiser each year is the Honorarium, at which a variety of who’s who in our community are honored for their contributions. The Center just recently hosted Stand OUT for Equality, a rally for equality, unity and solidarity in the wake of California’s passing of Proposition 8.

BETTE MIDLER
BEST ENTERTAINER
She got her start performing in bathhouses in 1970 — with her piano accompanist, Barry Manilow, believe it or not — which helped lead to her worldwide appeal among gay audiences. Over nearly four decades, Bette has mastered both stage and screen, releasing two dozen albums, crossing the globe in nearly as many tours, and appearing in even more movies and television episodes. Earlier this year, Bette began performances of The Showgirl Must Go On in her multi-year contract with Caesars Palace. What perhaps has endeared her most to Las Vegas gays in particular was her speech at Krave nightclub during a rally this fall for the election of Barack Obama as president.

BOB FORBUSS
BEST COMMUNITY LEADER
Robert L. Forbuss is President of Strategic Alliances, a business and government affairs consulting organization. He was a founder of the American Ambulance Association and served as its president for two years. He was also the founder of Commercial Bank of Nevada and currently serves as a board member of Colonial Bank. Bob served on the Clark County School District Board of School Trustees from 1979 to 1986 and is currently Senior Vice-Chairman of the Board for The Public Education Foundation. He has demonstrated community service, leadership, and financial expertise. As a lifetime resident of Nevada, an educator, a business leader, and a philanthropist, Bob has dedicated his life to improving educational opportunities for the children of our community. His motto has always been two words: “Get involved.”

DJ DANNY G
BEST DEEJAY
Danny G is currently resident deejay at Entourage Vegas. He is also Vice President of the Southern Nevada Association of Pride, Inc. Danny G. produces signage and marketing materials for SNAPI and also deejays from time to time for charitable events and offers his deejay, graphic design and sign services to other non-profit organizations around town. Danny G. has donated time to the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada as well as NeonFest, Royal Court and Lambda. Danny G hopes to continue working with the LGBT community.

COFFEE BEAN & TEA LEAF
BEST COFFEE SHOP
The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf chain of coffee shops has given Starbucks a run for its money in the past few years, offering its own — some may say better — versions of their signature drinks. While Coffee Bean doesn’t have nearly as many locations throughout Las Vegas, it has them in perfect locations for hanging out with friends, like the one across from UNLV.

PLANET HOLLYWOOD RESORT
BEST CASINO HOTEL
Las Vegas is already a celebrity hotspot, and the addition of Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino has helped bring even more big names to town when blockbuster movie premieres (like Resident Evil: Extinction and Transporter 3) are held in the resort. Some movies, like 21 and What Happens in Vegas, have even filmed scenes within the casino. Previously known as Aladdin (and originally Tally Ho back in the ‘60s), the property underwent a massive renovation of its Arabian-themed casino and Desert Passage Shops to its new sleek, contemporary, Hollywood-themed casino and Miracle Mile Shops in 2007. The 7,000-seat Theater for the Performing Arts in the Miracle Mile Shops has hosted Miss America and Miss USA pageants throughout the years and is often used for concerts and awards ceremonies. On the mezzanine level above the casino, a theater was custom-built last year for Stomp Out Loud, which will be replaced next spring by a sexy burlesque production, Peepshow. Correspondents and crew from television’s EXTRA also mix, mingle and interview celebrities from the EXTRA Lounge on the casino floor.

KRAVE
BEST NIGHTCLUB
It’s no surprise Krave Las Vegas has been a multi-year winner of the Qrific Award for best nightclub. It just celebrated its four-year anniversary, actually surpassing the longevity of many mainstream nightclubs it competes with. Krave is the first and only nightclub for gay patrons directly located on the Las Vegas Strip and matches its straight rivals in terms of class, service and entertainment. Special occasions frequently bring big-name DJs and vocalists into the club, including RuPaul, who entertained during the anniversary party. Krave pulls double duty as Harmon Theater, home to Amazing Jonathan, Hypnosis Unleashed and Hitzville. Right next door, Krave Lounge is the site of Lucky Cheng’s Drag Cabaret Restaurant and CandyBar, “for girls who like girls.” Krave’s convenient location at the outer corner of the Planet Hollywood Resort has definitely worked in its favor.

THE L-WORD
BEST TV SHOW
With the sixth and final season premiering in late February, this Showtime original series has outlived another gay hit, Queer as Folk. The L Word portrays the lives of a group of lesbian, bisexual and transgender women and men and their friends, family and lovers in trendy West Hollywood, California. The show stars several known names (Jennifer Beals, Pam Grier, Cybill Shepherd and Marlee Matlin) and has made a household name of several others, including Katherine Moennig, who plays the androgynous Shane McCutcheon. A spin-off series, featuring the character of Alice (Leisha Hailey), begins filming this month.

JUST DANCE
BEST DANCE SINGLE
“Just Dance” is a dance-pop song and lead single from american singer-songwriter Lady GaGa’s first album, The Fame. The song is written by Lady GaGa and features Colby O’Donis, who is signed to the same label, and Akon, who provides backing vocals through Colby’s verse and shortly afterwards. More than a dozen remixes of the song have been made, cementing its status as an amazing club hit. Christina Aguilera has recently been accused of copying Lady GaGa’s sound and look, but we doubt her new stuff can come anywhere close to matching the popularity of “Just Dance.”

SINCITYQSOCIALS
BEST SOCIAL GROUP
Las Vegas is considered a world-class destination, and for those who work and play here, finding your groove can be a little tricky. SinCityQSocials is dedicated to helping gay and lesbian professionals meet others of their kind through innovative events. SinCityQSocials has become the premier social network for gay professionals and friends with over 5,000 local members. With support from these members, SinCityQSocials has become the largest LGBT social group in Las Vegas.