Feb. 28, 1999
ENTERING THE O-ZONE
By Steve Friess
She wants you take a deep breath
-- and pay through the nose for the privilege.
Las Vegas entrepreneur de'Anne
Lamb is selling blasts of fresh air, tinted with fruit, herb
or mint fragrances, in a Las Vegas storefront where purple drapes
block the sun and intrusions of urban chaos.
Lamb this month opened Breathe, an "oxygen bar"
where wheat-grass Smoothies are served up in funky angular glassware
amid an atmosphere of dimmed lights and soothing New Age music.
But the focus is the oxygen that bubbles up
at the bar through canisters of colored, scented water and into
sterile, hospital-style tubes. For $1 per minute, or $150 for
a 200-minute bulk buy, patrons attach their personal tube to
the dispenser and shove the green plastic prongs up their nostrils
to take in the flow.
There's also oxygen-enhanced 10-minute tanning
sessions for $29 and a $98 facial that applies "87 vitamins,
minerals and enzymes" to the countenance in an oxygen mist.
Lamb says the facial is her favorite aspect, insisting it makes
her feel "yummy all over," although state regulators on Friday
forced them to halt that service until they receive salon permits.
"I wanted to create a bar where I would want
to hang out," explained Lamb, peering through her blue-tinted,
rectangular-framed shades and occasionally brushing a tousle
of her straight, carrot-colored hair away from her freckled
face. "I don't drink and I don't smoke. And I know there are
many people like that."
Indeed, Lamb's no-booze, no-tobacco bar has
been busy from the day it opened Feb. 5, despite scant publicity
and a couple of tiny advertisements in local weeklies. Curiosity
seekers lumber in, usually hesitantly, after they spot the place
from a window of the cafe at nearby Borders Books and Music
or while browsing in the heavily trafficked shopping center
at the northeast corner of Sahara Avenue and Decatur Boulevard.
Lamb reported a 45-minute waiting list for one
of the seven oxygen stations at the bar on her second Saturday
of business.
"This looked like it might be something different,
something to try," said Armani-suited Andrew Danielson, a local
attorney, as he slurps an "herbal libation" of aloe, mango and
pineapple juice called Beauty on the Inside. "I don't think
I'll be here all the time, but a few bucks isn't that much for
a place to relax and breathe easier."
Lamb, who just months ago was a blackjack dealer
at Bally's, became inspired to open the establishment after
hearing actress Kirstie Alley extolling the benefits of oxygen
in an appearance on "The Late Show with David Letterman."
Alley bragged that night that while tabloid
reporters claimed she'd had plastic surgery, her youthful complexion
was the result of oxygen facials.
Lamb did some research, discovering that oxygen
bars have become the new rage for hip Californians seeking refuge
from the smog. In Los Angeles, Alley's former "Cheers" co-star
Woody Harrelson owns one called O2, and claims the oxygen "gives
you a nice little buzz."
The concept is fairly new for North America,
with the first bar opening in Toronto in 1996. The bars have
been popular for years in polluted industrial Far East cities
like Beijing and Tokyo.
"I just knew this was going to be something
big here," said Lamb, who is proud to note she chose every aspect
of the decor, from the thick crystal martini glasses to the
cozy black leather and silver steel seats. She hired an engineer
to create and patent her oxygen delivery system and to help
concoct the drink menu, properties she hopes to lease to franchisees
who might open other Breathe bars.
Among the key pieces of advice Lamb received
through her research was to make sure clients are told the oxygen
is there "strictly for fun." She claims no medicinal value,
though some proponents claim it clears up headaches, boosts
alertness, fights fatigue and reduces stress.
The scents have enticing titles from a eucalyptus
tinge dubbed "Clarity" to a jasmine and tangerine flavor called
"Dream," and suggest the inhaler will feel sexy, invigorated
or cleansed. Clients seem to play along with the idea, even
as they acknowledge the hokiness.
"I'm looking for one that might give me some
inspiration," said Dan Ortiz to a bartender as he sidled up
to the black counter top explaining he has to write a newsletter
later in the day. He realizes the flavored winds won't gift
him with literary genius and admits the power of suggestion
may be at play in this, but he insisted the scents "each do
induce certain things. It's very subtle."
Others are more blunt that the attraction is
in the novelty, not the effect. Tourist Chrissy Regal, 27, took
a cab from her Strip hotel after a masseuse at Harrah's suggested
she and her friends try the bar.
"It's a little different, definitely something
to try, but I don't know that it actually made me feel anything,"
said Regal, of Woodbridge, N.J.
If the oxygen doesn't necessarily give the boasted
boost, it still is as harmless as it is gimmicky, said University
Medical Center pulmonary chief Dr. J. Turner. Turner warned
that people with lung diseases should stay away because they
should have their oxygen prescribed in a proper concentration
by a physician.
Breathe bartenders heed that warning. They ask
customers about lung conditions to avoid serving them and limit
clients to 30-minute sessions, Lamb said.
"It's pretty hard to hurt anyone with oxygen
in 30 minutes under any circumstances," said Turner, who ducked
into Breathe on a whim last week. "In terms of a regular person,
if they didn't keep their equipment clean, their tubing clean,
their colored water clean and disinfected, then sure, there
is the possibility of organisms growing in it and people getting
infections from that."
That's where the Clark County Board of Health
steps in, and Breathe has its certification, environmental health
supervisor Felix Havis said. Havis said although the department
had to contemplate how to categorize Breathe, they ultimately
defined it under "miscellaneous."
"The issue of whether it's good for you or not
is not our ballgame," Havis said. "Some people are allergic
to peanuts. We don't run around telling people not to eat peanuts.
We just make sure when that peanut is served to you, it is done
in a safe and sanitary manner."
Breathe has run into one regulatory snag for
its oxygen facials, which are administered by licensed aesthetician
Cyndi Roselli. Agents of the Nevada State Board of Cosmetology
raided the bar Friday after hearing that Roselli was administering
massage and facials without the proper salon permits.
The operation has been temporarily suspended;
Roselli and Lamb were unavailable for comment Friday.
While Roselli's operation appears to meet most
of the legal requirements -- a separate room, access to running
water and a bathroom, a means of sterilizing equipment -- she
failed to follow through with obtaining the proper certificate
after having called to find out what she needed to do, said
board executive secretary Mary Manna.
"I'd be more than willing to work with them
and get them licensed as fast as we can," Manna said after the
raid. "If they bring an application in to us on Monday, we could
get them licensed within three to five days."
Such questions concern some passers-by, many
of whom are amused anyone would shell out that kind of money
to suck in what is otherwise free, at least in the odorless
form.
Then again, skeptic Amee Frank conceded, "Who
ever thought people would drink bottled water, and look at how
much of that they sell."
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