New owners upgrading Palomino strip club that will be featured on Playboy TV

The Palomino Club's former owner and his son are heading to prison for life, but the North Las Vegas strip club's future looks brighter, at least for the short term.

Playboy TV plans to carry a 12-part realty show, called "King of Clubs," about the Palomino Club in September, said property owner Dominic Gentile. His son, Adam, owns and operates the nightclub business and will star in the show.

Gentile accepted the business and the former owner's equity interest in a 5-acre parcel along with cash as compensation for representing Luis Hidalgo Jr., his son, Luis Hidalgo III, and the father's former girlfriend, Anabel Espindola, in their second-degree murder case.

The father and son were sentenced Tuesday to life for the 2005 killing of a doorman who criticized the strip club to taxi drivers.

The club's new owners aren't concerned about the club's history, though. They're looking ahead.

"The Palomino really has a bright future," Dominic Gentile said. "Adam has managed to raise it from the ashes (over the last three years)."

Adam Gentile has spent $2 million refurbishing the club, his father said. "I think the city of North Las Vegas is going to be very proud of that show when it airs."

North Las Vegas Mayor Mike Montandon, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, isn't so sure. He considers the strip club offensive and would like to see it closed.

"I just don't see a whole lot of positives that it adds to the neighborhood," Montandon said.

However, the Palomino's license to serve alcohol and feature nude dancers doesn't expire until 2019. And even though North Las Vegas banned alcohol in establishments with nude dancing in 1999, the Palomino was allowed to continue operating under a grandfather clause.

Montandon had hoped the property would be sold for redevelopment, although he recognizes it may be 10 more years before the property could be sold because of the collapse of the Southern Nevada real estate market.

Dominic Gentile also believes the area has a bright future for redevelopment. "That property is going to get nothing but more valuable," he said.

Peter Demangus, general manager of Jerry's Nugget, the 45,000-square-foot casino across the street from the Palomino, agreed, pointing to development of an improved Interstate 15 off-ramp and improvements on North Fifth Street.

The strip club has an interesting -- and violence-laced -- history.

"It was the premier gentleman's club in the United States until about the mid-'90s," Gentile said.

In 2000, Jack Perry, a member of the family that then owned the club, shot the club manager. Perry later pleading guilty to second-degree murder.

The following year, Dr. Simon Stertzer, a Stanford University medical professor, told the Las Vegas Sun that he was buying the club and would use profits to pay for research. Stertzer named Luis Hidalgo Jr. a friend, to manage the club. They were unlikely friends. Hidalgo Jr. later told the Review-Journal that he was born in San Salvador, moved with his family to the San Francisco Bay Area when he was 8 and dropped out of high school.

While operating the club, the father choreographed the Palomino Stallions, a nude men's dance group, in one attempt to boost revenues.

Hidalgo Jr. drove a Pantera auto and frequently carried a handgun and wads of cash. The father also operated Simone's Auto Plaza, an auto repair shop.

The father and son were sentenced on Tuesday to life with the possibility of parole after 20 years for the 2005 killing of Timothy Hadland, but the Palomino remains in business.

"During my tenure, it changed hands twice, and somebody died both times," the mayor said. "Anytime it changes hands without a murder, it would be a good thing."

Contact reporter John G. Edwards at jedwards@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0420.