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Phil Hagen

Phil Hagen

Editorial Director

Contact: 868-4557 • Email

Hagen has been editor of some of Las Vegas’ most prestigious publications, including the award-winning Desert Companion, Architecture Las Vegas and Las Vegas Life, which won a Silver Medal for general excellence in 2003 from the City & Regional Magazine Association. He gave up five glamorous years of freelance editing, writing and house-sitting to launch Vegas Seven in 2010.

View Comments By Phil Hagen 5/23 2:49pm

Summer Guide

AC Dizzy

NV Energy’s efficiency programs for consumers sure sound great: mPowered sends a technician by to set up free smart thermostats for your home, and CheckMe Plus offers a cheap air-conditioning system inspection and possible upgrades that could save a good deal of money on your power bill. With triple-digit temperatures already here, I couldn’t wait to join the Nevada households that have saved about $500 million over the past five years. Read More
View Comments By Phil Hagen 5/23 10:56am

Summer Guide

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AC Dizzy

NV Energy’s efficiency programs for consumers sure sound great: mPowered sends a technician by to set up free smart thermostats for your home, and CheckMe Plus offers a cheap air-conditioning system inspection and possible upgrades that could save a good deal of money on your power bill. With triple-digit temperatures already here, I couldn’t wait to join the Nevada households that have saved about $500 million over the past five years. But … I’m still Read More
View Comments By Phil Hagen 5/23 1:47am

Summer Guide

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The ABC’s of Vegas AC

Just a coincidence? It’s the 111th anniversary of modern air conditioning. Las Vegas was founded three years later.  Actually, our first air-conditioned building was the El Portal Theater at 310 Fremont Street, which debuted its coolness on June 21, 1928. If we were to have a citywide holiday, that should be it. About 65 percent of the average power bill in Las Vegas during summer months is a direct result of AC Read More
View Comments By Phil Hagen 5/08 3:50pm

Kayaking

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Paddle Down the River Mild

If death-defying isn’t your speed, you’ll be happy to know that this adventure starts with a rubber “Ducky Kayak” and potentially ends at a bar. And “potentially” has nothing to do with the Verde River’s ferocity—just the fact that you have a choice of where your journey Read More
View Comments By Phil Hagen 9/20/12 12:00am

Great Drives

The Backdoor to the Wild West

You can have the Grand Canyon—you and the 5 million other tourists each year. I’ll take the nearby Sycamore Canyon, whose visitation is so slight that no one bothers to count. There’s no ranger booth, admission or pamphlets. Come to think of it, there’s not even a welcome Read More
View Comments By Phil Hagen 9/17/12 6:20pm

Sports

Meet the (future) Mets

Next spring when Jerry Seinfeld performs in Las Vegas, the comedian can get a first-hand look at the future stars of his favorite baseball team. The Las Vegas 51s announced a two-year Player Development Contract with the New York Mets today, which will extend until the 2014 season. The affiliation will mark the fourth MLB franchise that the 51s, which just finished their 30th season in Las Vegas this summer, will serve as the top feeder team for—having just completed a four-year deal as the Triple A affiliate for the Toronto Blue Read More
View Comments By Phil Hagen 7/26/12 12:00am

Concert Review

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Willie Nelson and Family

If it had been awhile since you’d seen Willie live, there was no doubt an anxious adjustment period when he shuffled out from the wings and ground his way through the first few songs. The old Outlaw, who turns 80 in April, is no longer able to lay into “Whiskey River”—his traditional rousing concert-opener—in the same spine-tingling way, and “Still Is Still Moving to Me” simply didn’t have much Read More
View Comments By Phil Hagen 12/01/11 12:00am

Concerts

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Kris Kristofferson

It took awhile to get the one-man show in gear on this Friday night. Maybe it was the onstage technical difficulties, which bothered the star and, only in turn, the audience. Maybe it was because we’re not getting any younger: Kristofferson is 75 now (that’s about 110 in Outlaw years), and the audience that filled the showroom seemed even older (hard to believe Janis Joplin hit No. 1 with the Kristofferson-penned “Me and Bobby McGee” 40 years Read More
View Comments By Phil Hagen 6/09/11 12:00am

Concert Review

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Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt

It was like the two legendary troubadours were just passing through little ol’ Henderson, Nevada, and decided to put on a show for the neighborhood, if anybody’d be interested in coming. They’d brought a couple of amps and acoustic guitars. Green Valley Ranch had a ballroom and a bunch of chairs. What else was Read More
View Comments By Phil Hagen 5/12/11 12:00am

Great Drives

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89Awesome

My bias for Flagstaff stems from the nostalgia of having lived there during the formative years of my adult life, in the late 1980s. But that experience also let me in on a fairly objective secret: that this mountain city in the pines is more than the base camp of northern Arizona’s wonderland (the Grand Canyon, Painted Desert, Sunset Crater, et al); it is itself a great Read More