DREAM BUILDERS: Masters of fantasy

Hunting for Pete Mensching's company in the phone book may take some degree of page-turning. Looking under "P" for "problem solvers" or "prop specialists" might help, although "vision makers" might be a slightly more accurate listing. Checking the "fantasies transformed into reality" section might be the best place, albeit the most fanciful.

Themeing Solutions, which Mensching started in North Las Vegas in 1999, ideally could be called an "environment creator." The company can fabricate almost any themed element, from a flashy re-creation of the Old West to a bright, gleaming cocktail lounge with rotating crystal bottle cabinets, or even backdrops for culture icons in a wax museum; wherever Mensching & Co. have done their work in Las Vegas, that spot in the city contains a fantasy brought to life.

"It's taking what the artists and scenic designers envision, and actually doing the mechanical aspects of it and creating that vision," said Bob Watson, director of operations. "In the theater, for example, you have to take the scene down and put it back up. In our industry, we have to put it up, and keep it up. We call them architectural elements."

The company's latest effort will be unveiled Thursday. "Borg Invasion 4D" opens and brings a darker dimension to "Star Trek: The Experience" inside the Las Vegas Hilton, with Themeing Solutions' handiwork built into the core of the new attraction. While collaborating with Daina Construction, Mensching created and installed an entire line of 24th-century props to simulate the Trek universe. Paramount Parks provided Mensching with their story line, the available square feet, the available budget, and the futuristic furnishings that would help patrons boldly go into the fictional cosmos.

"We worked hand-in-hand with the Paramount Parks people close to a year to create an attraction together that would meet their budget needs, as well as their aesthetic needs," he said. "That typically happens on every single job because people's vision is typically not what they can afford.

"They call upon someone like me to take what is in their head and what's on their sketches and figure out, `How do we really make this work? What are the issues? What are the concerns? What kind of impacts are we going to have in our building? What kind of issues are we going to have with the building department? With the public? How are we going to maintain it?'"

Themeing Solutions troubleshoots logistical considerations such as these, and doing that helps make Mensching's company a "one-stop shopping" venue. Since the company puts about 55 artisans and technicians to work, and houses an iron shop, a carpenter shop and an art shop, it can provide clients with all the architectural elements, while partnering with firms such as Daina Construction for the installation of its handiwork.

The Silverton Hotel contains several Mensching pieces installed by Daina, including an elaborate series of backlit panels of tree designs in the Sundance Grill, in addition to some aspen pine logs Mensching imported from Utah. Mensching also converted and stretched a 1960s Airstream camping trailer to house a pair of coin-operated bowling lanes in the Shady Grove Lounge to help facilitate the proper atmosphere, as well as a sumptuous color scheme for the eyes.

Daina Construction's Joseph Vernola told of how the entire front entry and interior foyer of the Silverton had to be removed to accommodate the sizable Themeing Solutions specimens.

"The word `no' doesn't exist for Pete, and that's the essence of Themeing Solutions," Vernola said. "For example, some contractors are afraid -- they're intimidated by the size or the weight of Themeing Solutions' products because of the grand proportions of some of Pete's work.

"Pete goes through a metamorphosis on every project that he takes on, and he begins to eat, breathe and live every detail of every job he does. Pete has the innate ability to look at a problem and come up with multiple solutions."

Mensching has been plying those skills since he and his brother, William, owned a company in Connecticut, one that prefabricated and installed Siegfried and Roy's complete stage show at The Mirage. Soon after, he was hired by Steve Wynn's group to create the pirate show in front of Treasure Island.

The items for The Mirage had been created in Connecticut, and shipped across the country in about 60 tractor-trailer trucks. The pirate paraphernalia could not be completed using the same long-distance methods.

"There was no way to prefabricate the ships across the country and deliver them," Mensching said. "So at that time, we set up shop out here and built the ships, installed them and at that point, decided to take root in Las Vegas.

"It had really intrigued me as to what was going on out here because, being from back East, I had no idea how fast the area was developing, especially in the world that I'm from of creating unique environments for commercial show-type venues."

Mensching participated in other major theming projects around town, including serving as project director on the first attraction at "Star Trek: The Experience," which was unveiled in 1998, and the "Parade in the Sky" at the Rio. He got Themeing Solutions going one year later, and thought it a snug fit for the city and its business climate.

"I thought Las Vegas had become the theme capital of the country -- probably the most themed hotels, casinos and architecture are being done here," Mensching said. "And in New York, for example, there are probably half a dozen to a dozen major manufacturing facilities like ours. In L.A., you have the same thing. Las Vegas was a fairly fresh market that didn't have any local support for this type of work."

Themeing Solutions' imprint can also be found in the form of the fire effects at the renovated buffet at the Rio, as well as the rotating bottle towers at the Tabu Ultra Lounge inside the MGM Grand.

Substitution of materials, a fierce attention to product detail, a high priority on tightening the budget and an adherence to both building and safety codes are all part of Themeing Solutions' modus operandi.

But most of all, the company creates what the client wants -- from scratch.

"We create an environment for the patrons, whether it's to help Paramount Parks in their experience or the environment at the Silverton with the Western atmosphere," Watson said. "We create the warm, fuzzy feeling in the room, and it's a combination of construction and theater, and the creativeness that Pete brings to the mix."

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