A favorite hotel located on Las Vegas Strip was crushed down on October 9, preceded by a whole ceremony of fireworks and flashing lights. A new baseball stadium is to replace it.
On the 9 of October at 2:30 am, the two remaining towers of hotel Tropicana were imploded. The 35-acre big hotel closed its doors in April 2024, and its demolition began in less than a month.
Tropicana, built on April 4, 1957, was not just a hotel. While online casinos such as those listed on Vegas Expert gain popularity nowadays, the casino saloon it held attracted thousands of gamblers and high rollers.
The casino hotel was one of the first to be built on the Las Vegas Strip, helping to transform it into an iconic entertainment hub. Costing $15 million, the so-called “Tiffany of the Strip” was the most expensive resort to be built in Las Vegas at that time. More than 15,000 people welcomed the casino with excitement at the grand opening.
The resort counted 300 rooms, each of which had a balcony offering breathtaking views. Visitors could relax by a half-moon-shaped pool surrounded by palm trees located in the middle of the two wings of the hotel.
Later, two towers were added with 1400 new rooms – The Tiffany Tower in 1979 with 600 rooms, and the Island Tower that was built almost a decade later, with 800 new rooms.
Also called “The Trop”, the casino’s early days were anything but ordinary. At the time of its opening, its leadership was closely linked to the mafia. After an influential mobster Frank Costello survived being shot in New York, an FBI investigation took place. The police found the exact figure of Tropicana’s earnings on a piece of paper in his coat pocket along with the note suggesting the money had been skimmed. In the 1970s, after the federal authorities investigated mobster activity in Kansas City, Tropicana ended up with five accusations.
Full of glitz and glamour, Tropicana was visited by various famous people and even served as a shooting location for some of the most popular movies, such as Elvis Presley’s Viva Las Vegas (1964), The Godfather (1972) or a Bond film Diamonds Are Forever (1971).
The hotel hosted various elite Hollywood visitors, including Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr.
The casino also organized a Paris-inspired musical revue “Folies Bergere”, featuring women in feathered costumes, enticing music with a live orchestra, magic shows, and more. Lasting nearly 50 years, the tradition came to an end in 2009 upon the Great Recession.
Various management changes took place over the 67 years of the casino hotel’s operation. From Ramada Inns to GLPI, many were in possession of the complex, with Bally’s Corporation being the last to own it.
It was the latter that came into agreement with Oakland Athletics baseball team to demolish the complex and make way for building a $1.5 billion baseball stadium to relocate the fourth major league sports team. The construction of the stadium will begin in April 2025 and is expected to be done by 2028.
On top of that, a new Bally’s Las Vegas resort will occupy the remaining 15 acres of the previous complex. Bally’s plans to build a resort that will count with more than 3000 rooms, a 90,000 sq ft casino, three towers and a large convention space. The construction should be completed around the same time as the stadium.
Soo Kim, the chairman of Bally’s Corporation is looking forward to a change: “It’s fitting that this iconic site now represents the future of Las Vegas as we look forward to welcoming Major League Baseball, the Athletics, and an exciting new entertainment complex. This moment in Las Vegas history represents more than just the next chapter it’s the evolution of the Strip, where legend meets innovation to create something truly unforgettable.”
Similarly, Arik Knowles, the Tropicana’s general manager and vice president of hospitality urged the audience on Wednesday to view the demolition not as a conclusion, but as “the beginning of something even greater”.
What might seem like good news for someone, can provoke nostalgia in others. Only one hotel from the mob era still stands on the Las Vegas Strip the Flamingo. Nonetheless, in the 1990s, it was completely reconstructed, leaving the Strip with no original casinos. Maybe that’s why the farewell ceremony of Tropicana attracted hundreds of spectators.
The ceremony was huge, with 555 aerial drones and dazzling fireworks, and 2000 pounds of explosives were used to make the light show unforgettable. The ceremony was preceded by giving thanks to Sin City. Although there was no way to watch the event live, people enjoyed the atmosphere virtually, thanks to livestream broadcasts. Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority X account offered one, and the demolition itself was broadcast by Bally’s.
