The Tropicana Las Vegas hotel — famous as both a Rat Pack haunt and a monument to mobster lore — was imploded at 2:30 a.m. local time to make room for a baseball stadium.
“Tonight we bid farewell to this chapter of the Tropicana Las Vegas,” General Manager Arik Knowles said in a celebration preceding the blast that brought down the 67-year-old structure. “Let’s not think of it as an ending, but as the beginning of something even greater.”
With that, the property was handed over to Bally’s Corporation and the Oakland Athletics baseball team, which plans to reopen the space as a ballpark in 2028.
The Tropicana ceased operations in April. It follows the Dunes, Sands, Desert Inn, Aladdin and Stardust in a line of old-school Sin City hotels to fall as Las Vegas continues to evolve.
Billionaire Steve Wynn began the tradition of celebrating the demolition of hotel casinos in 1993 when he wiped the Dunes off the face of the Earth so the Bellagio could be built.
The last casino to be imploded on the Strip was the Riviera in 2016.
The Tropicana opened its door in 1957 to host guests in 300 hotel rooms spread among two wings.
Reputed New York mobster Frank Costello is credited for help bring the Tropicana to life. He was shot in the head weeks after the joint opened, but survived that hit.
A subsequent investigation let authorities to connect the casino and others to organized crime. Criminal charges connected to the Tropicana resulted in five convictions, according to The Associated Press.
Stars including Louis Armstrong, Wayne Newton, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Mel Tormé and Eddie Fisher were frequent hotel guests over a stretch spanning seven decades. Traditional showgirls often performed.
Many changes were made in the years to come, most notably the casino’s $1 million stained glass ceiling that was installed in 1979. The Tropicana earned the nickname “Tiffany of the Strip” for its lavishness.
With News Wire Services
