LAS VEGAS – The Tropicana was well-known in Las Vegas history.

Opened in 1957, the hotel-casino was affectionately dubbed the “Tiffany of the Strip” for its opulence. It gained fame for its exceptional entertainment, featuring the enduring showgirl revue Folies Bergere and renowned jazz stars like Louis Armstrong.

This iconic resort stood for nearly 70 years along the Strip.

The demolition took less than half a minute.

At about 2:30 a.m. Pacific Time on Wednesday, over 2,000 pounds of explosives successfully demolished the Paradise Tower and Club Tower of the Tropicana in just 22 seconds. This marked the first implosion in Las Vegas in almost a decade, clearing the way for a new Major League Baseball stadium for the Athletics.

“Let’s perceive this not as an end, but as the start of something even more remarkable,” said Arik Knowles, the Tropicana’s general manager and vice president of hospitality, addressing the crowd on Wednesday morning.

‘A True Artistic Display’

The farewell event featured a dazzling 555-drone and fireworks show synchronized to music from legendary Vegas icons such as Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, with drones forming images of the famous Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign and the Athletics emblem.

Due to safety protocols, there were no public viewing spots for the demolition; however, a private event hosted around 500 guests. Nevertheless, many people traveled to Las Vegas hoping to catch a glimpse of the spectacle.

The night of the implosion, hotel rates in the area surged. For instance, Mandalay Bay, which hosted an implosion viewing at a rooftop venue, had rates starting at $699 for Tuesday night, greatly exceeding the usual price of under $80 for a Thursday stay. Nearby hotels like the Excalibur, Luxor, and Oyo were completely booked, according to their listings.

Steve Crupi, a former TV news reporter dubbed the “implosion guy” for his extensive coverage of Las Vegas demolitions, remarked to YSL News about the excitement that follows these events.

“Implosions have a certain magic,” he stated. “To witness a giant structure collapse in merely a few seconds feels surreal. And yet, the precision and artistry involved makes it more than just demolition; it transforms into a form of art.”

This is not Las Vegas’ inaugural venture into using explosions to attract tourists. In the 1950s, the city promoted atomic tourism, even providing a calendar with bomb detonation schedules and viewing spots, as reported by PBS.

“It showcases our innate fascination with explosive displays,” commented David Schwartz, an adjunct history professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

By the time the first resort on the Las Vegas Strip was demolished, the city had already turned these explosions into grand entertainment.

For the 1993 implosion of the Dunes, Treasure Island’s pirate ship theatrically fired cannons at the 38-year-old establishment, marking the start of a legendary attraction. Explosives led to the resort’s collapse amidst fireworks and pyrotechnics, captivating thousands of spectators.

Subsequent hotel-casino implosions included landmarks like the Stardust, Aladdin, and Desert Inn, enveloping the Strip in clouds of dust. The Riviera was the last resort to undergo implosion before the Tropicana, with its demolition occurring in 2016.

“We’ve had a period without activity,” remarked Mark Loizeaux, the head of Controlled Demolition, Inc., the Maryland-based firm that has managed every major hotel demolition in Las Vegas since the Dunes.

Similar to previous resort demolitions, the Tropicana’s demolition was carefully orchestrated.

Loizeaux explained that the towers were stripped of their interiors beforehand, and walls were dismantled to reduce “dust creators”. The explosives were scheduled to detonate early on a weekday to minimize wind and traffic.

The objective, according to Loizeaux, is to ensure that “structures are brought down swiftly and safely so the community and its casinos can return to normalcy.”

Time for some sports

Las Vegas is famous for a variety of attractions; stagnation isn’t one of them.

The city has a longstanding tradition of reinventing itself—from the gangster-dominated Rat Pack days to the current era of extravagant megaresorts.

Now, the city’s latest venture is into the sports arena.

The Tropicana’s demolition will clear the way for Las Vegas’s fourth major league sports franchise, with Bally’s Corporation and the Athletics planning to construct a new resort and ballpark on the former site of the Tropicana.

A new $1.5 billion, 33,000-seat indoor stadium will occupy nine acres, with additional space allocated for a new casino resort.

Bally’s chairman Soohyung Kim indicated that plans for the corresponding resort are still being finalized, with no announced opening date yet; however, the ballpark is set to debut in time for the 2028 MLB season.

Kim praised the Tropicana as a “wonderful” casino with strong ties to classic Las Vegas figures like the Rat Pack and showgirls. He noted, however, that Vegas isn’t a place for nostalgia.

“The city understands that in order to maintain its status as America’s tourism hub, it must keep evolving and expanding,” he stated. “We recognize that projects like a baseball stadium need to enhance the overall well-being of the city, and I am confident that we will create an extraordinary asset for Las Vegas.”