The iconic Tropicana hotel on the Las Vegas Strip said its final goodbye Saturday morning with a dramatic implosion that reduced the Mob-era building to rubble. This marks the first casino demolition in nearly a decade, a notable event in a city that has made casino demolitions a part of its identity. The implosion, which included a fireworks display, brought closure to a building that opened its doors in 1957 and has been a part of Las Vegas’ rich history ever since.
The Tropicana, once known as the “Tiffany of the Strip” for its opulence, was a frequent haunt of the Rat Pack and had a reputation for being a mob-controlled casino. The building’s connections to organized crime were evident from its early days, with reputed mobster Frank Costello being shot in the head in New York just weeks after the casino’s grand opening. The investigation that followed revealed the mob’s stake in the casino, and by the 1970s, federal authorities were investigating mobsters in Kansas City for skimming gambling revenue from casinos, including the Tropicana.
Spectacular Demolition of Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas (Image via Getty)
Over the years, the Tropicana underwent several renovations, adding two hotel towers to its original low-rise hotel wings. The building’s million-dollar stained glass ceiling, installed in 1979, was a popular attraction. However, despite its glamorous past, the Tropicana had not been the same since the 1960s and had been steadily losing its luster. It closed its doors in April, marking the end of an era.
The implosion of the Tropicana cleared the way for a $1.5 billion baseball stadium for the relocating Oakland Athletics, part of the city’s efforts to rebrand itself as a sports hub. While the Flamingo is the only remaining casino from the city’s mob era, its original structures have long been gone, replaced by a completely rebuilt casino in the 1990s. The Tropicana’s demolition is a final farewell to a building steeped in glamour and notoriety, and its legacy will live on in the annals of Las Vegas history.
