Bye-bye, Tropicana Las Vegas

[Thad1527]

At 2 AM Pacific time Wednesday, the two 23-story towers of the Tropicana Las Vegas hotel-casino will be imploded.
In-person viewing will not be permitted, but the show is being televised and available online. It includes drones - so many drones! - and fireworks.

The demolition is to allow construction of a new baseball stadium for the A's. A new hotel-casino is also in the plans.

I probably won't watch as it happens...it's 5 AM Eastern time! But I'm sure it will be interesting to see.

I'll be in Las Vegas next month and will see the rubble or whatever's left. It's not far from T-Mobike Arena

 

[EddMarkStarr]

Why am I so emotional about a building I've never visited in Las Vegas?
I can't stop thinking about this, but I feel better when I see the Tropicana in its "skeleton" state.

 

[Thad1527]

I have gambled there. Never stayed in the hotel, though.

 

[EddMarkStarr]

It's shocking to see nothing standing but an empty shell.
Sure wouldn't want to remember the Tropicana like that, it might be a relief to have it all come down.

 

[NotHardUp1]

Why am I so emotional about a building I've never visited in Las Vegas?

Not a doc here, but I think it is related to your retirement.

 

[Thad1527]

 

[rareboy]

sic transit gloria mundi.

 

[unloadonme]

Is Las Vegas the tackiest city in the USA or what?

 

[TickTockMan]

As a Vegas lover I have visited there. Not much of a loss, but it's history.


Dumb place to put a baseball stadium though. With the football stadium so close and the MGM Grand Arena for boxing and other big events, traffic by foot or car will be terrible from time to time. Not to mention F1.

 

[TickTockMan]

Is Las Vegas the tackiest city in the USA or what?

Yes and I love it.

 

[rareboy]

Is Las Vegas the tackiest city in the USA or what?

It may not be the tackiest city, but it does seem to be a city without an intellectual centre or raison d'tre.

There is a great polemic 'Learning from Las Vegas', but all I see is a bloated, gaseous and empty excuse for north americans to feed the beast.

Learning from Las Vegas - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Probably the most meaningful and profound thing that ever happened in Vegas was this:

2017 Las Vegas shooting - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

We have family and 'friends' who go there every year and seem to derive an almost religious experience from being there...but it is about as far away from my idea of the reason we are on this earth as any.

 

[NotHardUp1]

Probably the most meaningful and profound thing that ever happened in Vegas was this:

20 more people than that died in the MGM Grand fire in 1980, and 300 more people were injured than the 400 in the shooting.

The completion of Hoover Dam in 1935 was a much more momentous event in Vegas history. If there were an agreed list of 7 modern woders of the world, it would be a contender for how marvelous it was at the early date constructed.

 

[Vannie]

Babalu!

Nevermind wrong Tropicana.

 

[Thad1527]

Las Vegas does have a university, and many churches. The Mormons have been there from the start.

There's an Arts District. And Area 51, a collection of arts installations including Meow Wolf's Omega Mart.

Las Vegas architecture is definitely eclectic.

But I've stayed at Airbnb's in residential Vegas neighborhoods I would gladly live in permanently. My favorite supermarket is Smith's (owned by Kroger). Good tacos are readily available.

Yes, I've stayed in the hotel that WAS the MGM Grand. It became Bally's and has rebranded as the Horseshoe.

I'm a fan.

 

[Essex Boy]

^
What about the Liberace Museum!

When Peter Maxwell Davies was touring the USA with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra they did a concert in Las Vegas. A hotel booking mix-up resulted in one of his most entertaining orchestral pieces. You need to know the back story: https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/work/8358/Mavis-in-Las-Vegas--Peter-Maxwell-Davies/

 

[NotHardUp1]

Babalu!

Nevermind wrong Tropicana.

Oh, REEEEEKY!

 

[EddMarkStarr]

One, last short video of the Tropicana demolition.