Front-row seat to Las Vegas history as Trop casino comes down
As the second tower disappeared from view and the large cloud of debris began to slowly billow and drift toward her direction, Viki Lowell dropped her plastic cup, let out an enthusiastic and encouraging obscenity and clapped loudly. Lowell, like thousands of others along the Las Vegas Strip on Wednesday morning, had just witnessed history.
“Worth it,” she said, referring to the now completed fireworks and drone display that preceded a dual-tower implosion of what once was the Tropicana casino-hotel. “I don’t know what they’re going to do there, and I don’t really care right now. That was intense.”
Daniel Roth did not plan on having a picture-perfect unobstructed view of the implosion. But sometimes things can just go your way in Las Vegas.
“I definitely requested that view and I got lucky,” Roth said. “(The hotel) was actually all booked out.”
Roth, a Las Vegas local, was staying at the Excalibur casino-hotel, which happens to be where he works and occasionally spends the night. He posted a picture of his front-row view on the “MGM Rewards Fanatics” Facebook group, as did dozens of others who shared photos and memories of the Rat Pack-era casino.
“I’m at work until midnight and then having some people over for a little watch party,” he said Tuesday night about his plans leading up to the 2:30 a.m. controlled demolition of the Tropicana Las Vegas.
Excalibur was just one of several casino-hotel properties in the vicinity of the Tropicana that were completely booked solid Tuesday night. Other properties in the immediate area, such as MGM Grand, New York New York and Luxor, filled up not long after an official date for the Trop implosion was announced.
‘Frustrating’ experience for some
Guy Kurtz, of San Antonio, Texas, was one of those people who rushed to book a hotel room on the Las Vegas Strip for the big event. Kurtz elected to stay at a casino property a bit further away. When he arrived in Las Vegas, he learned that there would be no official viewing area for the general public.
“Unfortunately, I had assumed that there would be a place to view it,” he said. “Now, it looks like I will be flying in to Vegas to get dinner and watch it on TV.”
He had a “good” meal at Nine Fine Irishman.
Finding a decent place to watch the towers come down was difficult for others as well. Jack and Kat Garcia, of Santa Barbara, Calif., said they were shooed away from “at least a half a dozen spots” along the Strip. No one they spoke with could direct them to a better location, they said.
Finally, they gave up and walked back to the casino bar to watch the implosion on television.
“I feel like the city dropped the ball on this,” Jack Garcia said. “It’s frustrating to not get any real details about what was happening until it was too late.”
“Maybe we’ll catch the next one,” Kat Garcia said with an exaggerated eye-roll and a half-smile.
‘Cool to see’ a Las Vegas casino be imploded
Not everyone was feeling as deflated as the Garcias early Wednesday morning.
Christopher Julian, another Las Vegas local, commented on Roth’s social media picture that he was “just a few floors above,” at the Excalibur. Julian, who goes by the name “DJ Caffine” at Gilley’s Saloon, Dance Hall & Bar-b-que inside Treasure Island casino-hotel, was also planning to get out of work in time to meet up with some friends for a couple of drinks and watch the early-morning implosion from his hotel room.
Since moving to Las Vegas more than 20 years ago, he has not missed a casino demolition.
“It amazes me how something so big can fall so easily,” he said. “And it’s always cool to see something being blown up. It may be the kid in me.”
The 67-year-old Trop is coming down to make way for a proposed Major League Baseball stadium. The team formally known as the Oakland Athletics will be playing in Sacramento for the next few years before relocating to Las Vegas in 2028.
The owners of the 35-acre site at the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue have designated 9 acres of the plot for the stadium.
Bally’s Corp., the current Nevada gaming license holder for the Trop, has indicated it may build a new hotel-resort on the site as well.
‘Bonding experience with the others there’
The demolition of the Trop, which closed in early April, also stirred up some emotions in revelers.
Fontaine Marsi has a somewhat personal connection to the Trop. Her parents honeymooned at the hotel and saw Folies Bergère, which was a staple at the Trop for decades and is credited with being the longest-running show in Las Vegas history.
Marsi said part of the reason she moved to Las Vegas years ago was for events like this one.
“I was there when the Stardust came down,” she said. “It was my first and it was sad. But also a bonding experience with the others there.”
She planned on creating some new bonds on Wednesday morning as the Trop joins a long list of fabled Las Vegas casinos that are no more.
“I tried to get a room with a view but they were sold out by the time we got word of the date and time,” Marsi said Tuesday night. “I’ve been searching every Las Vegas Facebook group and finally found someone willing to have a small party in his room. So I’ll be making a bunch of new friends tonight.”
Crystal Lee Wolfe flew in from Missouri and booked a room on the 27th floor of the Excalibur with a clear view.
One might say the Trop has some sentimental value to her. In 1984, Wolfe spent part of her 21st birthday playing craps at the Tropicana.
“I won $1,100. The guy rolled for almost an hour,” she said. “We saw Lionel Richie and the Commodores that weekend. They were performing at the Tropicana or the Sands, I am not sure which. I remember I spent most of the weekend playing nickel slots. My finger tips were filthy.”
With the Trop reduced to a pile of rubble, memories like those are all that remain.
David Danzis can be contacted at ddanzis@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0378. Follow AC2Vegas_Danzis on X.