View of Las Vegas with its casinos and resorts
In the 50s Las Vegas it was a dusty town in the Mojave Desert. A good location for a sad novel by John Fante, without lights or sounds. Although gambling was legalized in 1931, the first casinos were built around twenty years later.
Tropicana cost $15 million in ’57
Among them was the Tropicana. Opened in April 1957 with an investment of 15 million dollars (just under 14 million euros), it was the most luxurious resort of the time.
Now, just days before the 67th anniversary of its opening, it has been closed to be demolished to make room for a Major League Baseball stadium.
Casinos dismantled to keep up with international competition
Even if second Michael Green, history teacher at the University of Nevada, the end of the Tropicana is “pretty sad”, in Las Vegas it is not unusual for old casinos to be dismantled along with their past. “Hotels built in the 1950s were not designed for the 2000s,” Green explained. “The closing of the Tropicana reflects Las Vegas’ changes to keep up with and overcome the international competitors».
The Tropicana resort felt like a city within a city
Antioco Carrillo, 56, worked in the kitchen of the Tropicana. It was his first job in the US after immigrating from Mexico in 1987. Carrillo took some photographs of the stained glass dome above the casino, the convention center and the swimming pool. She remembers feeling small the first time she stepped inside resort, which seemed like a “city within a city”.
Beautiful luxury hotel with 300 rooms
Nicknamed the “Tiffany of the Strip” in reference to the well-known jeweler and the most popular street in Las Vegas, the 300-room property was considered a very luxury hotel. At the time of the inauguration he received great praise from the local media, col Las Vegas Sun which spoke of a “stunningly beautiful” casino, with its “colorful mosaic-tiled entrance” and “spacious rooms,” while the Las Vegas Review described the Tropicana as having a “quiet dignity.”
The hotel was the first stage in Las Vegas to introduce the magicians Siegfried & Roy as part of the Folies Bergère show, a cabaret show imported from Paris that would continue to entertain tourists with topless showgirls for almost 50 years. Its Blue Room was another major attraction that hosted jazz artists such as Louis Armstrong.
Casinos and links to organized crime
Even if i links with organized crime were not unusual for Las Vegas casinos, Green said “the mob did a poor job of hiding their involvement at the Tropicana.”
«A month after the inauguration the gangster Frank Costello he was killed in New York. A piece of paper he had in his pocket showed gross winnings data from the Tropicana casino, linking it to a skimming operation on the property.”
Tropicana penalized by too many changes of ownership
Since then the management has changed several times, with the most recent buyers, Bally’s Corp, acquiring the Tropicana in 2022 for €137 million. “Part of its decline was due to several changes in ownership, which meant different approaches and programs,” Green added.
Tropicana furniture and linens for sale
Fans of the resort will be able to purchase the furniture of guest rooms, gaming stools and linens in the sale of liquidation before demolition of the property. Souvenir originals of a piece of Las Vegas history.
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2024-04-11 00:00:31
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