Las Vegas Hotel Implosions
Historic Casinos Making Way for New
High Rises Along the Strip
Many of the famous Strip hotels from the 1950s have
been torn down to make way for new
Las Vegas high rise
condos. For nostalgia buffs that remember the "Old" Las
Vegas Strip, here are the implosion videos of some landmark casinos
that used to grace the Las Vegas skyline. I have included below
sentimental favorites that hold a special place in my own heart:
The Landmark Hotel was the first casino I ever
dropped a nickel into a slot in 1979. I saw my very first Las Vegas
show at the Stardust Hotel, The Lido de Paris, also in 1979. At that
time Siegfried and Roy were just one of the variety acts sandwiched
in between the lavish costume numbers (along with Bobby Berosini and
his Orangutans and the magnificent Lipizzaner horses), and no show
since has ever measured up to that first magical extravaganza.
Later I got to see
Siegfried and Roy when they first opened up at the Frontier Hotel.
During my early years in Las Vegas I worked for a tourist center on
the Strip next door to the Aladdin Hotel and my co workers and I
used to hang out there almost every day after work. And my husband
worked at the Sands until right before it closed.
But I will never forget the night they imploded the
Dunes. I had just gone to see my first ever hockey game, The Las
Vegas Thunder, at the Thomas and Mack Center. The enthusiastic fans
were yelling and cheering after an exciting win with lots of body
checking action and some bench clearing brawls. But as we came out
the exits, the news swelled among the crowd that they were about to
bring down the Dunes. A solemn hush came over 15,000+ raucous hockey
fans as the Dunes fell gracefully to the ground in the City's first
ever implosion.
To view these videos, hold your mouse over the
bottom edge of each photo until you see the little hand and then
click to play.
