The Tropicana Goes Out In A Blaze Of Glory

The Tropicana, a Las Vegas Strip staple since 1957, is no more.

At a little after 2:30 a.m. local time Wednesday, the casino hotel was brought down in an implosion, which created quite the bang up and down the Strip.

Where people did not get a bang, however, was for their buck, as hotel prices near and around the Tropicana were through the roof in the days leading up to the implosion.

Rooms at New York New York were going for nearly $600, Park MGM was getting $700, and the Bellagio was getting over $1,000, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

For comparison’s sake, those same rooms are available next Tuesday night for $149, $174, and $379, respectively, on Expedia.

The planned demolition of the Tropicana was announced in 2023, when the Oakland A’s reached an agreement with Bally’s — the current owners of the Tropicana — to make room for a new baseball stadium for the incoming Las Vegas baseball team. Bally’s will also be building a new casino-hotel on the property, which will be known as Bally’s Las Vegas.

The Tropicana closed its doors for good this past April 2, and some demolition had already occurred prior to this week. Wednesday morning’s implosion brought down the final pieces: the two hotel towers.

Mob and more

As one might imagine concerning a Vegas hotel casino that was built in 1957, the Trop has had a colorful history.

For starters, yes, there were certainly mob connections to the property.

In May of ’57, Frank Costello — who had been the acting boss of the Luciano crime family and who just survived an assassination attempt by the Genovese crime family before “retiring” from mob life — was found in possession of a handwritten note. That note detailed — to the decimal point — money coming in and going out from the Tropicana. It was found on his person, in the hospital, after the assassination attempt. 

It didn’t take much to suss out Costello’s connection. The Tropicana was partially developed by “Dandy” Phil Kastel, who had partnered with Costello in numerous gambling operations throughout the years. 

Later, in the 1970s, the casino was the center of a skimming operation headed up by the Kansas City faction of the mob.

Then there was the fake mob connection: The hotel was used as Moe Greene’s casino in The Godfather, and it was also used, though later cut (but then restored in The Godfather Epic) in The Godfather Part II.

But it wasn’t all cannolis and guns at the Trop; it was widely heralded as one of the, if not the, swankiest joints on the Strip, not only when it opened, but throughout much of its early history. It was known as “Tiffany on the Strip,” a nod to its high-end decor.

It was also home to The Folies Bergere, which, at nearly 50 years, until its closing in 2009, was the longest-running Vegas show in history.

Then there was the Blue Room, a jazz club that saw the likes of Count Basie, Benny Goodman, and Louis Armstrong grace the stage.

Now, it’s gone.

The A’s stadium is expected to be built starting in April 2025 and completed by 2028. There is no announced timeline of the construction of Bally’s Las Vegas.