LAS VEGAS (AP).— In the 1971 film “Diamonds are Forever,” James Bond lives in a lavish suite at the Tropicana Las Vegas.
“I heard the Tropicana Hotel is very comfortable,” Agent 007 said.
It was the Tropicana’s big day. The luxurious casino was frequented by the legendary Rat Pack – the group of musicians and actors who first surrounded Humphrey Bogart and then Frank Sinatra – and its mafia past cemented its place in Las Vegas popular culture.
But after welcoming visitors for 67 years, the doors to the third-oldest casino on the Strip – the strip of Las Vegas Boulevard where the city’s main casinos and shopping centers are located – have been closed and the is expected to be demolished next October to make way for a $1.5 billion Major League Baseball stadium, part of the city’s revitalization as a sports entertainment center.
“It’s about time. It’s run its course,” Charlie Granado, a bartender at the Tropicana for 38 years, said of the casino’s closing.
“It makes me sad, but on the other hand, it’s a happy ending. “
The population of Clark County, which includes the city of Las Vegas, had just surpassed 100,000 when the Tropicana opened its doors on the vast desert-covered Strip. open It cost $15 million to build three floors with 300 rooms divided into two wings.
The gorgeous lawn and elegant executive suite earned the nickname “Tiffany of the Strip.” There was a magnificent tulip-shaped fountain near the entrance, with mosaic and mahogany paneled walls throughout.
Black-and-white photos from the era give us a glimpse of what the inside of the Tropicana was like during its heyday, when it often hosted A-list stars, from Elizabeth Taylor and Debbie Reynolds to Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr.
Mel Tormé and Eddie Fisher played at the Tropicana. Gladys Knight and Wayne Newton have lived there.
evolution
In a city known for reinvention, the Tropicana itself went through major changes as Las Vegas developed. Two quarter towers were built in later years. In 1979, a $1 million green and amber stained glass ceiling was installed above the casino floor.
Barbara Boggess was 26 years old when she started working at the Tropicana in 1978 as a laundry attendant. “The Tropicana was here almost by itself,” Boggess recalled. “Everything was deserted. It took me 10 minutes to get to work. “Now it takes me an hour.”
Boggess, 72, has seen the Tropicana through many agencies. Renovated in the 1980s as “Las Vegas Island,” with a poolside blackjack table, the South Beach-themed renovation was completed in 2011.
Today, only the lower wings of the hotel remain of the original Tropicana structure. However, the casino still brings out the nostalgia of that Las Vegas.
“It gives the feel of old Las Vegas. When you walk in, the first thing you see is the stained glass windows and the low ceilings,” said JT Seumala, a Las Vegas resident who visited the casino last March . “It feels like you’ve gone back in time for a moment. “
Seumala and her husband stayed at the Tropicana as a way of paying homage to the landmark. They wandered around the casino and hotel, walking down random hallways and exploring the convention center. They tried their luck at blackjack and roulette and spoke to a waiter who had worked there for 25 years. At the end of the trip, they pocketed a few $5 red poker chips to remember the casino.
Joining the mafia
Behind the opening of the casino, the Tropicana had ties to organized crime, mostly through the infamous Frank Costello.
Weeks after the grand opening, Costello was shot in the head in New York. The police found in his coat pocket a piece of paper with the exact figure of the Tropicana’s profits.
The note also referred to “money to be stolen (unconsciously)” for Costello’s associates, according to a post on The Mob Museum’s website about the history of the Tropicana.
In the 1970s, federal authorities investigating mobsters in Kansas City charged more than a dozen mob representatives with conspiring to embezzle nearly $2 million in proceeds. gambling from Las Vegas casinos, including the Tropicana. The Tropicana-related charges alone resulted in five convictions.
But the famous hotel-casino also enjoyed several years of success without the mafia. It was home to the city’s longest-running show, “Folies Bergere.” The topless show, imported from Paris, featured what is now one of the most recognizable icons of Las Vegas: the feather showgirl.
During its nearly 50-year run, “Folies Bergere” included elaborate costumes and sets, original music – once performed by a live orchestra – synchronized dancers, magic shows, acrobats and comedy.
The cabaret appeared in Elvis Presley’s 1964 film “Viva Las Vegas.” Magicians Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn started at that show.
Today, the site is at the southern end of the Las Vegas Strip crossing a major road called the Tropicana. It is surrounded by the amazing resorts that Las Vegas is now famous for.
But nearby are the homes of the Las Vegas Raiders football team, which left Oakland, California, in 2020, and the city’s first professional Major League team, the Golden Knights hockey team.
The stadium to be built on the land where the Tropicana is now located should open in 2028.
“There’s a lot of controversy about whether it should stay or go,” James admitted. “But what I love about Las Vegas is that it’s always reinventing itself.”
2024-04-29 07:33:55
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