Storied Tropicana closes soon to make way for Las Vegas ballpark
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When the Tropicana resort was built on the Las Vegas Strip in 1957, it ended five years ofrapid resort growth in Clark County.
The county hadn’t yet tipped 100,000 people, but 8 million people flocked to Las Vegas for fun each year.
So starting in 1952, nine resorts went up: the Sahara, Sands, New Frontier, Royal Nevada, Showboat, Riviera, Fremont and Binion’s Horseshoe.
And yes, lots of that came from Teamsters money and pension funds, and a lot of mob influence.
Be that as it may, the last one to be finished was the Tropicana. It opened with just 300 rooms, but it was luxurious, more expensive and had a celebrity chef from California.
It was truly the icing on the cake; the Bellagio of its time. And in just a few weeks, almost 70 years later, it’s gonna close.
Guests: Alan Snel, founder, LV Sports Biz; David Schwartz, ombuds and gaming professor, UNLV; David McKee, editor-in-chief, Casino Life magazine and gaming columnist, Las Vegas Advisor
