Viva, Las Vegas
Today is the last day of business for the venerable Tropicana hotel in Las Vegas.
Soon, like so many other legendary properties that made up the original Las Vegas strip, the Tropicana will be demolished to make way for a new major league baseball stadium to house the now-Oakland Athletics franchise.
All that’s left from the original heyday of the 1970s are Caesar’s Palace, Circus Circus, and the Flamingo. The Tropicana would have celebrated its 67th birthday in two days…it opened in 1959 as a 325-room hotel, and the most expensive to that point at a cost of $15 million to build—that would be $470 million today.
I was 8 years of age back in 1971, when Lions Club International held its annual international convention in Las Vegas, and since my father was an active member and officer of Lions in Iowa, we took a family vacation there, staying at the Tropicana. I recall standing just off the casino floor as my father got us checked into the hotel…the stained glass ceiling over the casino, the lights, the action…all pretty heady stuff for a small-town Iowa kid.
I haven’t been to Las Vegas for about a decade and a half. In the 2000s, I’d go to the National Association of Broadcasters conference there each spring, and while it seemed everything had changed over time, there were still a few memories from my childhood left standing…after today, one fewer.
I haven’t been to the Mall of America for years either, but anytime I was in the neighborhood, I’d still think of times watching the Twins at Metropolitan Stadium, which was knocked down in favor of the Mall. I wonder with the constant change in Las Vegas, if anyone attending an A’s game in 2026 and after will even remember one of the legendary hotels that met its end so fans could enjoy new memories.
