The Tropicana Las Vegas, a famous casino known from the mob days and a Sin City icon, has closed after 67 years.
In the movie "Diamonds are Forever," from 1971, James Bond is seen enjoying his time at the Tropicana Las Vegas. "I hear that the Hotel Tropicana is quite comfortable," says Agent 007 in the film. The Tropicana was once a popular spot for the famous Rat Pack and its history with the mob made it a legend in Vegas.
But now, after 67 years, this old casino on the Las Vegas Strip has said goodbye. On Tuesday, workers and fans gathered to say farewell, some cheering, some crying, as they watched this big moment. People passed around tissues because it was so emotional. Then, just before one o'clock in the afternoon, security started to lock up the Tropicana for the last time.
You could hear the sound of the chains as they locked the golden door handles. They're going to knock down the casino in October to build a huge new baseball stadium that costs $1.5billion. This is part of Las Vegas's plan to become a sports capital.
Charlie Granado, who worked at the Tropicana bar for 38 years, said it's a mix of happy and sad feelings. "It's time. It's ran its course," he shared. "It makes me sad. But on the other hand, it's a happy ending." When the Tropicana first opened its doors, Clark County's population had just tipped over 100,000.
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The casino was built in the middle of a vast desert and cost $15million to construct. It had three floors with 300 rooms split into two wings. The Tropicana quickly earned the nickname "Tiffany of the Strip" thanks to its well-kept lawns and flashy showroom.
Visitors were greeted by a tall tulip-shaped fountain near the entrance, and the inside was adorned with mosaic tiles and walls panelled in mahogany. Black and white photos from that era show what life was like inside the Tropicana at its peak. It played host to big-name stars like Elizabeth Taylor, Debbie Reynolds, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Mel Torme and Eddie Fisher.
Fast forward a few decades, and Joe Zappulla from New Jersey was one of the last guests to check out before the Tropicana closed its doors for good. He spent $600 on a room and fulfilled a Vegas dream: lying on top of a craps table on the casino floor. "When else can I do this in Vegas? " he asked.
Zappulla grew up hearing stories from his parents about their encounters with the Rat Pack during the Tropicana's golden years. They honeymooned in Las Vegas in 1961 and visited often. It was a version of Sin City that his parents adored. "Old Vegas, it's going," said Zappulla, tears streaming down his face. "So I'm really clinging to a little piece of that."
The Tropicana, known for its ever-changing persona to match the evolving city of Las Vegas, has had quite a few alterations in its lifetime. Additions of two hotel towers took place over time and in 1979, the casino's iconic $1million green-and-amber stained glass ceiling was installed above the gambling floor.
Barbara Boggess started her journey at Tropicana as a linen room attendant when she was just 26 years old in the late 70s. Now at 72, Boggess has witnessed firsthand all the different phases the Tropicana has transitioned through. This included its 80s facelift into "the Island of Las Vegas," featuring a pool with a swim-up blackjack table, and its transformation into a South Beach-theme after renovations completed in 2011.
Currently, only the low-rise hotel wings are left standing from the original Tropicana structure. However, it is still full of vintage Vegas charm and nostalgia. JT Seumala, a Las Vegas resident who stayed at the casino back in March, marvelled about how walking in you see the spectacular stained glass and the low ceilings. "It does feel like you step back in time for a moment."
During their visit, JT and his husband strolled around the vast property. They wandered down random corridors capturing snaps of the purple-and-orange carpets, wallpaper and the ceiling. They tried their hand at games like blackjack and roulette. Sharing chats and laughs with a cocktail waitress who had been there for 25 years, they even held on to some red $5 poker chips as mementos of their time at this well-known mob-era casino.
Behind the scenes of the casino’s opening decades ago, the Tropicana had ties to organized crime, largely through reputed mobster Frank Costello. Costello was shot in the head in New York weeks after the Tropicana's debut. He survived, but the investigation led police to a piece of paper in his coat pocket with the Tropicana’s exact earnings figure and mention of “money to be skimmed” for Costello’s associates, according to The Mob Museum.
By the 1970s, federal authorities investigating mobsters in Kansas City charged more than a dozen operatives with conspiring to skim $2 million in gambling revenue from Las Vegas casinos, including the Tropicana. Charges connected to the Tropicana alone resulted in five convictions.
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But there were many years of mob-free success at the Tropicana. It was home to the city's longest running show, “Folies Bergere.” The topless revue, imported from Paris, had a nearly 50-year run and helped make the feathered showgirl one of the most recognizable Las Vegas icons.
Today, the casino once surrounded by wide-open desert intersects with a major street named for it at the south end of the Strip, dwarfed by towering megaresorts that Las Vegas is now known for. Nearby are the homes of the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders, who left Oakland, California, in 2020, and the city’s first major league professional team, the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights.
The ballpark planned for the land beneath the Tropicana is expected to open in 2028. “There’s a lot of controversy as far as if it should stay or should it go,” Seumala said. “But the thing that I do love about Vegas is that it’s always reinventing itself.”
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