Goodbye to the Stardust

[Brian Sheridan]

They put the death touch on the Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas this morning. I stayed there last year and thought it deserved to live. The rooms were clean and sharp (though small). Vegas isn't a town for history though but that doesn't mean we shouldn't stop to mourn the loss.

Salute to the Stardust

 

[Brian Sheridan]

watch it go down.....sigh.

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2946271

 

[Baron Kurtz]

An eyesore! That whole strip is nothing but one big eyesore. Demolish it all, i say.

bk

 

[Mike in Seattle]

Ashes to ashes, Stardust to dust...

Interesting in the report there's a second or two music clip from SimCity.

 

[panamag8or]

R.I.P. Stardust

Coolest Vegas sign ever. It was imploded today to make room for some bland mega-resort.

 

[pretty faythe]

I'm sure the sign went over to the neon graveyard. Yeah, it actually does exist. It's a museum type of thing. Nothing like in the National Lampons movie though.

 

[panamag8or]

I'm sure the sign went over to the neon graveyard. Yeah, it actually does exist. It's a museum type of thing. Nothing like in the National Lampons movie though.

I was compiling a Vegas travel guide for work last summer, and remember reading that the conservation society that runs the neon graveyard had already been promised the sign.

It's just too bad that so many of the Vegas landmarks are falling, thanks to the developers.

The Sahara now takes the spot as the oldest casino on The Strip. There are older ones downtown, but they don't have the "Vegas Allure" that the strip casinos have.

 

[MrBern]

end of an era

 

[Feraud]

The video was sad to watch.

 

[skwerl-hat]

sheesh another one gone! i somewhat liked that old casino. There was so many odd knooks and crannies in the place it was almost mysterious. There was a hat shop in the stardust run by some very shady looking fellow. it was visiting that shop that i first promised myself i would someday get a fedora. Vegas is systematically destroying its history i think due to the embarassment over the mob days and the connotations that holds.

 

[Senator Jack]

Can't understand how the news still likes to cover implosions. We already had the two that no one's going to top.

 

[pretty faythe]

Nope, The New Frontier or just the Frontier to us yocals has been open and continuosly operating since 1942, although there has been talk for years for that to be imploded and something newer built. Trumps towers are right beside it. The Sahara opened in 1952, so it will soon be the oldest if they ever knock down the Frontier. Oh, the Stardust opened in 1958.
I now they have also been talking about knocking down the Tropicana, not sure if that will ever happen soon or not, they are celebrating 50 years of business this year, along with the visitors authority promoting 75 years of gambling (basically commerical gaming, the strip and such, Assembly Bill 98 was passed).

Yeah, its sad that our history is a history of knocking down the strip establisments, but it keeps a good deal of us employed in the building process. We don't all work in the casinos...lol....we work on 'em.

 

[pretty faythe]

sheesh another one gone! i somewhat liked that old casino. There was so many odd knooks and crannies in the place it was almost mysterious. There was a hat shop in the stardust run by some very shady looking fellow. it was visiting that shop that i first promised myself i would someday get a fedora. Vegas is systematically destroying its history i think due to the embarassment over the mob days and the connotations that holds.

Nope, can't get over the mob influence, say hello to our wonder Mayer Oscar Goodman, we was attorney for one of the effluencial (yeha my spelling sucks, its phonically spelled out, and I spelled that wrong too) mob families here before becoming mayor. Its all about the money.

And the old saying, who ever has the biggest toys wins.
The resorts are our versons of toys.

 

[panamag8or]

Nope, The New Frontier or just the Frontier to us yocals has been open and continuosly operating since 1942, although there has been talk for years for that to be imploded and something newer built. Trumps towers are right beside it. The Sahara opened in 1952, so it will soon be the oldest if they ever knock down the Frontier. Oh, the Stardust opened in 1958.
I now they have also been talking about knocking down the Tropicana, not sure if that will ever happen soon or not, they are celebrating 50 years of business this year, along with the visitors authority promoting 75 years of gambling (basically commerical gaming, the strip and such, Assembly Bill 98 was passed).

Yeah, its sad that our history is a history of knocking down the strip establisments, but it keeps a good deal of us employed in the building process. We don't all work in the casinos...lol....we work on 'em.

Ah, it seems you are right about the New Frontier, although I though that all vestiges of the original had been wiped out over the years. Most reviews say it needs to go, anyway.

 

[HadleyH]

Is there anything from the past left standing in Vegas?
I don't care, I'll always have Ocean's Eleven, the original version ,with the Gang of Cool to watch if I ever want to be reminded of how it used to be

 

[pretty faythe]

Ah, it seems you are right about the New Frontier, although I though that all vestiges of the original had been wiped out over the years. Most reviews say it needs to go, anyway.

Supposedly sometime this year its scheduled to close its doors. Living here myself, I hardly venture to the strip unless its for work or a very high priced buffet. I've been racking my brain trying to remember if I had been there before. I may have gone in on a New Years Eve, but who remebers New Years Eve's very well anyway. I remember going on a field trip back in the 80's to the Frontier though, saw Siegfried and Roy, way before they were a house hold name.

 

[Futura Girl]

My husband and I got a room with a view at the Circus Circus last night to watch the implosion. We had some friends over and drank a glass of wine/beer as a fond goodbye.

to give you some perspective on the whole subject:

I was not too sad to see the Stardust tower go. the building was not that old by vegas standards - built in 1991 i believe. it really obscured the 1964 tower (which was also impoded last night). The real treasure was the Royal Nevada property next door - dating to the 1955 (by Paul Williams - of La Concha and LAX theme bldg. fame). That property was bought out by Stardust and incorporated into their property in 1958, BUT it retained its 1950s low rise motel charm with palm lined pool area to this day. We hung out by that pool on the last open night of the Stardust with friends after seeing Steve and Edie play the ballroom. now that was a treasure to lament losing.

In fact - this morning the only thing left standing was the one last row of the 2 story motel buildings - pretty karmic in a way that those remained... i am sure those will be removed via wrecking ball.

yup - in vegas, casinos come and go - many of the wel known names we all know and love were built on the graves of earlier gambling establishments. the specific architecture of the stardust was more wrapped up in the signage then the building - with the original solar system facade LONG gone. so the loss is more of an emotional one more then anything.

the 1968 streetside pole sign neon tubing was indeed donated to the Neon Museum and the very happy ending to this story is that the Neon Museum already had the original stardust angular lettering that was removed for the ugly helvetica lettering years back. so now the original lettering will once again be reunited with the 1960s sign in the hands of the neon folks.

in answer to the question - is there ANYTHING cool from the past left in las vegas? the answer in definitely YES. sure we have lost alot of high-profile landmarks, but you would be surprised at the local structures that survive - especially the residential architecture! PLUS, there is a brand new preservation group here dedicated to keeping it alive, too. BTW - our next meeting is actually tomorrow night - we meet every 2nd wed.of the month.

Atomic Age Alliance
http://www.atomicage.org

YOU can learn more about the coolstuff left in vegas AND support a good cause by purchasing one of our tourbooks on our website.

One of our first actions as a group will be to nominate the last remaining giant moai from the aku aku restaurant (a stardust institution for years through the 1950s-1980s) that lives on in a local city park as a landmark!

Atomic Age Alliance is also one of the sponsors of an up and coming event held by the local AIA and jr. assistance league - an Alan Hess lecture in April - but check back with the www.lottaliving.com/bb message board as i will post those details there as that's more of an appropriate forum for that.

in any case....
the recent Mondo Lounge Atomic Frolic event helped to kick off our group and we plan to hold many more fun and educational events that will be of interest to Fedora Lounge members in the future. In fact, we'd love to team up with Fedora if you want to do any local meets in Vegas.

 

[pretty faythe]

Is there anything from the past left standing in Vegas?
I don't care, I'll always have Ocean's Eleven, the original version ,with the Gang of Cool to watch if I ever want to be reminded of how it used to be

The oldest high school here, formerly known as Las Vegas High School now known as The Las Vegas Academy (it's a performing art school, think Fame) is a historical land mark. Wonderful art deco designs in the front of the main building. http://www.woodywoodward.com/squares/photos1.htm

Moulin Rouge, first integrated hotel casino, its not open though, ownser have had money issues, a fire, etc, but it still looks good from the outside. Theres tons of things here that we haven't knocked down or imploded.

 

[Futura Girl]

pretty faythe - sounds like you should be on our team!

hope you'll make one of the meetings...

p.s.
the high school and moulin rouge are both in the tourbook (68 pages, 164 sites, over 160 images):
http://www.atomicage.org/store.php

 

[pretty faythe]

pretty faythe - sounds like you should be on our team!

hope you'll make one of the meetings...

p.s.
the high school and moulin rouge are both in the tourbook (68 pages, 164 sites, over 160 images):
http://www.atomicage.org/store.php

Team?
I've lived in Vegas for twenty some odd years. I may not know where some of the new stuff is (yes, sometimes I get lost in my town) but I know about the old.