The Riviera Hotel and Casino — the Las Vegas Strip's first high-rise that was as famous for its mobster ties as its Hollywood personification of Sin City's mobster past — will officially exit the scene on Tuesday with a cinematic implosion, complete with fireworks.
"The Riv" closed in May 2015 after 60 years on the northern end of the Strip. The shuttered casino's owners, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, are spending $42 million to level the 13-building campus.
Officials said the 24-story Monaco Tower will go down at 2 a.m. Tuesday, and the Monte Carlo Tower will be imploded in August. The tourism agency bought the 2,075-room property across 26 acres last year for $182.5 million, plus $8.5 million in related transaction costs, with plans to expand its Las Vegas Convention Center.
The Riviera's 15-to 20-seconds-long implosion will mark the latest kiss goodbye to what's left among the relics to Vegas' mobster past.
Razing Riviera casino will level part of Vegas' mobster past
For real, we stopped off in Las Vegas on the way back from our honeymoon and stayed there for a night. The price was good for me. It is on the north end of the Strip so room rates were cheaper.