As far as I know, there's been no official announcement but a lot of folks in Las Vegas are assuming the Tropicana Hotel is a goner. The place has stopped accepting advance reservations beyond April 15 and there's a news story out in which one of the companies that implodes Vegas hotels is openly discussing the challenge of razing the Trop's twin towers at the same time. The rumor is that two separate but connected hotels would be built on the land.
If this is all true, it's one of those good news/bad news things. I haven't stayed at the Tropicana in well over ten years…since I had the second-worst hotel room and some of the worst meals I've ever had in that city. I have yet to hear a report from anyone that suggested my experience was atypical or no longer the norm. But I always enjoyed walking around the place, especially the pool area, which was one of the most pleasant places you could stroll or sit and escape the relentless sound of the slot machines. I remember sitting there for most of one afternoon once with a note pad, jotting down ideas for a script, watching a colorful array of tourists, bathing beauties and even some tropical birds pass by. And the long-running entertainment at the Tropicana, the Folies Bergere, was and is probably the best "classic Vegas" production show in town. (You can see a few seconds of it over on this page.)
I guess the sad thing, if there is a sad thing, is that an entire era is going away. I don't think I'll miss any of those places on an individual basis but something's being lost in that city beyond gambling money. The Tropicana opened in April of 1957. Only four standing hotels in Las Vegas — The Frontier, the Flamingo, the Sahara and the Riviera — are older and I don't think anyone expects the Frontier to be there much longer. I might not stay in any of those establishments (the Flamingo, once in a while) but their existence provided a nice connect to the heritage of the city. Everyone loves stories of Old Vegas. They may not want to stay in the hotels that represent it but they love the stories.
If I had the bucks to open a small hotel-casino in that town, I'd buy the rights to one of the defunct names — the Sands or the Thunderbird or one of those. And then I'd deck the place out like it was 1958, with pit bosses and dealers in tuxedos, and piped-in music from that period. You probably couldn't stock the place with older slot machines but I would have a showroom with the best impersonators I could get of Frank and Dean and Sammy and even Liberace. And whenever I could, I'd book the real Tony Bennett. There'd be a guy at the door named Vinnie and I'd price the tickets so you could afford to tip him twenty bucks to seat you at a good table. I'd have a kid who sang like Wayne Newton playing the lounge there…although if I waited long enough, I might be able to get Wayne. I'd also pay Shecky Greene to walk around the casino, shake hands and tell everyone stories about mobsters, hookers and people getting beaten up in the back room.
I think people would flock to it. The Palms is about to open the first Playboy Club since the last one closed in 1986. They were irrelevant and silly then but irrelevant and silly have a way of becoming retro and hip, and I bet you won't be able to get into that Playboy Club for months after it begins welcoming patrons. Old Vegas is due for a comeback soon, too. It'll start just as soon as they get rid of the last of it.