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Video of the Day: Hotel Implosion
By: Associated Press
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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 – officially exited the scene early Tuesday with a cinematic implosion, complete with fireworks.
The 24-story Monaco Tower was demolished around 2:30 a.m. when a series of explosions sounded, followed by the building crumbling from the sides and then into the middle, kicking up a mountain of dust.
A fireworks display erupted moments before the demolition.
“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, spent $42 million to level the 13-building campus.
Officials said 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 implosion marks the latest kiss goodbye to what’s left among the relics to Vegas’ mobster past.