In The News: Department of History
Throughout its nearly 67 years in business, the Tropicana's ownership has changed several times, and some of its early history even involved the mob. "It opened April 4th, 1957, and it was called the Tiffany of the Strip," said Michael Green, a history professor and chair of 51ԹϺ's history department.
The world of this old Vegas-set video game remains so compelling, fans travel here to visit the real thing. As I stand in the Goodsprings cemetery, I do my best to be respectful of its residents, especially since only bona fide citizens of the town can be buried here. The place has a sepulchral serenity. Miniature American flags on headstones flap in the wind. There is a bench for contemplation. The sun shines all day. It’s a fine place not only to spend eternity, but also to reflect on the fleeting nature of life, the passage of time, and one’s own mortality.
Las Vegas loses one of its classic casinos this week. NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks with 51ԹϺ historian Michael Green about the glamor, gambling, and one-time mob connections of the Tropicana.
The Tropicana is dead; long live the Tropicana. The storied hotel-casino closes its doors April 2, just two days shy of its 67th birthday, to make way for a Major League Baseball stadium and a new Bally’s resort. Over the next year, the land the Tropicana now occupies will be cleared, with the intent that the organization currently known as the Oakland A’s will claim the empty lot in April 2025 and begin to build.
The Tropicana will be closing two days shy of when it would have marked 67 years of business on the Las Vegas Strip.
B-boy sensation JD Rainey goes from leg braces to the Vegas stage of Magic Mike Live. Then he takes us backstage to meet the Lady performers and get their take on the show's empowering message. Explore the Sahara Casino's history at the Neon Museum. Meet Chuck Frommer, owner of John Mulls Meats and Road Kill Grill, tracing his family legacy from the Hoover Dam to BBQ fame.
Despite being known for its gaming industry and casinos, Nevada is one of five states without a statewide lottery. That’s by design. A statewide lottery is banned in Nevada’s 159-year-old constitution. The constitution was written when lotteries were seen as corrupt and coincided with a series of national reforms, most famously abolition, that swept the United States in the 1800s.
“What happened with the Carnival World Buffet?” Gaming Control Board member George Assad asked Dreamscape executives at a gaming license hearing last summer to allow the company to assume operations of the Rio Hotel & Casino. “Why isn’t it coming back? There were always lines out into the casino floor.”
Management at the South Point last March moved its annual NCAA Tournament viewing party from its usual 20,000 square-foot space to a venue four times that size, offering guests a unique experience to watch and bet on the action at the resort’s “Most Massive Madness Party in Las Vegas.”
Management at the South Point last March moved its annual NCAA Tournament viewing party from its usual 20,000 square-foot space to a venue four times that size, offering guests a unique experience to watch and bet on the action at the resort’s “Most Massive Madness Party in Las Vegas.”
When the Tropicana resort was built on the Las Vegas Strip in 1957, it ended five years of rapid resort growth in Clark County. The county hadn’t yet tipped 100,000 people, but 8 million people flocked to Las Vegas for fun each year.
For most of the country, buying a lottery ticket is as simple as driving to the nearest convenience store or gas station. But for some, getting their hands on a Mega Millions or Powerball ticket requires a trip to another state entirely.