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Top 10 Las Vegas Hotel Implosions

by Heather on July 25th, 2008

Vegas wouldn’t be Vegas without its obsession with staying new and cutting edge. Because of this, hotel implosions have been part of the Las Vegas landscape for the last 15 years as landowners and developers get rid of the old to bring in the new.

KVBC Channel 3 did a special a little while ago where they listed the top ten hotel explosions. Their list includes:

  1. The Landmark
  2. The Dunes
  3. The Aladdin
  4. The Sands
  5. Hacienda
  6. Desert Inn
  7. El Rancho
  8. The Dunes, Tower 2
  9. Castaways
  10. The Boardwalk

The video was put together before the Stardust was imploded last year - I think it definitely would have made it on there!

Would you add any to the list? What hotel do you miss seeing on the Strip? (I still miss the Stardust!) Which one do you think could be next?

Check out other videos of long-gone Vegas hotels:

7 opinions for Top 10 Las Vegas Hotel Implosions

  • Alicia
    Jul 25, 2008 at 9:53 pm

    I remember when the Castaways was the Showboat!!

  • Heather
    Jul 25, 2008 at 9:55 pm

    That’s because you’re OLD old school >:D

  • Matt B
    Jul 25, 2008 at 10:19 pm

    I was lucky enough to stop inside the Stardust and snap a few photos just a couple weeks before it was torn down. It was a big deal for me because it was the first Vegas hotel to disappear from the Strip that I had actually seen and experienced myself. It’s still weird to see it not there.

    It’s also odd to no longer see the Frontier, but to be honest, I don’t really miss it. lol I know that sounds mean, but it was definitely showing its age and not in a good way.

  • Alicia
    Jul 26, 2008 at 8:06 am

    Ha ha! You’re right! I remember actually being inside all of the hotels you mentioned, and each time one of them was imploded it broke my heart a little bit.

    I remember when Tropicana and Las Vegas Boulevard was JUST the Tropicana hotel on the corner, and then nothing but desert until you hit Parhumph and Los Angeles, CA.

    I also remember Vegas World (which is now the Stratosphere), and what downtown looked like before the Fremont Street Experience.

    Las Vegas will always be my hometown, even if it isn’t my physical home any more. I know it has to grow and change, but sometimes I miss how it used to be.

  • Ted Newkirk
    Jul 26, 2008 at 5:49 pm

    Having seen most of these in person, I’d put the Aladdin at the top. It was a beautiful site to watch it fold over like a deck of cards standing on end.

    Hacienda was done for live nationwide TV on New Years Eve so that one is up their as well.

    Landmark was done for Mars Attacks but that “implosion” was more about knocking it over because of the shape.

    Sands wasn’t spectaculer, but left you with that pit in the stomach of seeing something so legendary go.

    We have videos from local TV of most of the historic implosions archived at

    http://tv.accessvegas.com/browse.php?cat=35

    (Plus a bunch of other Vegas TV news stuff from the past 20 years).

    Enjoy it if you want to check it out.

    Ted Newkirk
    Managing Editor
    http://www.accessvegas.com

  • Heather
    Jul 27, 2008 at 9:57 am

    Matt - I agree, it’s weird not to see the Stardust anymore.

    Alicia - I vaguely remember downtown before the FSE, but not by much :D

    Hi Ted! Awesome link to the videos, and I love your site! Thank you for stopping in!

  • Las Vegas Explorer Pass
    Jul 28, 2008 at 7:21 am

    Those shots are amazing, well out with the old in with the new. A city can’t move forward without taking a few dinosaurs down

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