Steve Marcus
Eric Ackley, left, Bally’s director of security and Surveillance, and Arik Knowles, vice president and general manager at the Tropicana Las Vegas, place the first chain on the front doors of the Tropicana Tuesday, April 2, 2024. A baseball stadium is planned for the site.
Tuesday, April 2, 2024 | 4:45 p.m.
Visitors showed up in droves Tuesday to take pictures outside the Tropicana, waving goodbye to the Las Vegas Strip resort and shouting phrases like “Adios Tropicana,” before a ceremonial chaining of the doors by management and a teary send-off for dozens of employees marked the official closing of one of the Strip’s oldest and most storied properties.
“The quality of the hotel itself may have went down over the years — from four- to a three-star — but it’s always been a five-star product for us people-wise,” said Tim Kinnard, who worked in room reservations for the property and is taking an early retirement in the wake of its closure. “It’s like a family environment.”
The 67-year-old Tropicana, operated by Bally’s Corp., is slated for demolition, and will eventually be replaced by a $1.5 billion baseball stadium for the Oakland Athletics, who are planning to relocate to Las Vegas by 2028.
The ballpark will sit on just 9 acres of the 35-acre parcel of land, owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties, and a new resort is expected to be built on the remaining acreage, officials have previously said.
Arik Knowles, vice president and general manager of the Tropicana, said Tuesday that he couldn’t comment on the property’s future plans. He noted, however, that the energy in the building had tangibly shifted in the weeks before shuttering.
“I think it comes down to culture,” said Knowles, who could be seen taking photos and chatting with employees outside the Tropicana’s main entrance Tuesday. “There’s a real family atmosphere at the Tropicana. We’ve been through ownership changes and ups and downs, but we’re all in it together. And that really came through today — it kind of culminated in this moment.”
Emmariz Markowitz, beverage manager for the property, echoed that sentiment. The door-chaining event Tuesday was overwhelming, she said, but she’s grateful for her team and everyone at the Tropicana overall.
“We are family, as you can see,” said Markowitz, who has been at the Tropicana for 13 years. “It’s a family. … It’s really the people that I’m going to miss the most.”
The crowd outside the Tropicana only grew in anticipation of the door-chaining, and many people took out their cameras and camcorders to capture the resort’s final day — from its street sign, which was displaying the names of longtime employees and thanking them for their service, to people reminiscing on their own stories about the property.
That included locals like Chris Damalas and Karen Owens, who recollected their favorite memories of the property, including the marriage of a loved one years ago.
“That history will never be replaced,” said Damalas, who added that she has lived in Las Vegas for 18 years, but even before then she would come to visit from California and stay at the Tropicana. “It’s the last of the last. Tropicana has always just been here. No matter what they build, no matter how pretty it is, no matter what the draw is — this has always still been the Tropicana, and it relates back to the Rat Pack and an era of Vegas that is so memorable.”
Though she lamented the loss of the Tropicana’s history, as well, Owens said she thinks the A’s move to Las Vegas and a Strip ballpark are big opportunities for the city, especially as it continues to evolve into a sports mecca.
“They tried to reinvent themselves a couple of times since I’ve lived here, and it never really has taken off the way they wanted it to,” Damalas said of the Tropicana. “So I can see why it is probably better that they do something else with this property.”
Tourists like Lisa LeBrock and Sylvain Hamel, who were visiting from Montreal, also came out to pay their final respects to the resort.
The couple said they thought the incoming baseball stadium, which they had learned about from their Las Vegas taxi driver, sounded great, but there was certainly a loss in demolishing the Tropicana.
“I’ve been to Vegas many, many times, and I remember playing — I remember staying at the Tropicana,” Hamel said. “So it brings back a little bit of memories, and I think it’s a sad day for Vegas, because this is an old institution for Vegas.”
Workers at the Tropicana will have additional compensation of $2,000 for every year of service and 6 months of extended union health care and pension benefits, Ted Pappageorge, secretary-treasurer of the Culinary Union, said in a news release Tuesday. The union has also hosted events for Tropicana workers, connecting them with resources for unemployment, job fairs and more, Pappageorge said.
Union leadership has previously noted that workers who want to be recalled to the property’s new resort, whenever it may open, can only receive up to $15,000 in severance.
“Today, we celebrate and honor the hardworking Culinary Union members behind the success of the Tropicana casino,” Pappageorge said in a statement Tuesday. “Workers have been loyal and stayed with the property through its ups and downs, multiple owners, and several redevelopment plans that never came to fruition. Now that the property is officially closing its doors today to make way for a new A’s baseball stadium, we will ensure workers are centered in the site’s future.”
Tropicana employees, many of whom have worked there for decades, posed for pictures with their colleagues or in front of the resort’s chained doors Tuesday, hugging and crying together as they bid the property a final farewell — several of them still dressed in their uniforms or wearing their name tags and carrying signs with expressions like “Thank you, Las Vegas.”
The crowd outside the resort’s main entrance cheered for the employees, and together they all participated in chants of “Trop.”
“The building is one part of it, and it’s iconic and there’s history — but it’s really about the heartbeat inside of it,” Knowles told the Sun on Tuesday. “And that’s the people. And I think it’s rare. It’s rare what we have here.”
katieann.mccarver@gmg vegas.com / 702-259-4059 / @_katieann13_