The A’s will soon break ground in Las Vegas on the grounds of the closing Tropicana Hotel. The memory of the disaster the Oakland Coliseum became should also be remembered with the glorious past of the original “Desert Oasis”, that was The Tropicana.
On a 4.5 million dollar budget in 1955, the original investors decided to build the “Tiffany of the Desert.” 15 million dollars later, The Trop opened. 12,500 people attended the Grand Opening. The Mob was closely associated with the opening, specifically Frank Costello. Costello was killed shortly after the opening of the hotel in New York City. Police found a note in his pocket with the exact earnings for The Tropicana and the phrase “Money to be skimmed for Costello associates”, according to the Mob Museums website.
It took until the late 70’s, but the Feds finally caught up with the Vegas operation of the Mob. The Tropicana contributed 5 convictions to the finally convicted tally.
The Tropicana Was The Place To See And Be Seen
Celebrities flocked to the Tropicana. On any given night after it opened, you could find Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Debbie Reynolds, Elizabeth Taylor and many more stars of the day.
Singer Eddie Fisher is shown with his wife, Debbie Reynolds(right), and Elizabeth Taylor, when he opened his last engagement at the Tropicana Hotel. (Courtesy: Getty Images)
The Tropicana was the first to feature feathered show girls in 1959. They followed that with the introduction of the French import “Folies Bergere” topless review. It was an instant hit and ran at The Trop through 1975.
Girls in the Limelight. A fairy tale world of beauty and color exists beyond the footlights at Las Vegas’ Hotel Tropicana, where nightly girls of the 1962 Folies Bergers dazzle patrons with resplendent costumes and exciting motion. (Courtesy: Getty Images)
Movie Connections
Many movies and television shows were filmed at the Tropicana.
- 1964 Elvis Presley starred in Viva Las Vegas and used a performance of ‘Folies Bergere’ in it.
- 1971 Diamonds Are Forever had a scene at The Trop, James Bond stayed there saying”I’ve heard it is quite comfortable there.”
- 1972 The Las Vegas scene of “The Godfather” was shot at the Tropicana.
Multiple television shows were filmed at the resort as well: Charlies Angels, Designing Women, Malcolm In The Middle and Daredevils Live, with Robbie Knievel jumping 30 Limo’s in his motorcycle.
The End is Here
The Tropicana closed Tuesday night. They are holding an auction for everything in the joint. Check out some of the items for sale at the liquidation event at the Trop:
- 1800 Guest rooms contents
- 10 restaurants and all banquet facilities equipment
- Casino chips, stools and other memorabilia
- Pool and patio furniture
- crystal chandeliers
The list goes on and on.
The Las Vegas A’s will break ground soon and hope to play on the grounds in a couple of years. Here’s hoping the ghosts from The Trop bless the grounds and the great memories of times past there will be better than recent times the A’s have had in Oakland.
If you think about it, the 50’s and 60’s at the Trop combined with the great 70’s teams the A’s had in Oakland might make for a great past to build on for the new Las Vegas baseball team.