We resume our historical Strip odyssey with a QoD that originally ran on 5/29/2015.
Today's "New Tropicana" originally debuted in 1957 as the Tropicana Hotel & Country Club, with little in the way of "theming" beyond an odd concrete "tulip" fountain out front. In the mid-’90s, however, the property opted to jump on the bandwagon and started to take its name -- and its location in the township of "Paradise" Nevada -- to heart, by embracing a then-fashionable Polynesian motif . This involved the brief addition of two massive, and somewhat incongruous, replica moai statues (endowed with slightly disconcerting color-changing eyes - see image below) out front and a tropical beach-style "plaza" area.
While these embellishments perhaps served to complement 1986’s Island Tower addition to the hotel, we'd have to say not so much when it came to the Tiffany-esque leaded-glass ceiling, installed above the casino floor in 1979, while the same cultural jarring/eclecticism applied to the Trop's entertainment line-up and the classic Folies Bergère can canning-showgirl production, which opened just a couple of years after the hotel-casino and endured until the eve of its 50th anniversary, in 2009. In a nutshell, the Trop's identity was a mess, and the giant-head statues that didn't last for long.
In recent years the property has undergone a protracted renovation process, under a series of different ownerships and abortive outside affiliations, that essentially have seen it embracing a retro "South Beach" vibe.
Moving further north on our historical tour, January 1997 saw the debut of the ultra-themed New York-New York hotel-casino, with an opening that Anthony Curtis described at the time as "the biggest in years," observing of the attendant hype that, "In my experience, nothing has compared to this since the opening of the Mirage in 1989." Such were the crowds who thronged the new joint on opening night that some players were obliged to wait up to three hours to receive hand-paid jackpots.
Was this diminutive replica of The Big Apple a triumph of the theming era? Wrote our normally upbeat publisher, "It didn't take long for me to form my own opinion of NY-NY. I hated it." He cited a casino that was "dank, dirty-looking, and claustrophobic" [Ed: So, at least authentic in terms of some New York 'hoods we've found ourselves in!] But things got better when he discovered the Bar at Times Square which "really did look and feel like a bar I'd been to" in the Real McCoy. "I stepped out the back of the bar and into an incredible cityscape; with its nine food outlets, it was no less than a restaurant district. I was no longer in a casino in Las Vegas. Rather, I was strolling the streets of the Big Apple. Amazing!" The place had won an instant convert.
Aside from the compacted rendition of a 1940s-era New York City skyline and harbor, themed opening attractions included the Coney Island-style Manhattan Express roller coaster; dining transplants including Nathan's Famous hot dogs, Schrafft's ice cream, and Gallagher's Steakhouse; and the show MADhattan,, which featured a cast comprising some genuine New York street performers and was described by the New York Times as having "about as much in common with a typical show on the Strip as Brooklyn's pigeons have with Siegfried and Roy's tigers." While the former has undergone a couple of name changes in the interim, it's still going strong, as are Nathan's and Gallagher's; the show, however, didn't fare so well and was replaced in 1999 by Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance (see QoD 10/28/2012 for more).
Gone today also is the 9/11 tribute, which graced the front promenade area for more than a decade following the attack on the World Trade Center; it fell victim to bulldozers in 2013 in order to make way for new curbside attraction The Park, which when completed is intended to evoke Madison Square Park, although the tributes left are now in the hands of UNLV for safekeeping and will hopefully find a new permanent home sometime.
By the time the Monte Carlo opened, in June 1996, it had already undergone one identity change, having started life under the "Grand Victoria" concept, an evocation of Victorian-era London's architectural icons. At some point, this vision was dropped in favor of the French Riviera principality of Monaco and its notoriously opulent casinos and hotels, but the homage was half-hearted in its execution to say the least and the Las Vegas version opened before it was completed, with only magician Lance Burton said to be ready, in his new custom-built theater at the resort.
As Las Vegas Leisure Guide put it at the time, "We were not overly impressed with the general ambiance. It was as if most of the old world flavor and hype was checked at the front door. Contrasted with the large-scale, beautiful architecture on the front of the hotel, the inside pales in comparison. There is a lot of empty space and large flat walls. The few fancy accoutrements ... were few and far between. Of all, we'd have to say the shopping area alone made us feel the most like we were strolling the streets of France."
So much for that; and it's of little surprise that this resort is now pegged for a major re-branding and completely new (if yet-to-be announced) identity -- a feat that shouldn't be half as difficult to accomplish as the previous de-themings of Luxor or Excalibur, given that there's so little "theme" in place to undo.
Images appear courtesy of: UNLV; VintageLasVegas on Tumblr; Chris Flanders Photography; Vital Vegas; and MGM Mirage Resorts International.
