The sign on the Stardust Resort & Casino is shown on the Las Vegas Strip, March 12, 2007. The casino was imploded early Tuesday to pave the way for a $4.4 billion megaresort complex. The property opened July 2, 1958, billing itself as the world's largest resort hotel with 1,032 rooms. It is credited with being Las Vegas' first mass-market casino, thanks to cheap rates and loss-leading food and drinks.
The Stardust Resort & Casino is seen shortly before it was imploded on March 13, 2007. A fireworks display preceded the implosion, and late night gamblers and curious onlookers in Las Vegas came to watch the event.
Fireworks explode over the Stardust Resort & Casino just before it is imploded on March 13, 2007. The implosion of two towers, gutted to bare concrete and steel over the past three months, included a 32-story building that was the tallest ever felled on the Las Vegas Strip.
Fireworks explode over the Stardust Resort & Casino in Las Vegas just before it is imploded on March 13, 2007. The Stardust was built in 1958 and was home to a number of superstar entertainers for decades. It closed its doors in November 2006.
Fireworks explode over the Stardust Resort & Casino just before it is imploded March 13, 2007. Boyd Gaming Corp. plans to replace the Las Vegas landmark with a $4 billion hotel, casino, convention and retail development called Echelon Place on the 63 acres of land on the Strip.
Fireworks explode over the Stardust Resort & Casino just before it is imploded on March 13, 2007. The Stardust, a Las Vegas landmark, came down to make room for a new 5,000-room, $4 billion mega casino and resort.
Hotel guests watch fireworks seconds before the implosion of the Stardust Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on Tuesday, March 13, 2007. The property, which opened on July 2, 1958, was imploded to pave the way for Boyd Gaming Corp.'s $4.4 billion megaresort complex, Echelon Place.
A countdown in lights is shown just before the Stardust Resort & Casino is imploded in Las Vegas on March 13, 2007.
The Stardust Resort & Casino is imploded on March 13, 2007. The Stardust became as famous for its stellar, 188-foot sign and marquee as its mob connections. The institution on the Las Vegas Strip was the inspiration for the 1995 movie "Casino," in which Robert De Niro played a character inspired by Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, who ran the casino-hotel in the mid-1970s.
The blast that imploded the Stardust Hotel & Casino on March 13, 2007, generated a massive dust cloud that chased revelers into cars, buses and nearby Las Vegas casinos. It took 428 pounds of explosives to fell the two buildings. Twenty water cannons sprayed the dust cloud, which blanketed the area in gray ash, and the main drag of the 24-hour gambling haven was temporarily shut down.
A cloud of dust covers the Las Vegas Strip after the implosion of the Stardust Resort & Casino on March 13, 2007. The building, which opened on July 2, 1958, was destroyed to pave the way for Boyd Gaming Corp.'s $4.4 billion megaresort complex, Echelon Place.
The rubble of the former Stardust Hotel is seen following its implosion on the Las Vegas Strip on March 13, 2007. The property opened July 2, 1958, billing itself as the world's largest resort hotel with 1,032 rooms. It is credited with being Las Vegas' first mass-market casino, thanks to cheap rates and loss-leading food and drinks.
The Stardust Resort & Casino is imploded on March 13, 2007, to pave the way for Boyd Gaming Corp.'s $4.4 billion megaresort Las Vegas complex. The Echelon is to open in late 2010 with more than 5,000 hotel rooms, a production theater, concert venue, shopping mall and more than 1 million square feet of meeting space.