The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority bought the 26-acre property in February for $182.5 million and will make it part of a revamped convention center complex.Ī spokesman for that group told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that no timetable has been established for the Riviera’s demolition. The hotel-casino now joins the Dunes, the Sands, the Sahara, the Aladdin and other departed resorts from a bygone Strip era. Shortly after noon, security guards began herding people to the exits, and the hotel’s website was pulled down. The Riviera’s 1,300 employees worked their last shifts Sunday and Monday amid throngs of curiosity-seekers crowding the casino for one last glimpse of an old-Vegas landmark. “Crazy Girls,” along with its infamous bronze-butts statue, is moving down the Strip to Planet Hollywood. The Riviera was known mostly in its later years for hosting “Crazy Girls,” a long-running topless revue immortalized with a bronze statue outside the resort showing a line of thong-clad female dancers, their bare bottoms worn to a shine by repeated gropings from passers-by. In recent years, as neighboring hotels were torn down, the resort also suffered from a decline in foot traffic at the faded north end of the Strip.

Whatever happens in Vegas gets blown to bits in Vegas?īut its various owners struggled off and on with bankruptcy, and by the late 1990s “the Riv,” as its regulars called it, was eclipsed by a new wave of flashier-themed resorts such as the Mirage, the Bellagio and the Mandalay Bay. 25, 1963.Īs of Saturday at 6 p.m., there were 190 positive cases in the state and two deaths related to the virus.The 2,100-room hotel even hosted a heavyweight title fight in 1985 between Larry Holmes and Michael Spinks. The last time Las Vegas casinos closed was for Pres. She says the economy depends on tourism and casinos being open for dining, entertainment, gaming, and sports.

RELATED: Las Vegas casinos, bars closed to slow coronavirus pandemic spread On Tuesday, the governor ordered the state's casinos to shut down for at least 30 days.īut the mayor says her city should be allowed to stay open for business. (KGO) - The mayor of Las Vegas is pushing back against the governor of Nevada and wants to keep casinos open despite the coronavirus outbreak. Steve Sisolak ordered a halt on gambling last week in the state, shutting down casinos and other non-essential businesses like bars and movie theaters.

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