…and just like that, another part piece of history in Las Vegas is erased.
Late last night (technically this morning around 2:30am) the final tower of the Riviera was imploded. The first multi-level casino in Las Vegas was sold to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority last year. The land and property were purchased to make way for an expansion of the Las Vegas Convention Center that would reach the Vegas Strip.
It took just over a year and two implosions to bring all of the buildings down at the Riviera. The next step for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority will be to clean up all the debris from the buildings and prepare for the future. The development of the Convention Center expansion will take a couple of years. Plans will ultimately change from the ideas presented last year, so let’s not pay too much attention to them just yet.
Instead of focusing on the future let’s look at a few ways to keep the Riviera alive. We’re going back over the past 56 years to the different movies where you’ll find the Riviera. The list of movies that featured the Riviera is impressive.
The original Ocean’s 11 was the first movie filmed at the Riviera in 1960.
The latest installment of the Jason Bourne movie series was the last to feature the Riviera earlier this year.
In between the 56 years of those movies the Riviera made appearances in a slew of popular movies including…
Casino
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
Vegas Vacation
The Hangover
The Riviera also appeared in Diamonds Are Forever, Butterfly, Showgirls, Go, 3000 Miles to Graceland, Crazy Girls: Undercover, 21, Ghost Adventures and even the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling. The casino may be gone but it will be easy to find whenever you find yourself missing the Riviera.
