The Dunes hotel in Las Vegas was an icon of the Las Vegas strip for decades, until its life was cut short in 1993 by Steve Wynn, who decided that the ageing hotel had reached the end of its life and needed to go.

So it was that the Dunes was imploded in front of thousands of invited onlookers and tourists amid a spectacle of fireworks, pyrotechnics and showmanship. No-one does a hotel implosion like a Vegas hotel implosion!

More videos of the Las Vegas Dunes hotel implosion after the jump.

The Dunes’ implosion was the first of the major Vegas hotel implosions, with the Sands, the Frontier, Desert Inn and El Rancho all suffering the same fate over the next few years. The Dunes was first to go, though, and it heralded the start of one of Vegas’s biggest building booms, which led directly to the building of The Bellagio and Venetian, among many others.

As such, sad as it may have been to see another icon of Vegas bite the dust, what was built in its place (The Bellagio) has endured to become an even bigger icon in this new age of the mega-hotel.

Most of the Vegas hotel implosion have been extravagent affairs, but the Dunes was by far the most extravagent of them all. With thousands of fireworks going off all around, one of the pirate ships at Treasure Island (also owned by Wynn) fired its cannon directly at the Dunes. At the same time, the Dunes’s sign symbolically fell over, followed almost immediately afterwards by the hotel itself in a huge ball of dust and fire.

Such was the scale of the implosion, and the nuymber of people watching it, that future demolitions were ordered to be much more controlled in order to reduce the potential for accidents. As such, the Dunes is likely to remain the most impressive Vegas hotel implosion for some years to come.

I’ve dug up some videos of the Dunes implosion, but unlike more recent explosion such as The Stardust, there aren’t that many videos of the event. The reason, of course, is that the implosion happened in 1993, when video cameras were expensive and YouTube wasn’t even a glimmer in Google’s eye (Google itself didn’t even appear for another 5 years!)

However, there are enough videos around to give a flavour of the implosion. The first video (top) shows the second phase of the implosion, which was when the second Dunes tower was imploded some time after the first, and with a lot less fanfare.

The second video (above) shows the main implosion event, but unfortunately it’s not that clear. Fortunately, this last video (below) shows the event in full, but surrounded by 9 other Las Vegas implosions.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the Dunes, check out the History of the Las Vegas Dunes article. If its implosion videos you’re after, check out the Las Vegas Implosions category, where you’ll find many more over the coming months.

But enough of the tear-jerking sorrow – in Vegas, everything’s a show, and that includes imploding buildings! And with The Stardust, Boyd Gaming (its owners, and the people behind Echelon Place) pulled out all the stops to create one of the most amazing implosions yet seen.

See the video of The Stardust’s implosion after the jump.

I was annoyed when the pulled down The Stardust. Not because of fond memories, but because they imploded it just 5 weeks before I was due to go to Vegas, and so I missed out on seeing it for myself!

Although not quite as good as seeing the implosion in real life, these videos at least give you (and me!) a feel for just how great a spectacle it was.

The fireworks show that preceded the implosion was a glorious spectacle in its own right, and the way the demolition crew orchestrated the implosion, with the countdown lit up on the building’s front, was sheer Vegas showbiz!

After that, the implosion itself almost seemed like an anti-climax, lost as it was in the dark Vegas night. The reason for this, though, was that he spotlights that were meant to be illuminating the Stardust as it went crashing to the ground, suddenly went out – just the building went crashing down! Bugger! The use of blue lasers sweeping through the clouds at the end was a nice touch, though.

In total, 400 pounds of explosives were used to bring The Stardust down, which, at 32 stories, was the tallest building in Vegas to be imploded to date. Twenty water cannons were used afterwards to damp down the debris.

Boyd Gaming spokesman Rob Stillwell said the cost of the implosion ran into the millions, although he couldn’t put an exact figure on it. It had to be expensive, though – just the 20 water cannons alone (and they were still being used when I was there 5 weeks later!) must have cost a fortune, given that water’s a rather rare commodity in the middle of a desert!

One good thing to come from The Stardust’s implosion was the great views of the Strip currently being enjoyed form Circus Circus. The view will only last for a year or so, though, as construction of the new Echelon Place is expected to start in June 2007, and given that this will comprise 4 distinct towers, there won’t be much of a view left.

As the pic above shows, you’ll at least get to see Echelon Place’s shiny new Shangri-La Tower, but that’ll be your lot, looking south. Still, with MGM Mirage planning to build another huge mega-resort on the other side of Circus Circus, you might get a better view looking north after 2010 – that is, of course, if Circus Circus itself isn’t imploded before then!

[Source: BoydGaming, VegasTodayAndTomorrow]

This photo set, and others in our new Changing Vegas gallery, shows just how quickly the landscape of Vegas changes. The photo on the left was taken in April 2006, and shows The Stardust in all its glory, standing proudly beneath a glorious blue sky. Fast forward a year, and all that’s left is a smouldering heap of rubble – even the sky’s turned grey! The Stardust is no more, but from its ashes will rise the huge new Echelon Place. Another Vegas icon bites the dust, only to be resurrected as another Vegas mega-resort.

More pictures of the changing face of Vegas after the jump.



Perhaps more startling still is this next set of photos, which shows what’s happening around the old Stardust.

The photo on the left was again taken in April 2006, when The Stardust was still very much alive (though not sure if the same could be said for Debbie Reynolds!). The Wynn stands proudly as a shining beacon of modernity, without any neighbours of note, while the world-famous iconic Stardust sign was proudly telling the world that Debbie Reynolds had not, in fact, left the building (though hopefully she did before they imploded it!).

Again, fast forward a year, and The Stardust’s famous sign is now just a battered shell of its former glory, while The Wynn finds itself with new neighbours hastily being constructed, in the form of The Encore at Wynn (in front of The Wynn) and The Palazzo (behind).

Such is the pace of construction around the north end of the Vegas strip, that I’ve no idea what to expect when I return next year. The Palazzo is meant to be finished at the end of 2007 (though some doubt it will make this deadline), while the Encore at Wynn is scheduled to open at the end of 2008.

Meanwhile, the 5,280 room Echelon Place, the new $4 billion mega resort that’s being built on the ashes of The Stardust, isn’t due to open until 2010, but you can bet that this time next year, work will be well underway.

Vegas seems to be a different town every time you go, which can make for an unnerving visit at times, but certainly makes your pics more interesting. Sometimes it’s almost as though you only need to set your camera looking at a building dor a day or two before someone comes along and demolishes it!

You can see more photos of The Stardust before and after its implosion in the Stardust/Echelon Place gallery, which shows the pics above in much bigger format.