ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — The Atlantic City Boardwalk looks much different now as the first Trump Casino in the gambling mecca has come down.
The Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino was brought down by 3,000 sticks of dynamite in front of onlookers, some of whom paid to watch the blast from the front row, The New York Times reported.
It took about 20 seconds for the casino and hotel to be no more, crumbling into a large pile of debris, The Associated Press reported.
Trump Plaza was built decades before the now former President Donald Trump was elected. It was the first of three casinos that he owned in Atlantic City before his gambling investments went bankrupt.
It opened in 1984 and was the city’s 10th casino. It hosted events like heavyweight prize fights with ringside seats that cost $1,500 and were filled with celebrities.
“The way we put Trump Plaza and the city of Atlantic City on the map for the whole world was really incredible. Everyone from Hulk Hogan to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it was the whole gamut of personalities,” Bernie Dillon, the former casino events manager, told NBC News. “One night before a Tyson fight, I stopped dead in my tracks and looked about four rows in as the place was filling up, and there were two guys leaning in close and having a private conversation: Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty.”
Despite still being marketed with the Trump brand, he cut the connection with the property in 2009. It closed in 2014, Fox News reported. It was eventually sold two years later, bought by Carl Icahn in bankruptcy, the Times reported.
Over the past few years, chunks of the building fell and it was designated an “imminent hazard.” Now with the demolition, the prime real estate could be transformed into a family-friendly destination hub, Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small told the Times.
As for the two other former Trump-named properties, the Trump Taj Mahal closed in 2016 and reopened as the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. The Trump Marina Hotel Casino closed and was eventually reopened as the Golden Nugget.