The Stardust Implosion
Fireworks and implosion only (5 minutes)
Crowd shots, anticipation, fireworks, and implosion. The next best thing to being there (10 minutes)
You may also download the short version (fireworks and implosion only - no crowd shots) directly to your hard drive and view it at your leisure. Feel free to share it with others, host it on your own site, or whatever. As many people as possible should see the cool farewell of this historic Las Vegas icon.
http://www.vegasrex.com/video/stardust_implosion.wmv
I hopped on my bicycle at 1:30am and headed over to Las Vegas Boulevard (LVB) and Cathedral.
It was really the only practical way to go. The roads were closed, there was no cab or bus service, and I didn’t feel like walking.
They closed off LVB between Spring Mountain and Sahara (roughly), so I rode and parked my bike next to a tree in the median, on the bridge over DI. I would later learn that being on this bridge was a bit scary when the building came down, because the bridge shook and bounced like crazy. I thought it might cave in.
After all, this was the tallest building to ever be imploded on the Las Vegas Strip.
There were people everywhere. Many of them drunk with beers in their hands. Some of them were acting like complete assholes (”knock that fucking piece of shit down!”). Some were media folks. But the majority were camera-toting locals just like me. All of the locals were really nice and almost all of them talked about how bummed they were to see the Stardust go.
A lady was walking around selling dust masks for $2/each. I bought one. It didn’t help my eyes though (they still sting).
Finally the fireworks went off, the building came down, and there was literally a stampede in the street. Apparently the drunk tourists (now with open beers full of dirt) were not aware that implosions generate dust clouds, and they ran away from the Stardust like they were running from the bulls in Pamplona, Spain.
I am glad I bought the dust mask, because at least I could breathe.
I decided to ride out of the crowd, and head south on the Strip since I basically had the whole thing to myself. There was no traffic at all.
I rode up to Bill’s to see the new sign, but I noted that it was not yet lit up at night. I took a photo anyway.
I also noticed that they were doing some kind of nighttime work on the marquee:
It was about here that my chain fell off my bike sprocket. Dammit!
I have to sit on the sidewalk, fix it, and get my hands covered in oil. Tourists look at me curiously while passing by.
I also have a verbal issue with a douchebag Flamingo cab-jockey, but that’s a different post.
So now it’s about 3am, and I decide to head home. My eyes are burning and the whole Strip literally wreaks of dust and something that smelled like gasoline or paint thinner.
I pedal a mile east of the Strip, look back, and see that the whole Strip is enshrouded in a cloud of Stardust … dust.
Nasty stuff.
So I ride on home and my neighbor asks me if there was an earthquake. No, the Stardust just got imploded.
She actually didn’t know, and apparently it shook our whole building.
I get in my home, and it wreaks of dust and there is crap on my TV screen. Wow, that stuff really traveled. I had to shut the windows and turn on the A/C to clean the air.
Anyway, that was my final night with the Stardust. One of the truly great and iconic properties in Las Vegas history.
Let’s hope that Echelon place is worth it.
Oh, the moon also looked pretty cool last night:
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