The hotel was a marvel when it opened in 1989, revolutionizing the casino industry with its glitzy shops, celebrity chef restaurants and theater-sized showrooms.LAS VEGAS — A final blast from The Mirage's signature volcano marked the passage Wednesday of an aging Las Vegas resort that wowed crowds when it opened in 1989 and went on to revolutionize the casino resort industry and reshape Las Vegas as a tourist destination.
“It’s sad to see it go,” Jessica Hock, a Las Vegas resident who said her mother worked at The Mirage when it first opened,during a Sunday night visit ahead of Wednesday's ceremony. She said she'd miss many things about the resort, including its lush tropical forest beneath the domed glass atrium and a faint piña colada scent in the air., said Wednesday that work would “literally start tomorrow” to raze the volcano that rumbled and gushed nightly for nearly 35 years.
Elaine Wynn, billionaire philanthropist and ex-wife of casino mogul Steve Wynn, who built the property, recalled that two performing tigers belonging to resort headliners Siegfried & Roy were the first “guests” through the door in November 1989. She said the first wave of people stopped, stared and applauded beneath the atrium. The illusionist duo and their tigers performed at The Mirage for 14 years, ending in 2003.Costing $630 million, The Mirage was no simple gambling hall.
In his statement, Wynn noted The Mirage was the first new hotel in Las Vegas in several years and opened amid competition from casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and the expansion of tribal gambling in California. He pointed to a decade-long resort building boom that followed, helping make Las Vegas one of the fastest-growing cities in America.