Las Vegas has a long memory but it also forgets easily.
Parts of the city either seem frozen in time or offer warm nods to the past. This is, for example, a city that still embraces showgirls, an anachronistic salute to something that passed for both risque and entertaining in a time gone by.
But, while Vegas holds onto its past to deliver the experiences that visitors expect, it's also a city that's in a constant state of change. In just the past year we have learned that Caesars Entertainment (CZR) would drop the Bally's name at its Strip property, turning that location into the latest member of its Horseshoe brand. That happened because the actual Bally's Corp. (BALY) has purchased the Tropicana, another Las Vegas Strip property, and plans to give it the Bally's name,
If that's not enough (and Vegas has never been a city about knowing when enough is) MGM Resorts International (MGM) has been making major moves as well, The company has purchased The Cosmopolitan, a sleek, modern property in the heart of the Strip, but it has also sold The Mirage. That's essentially a trade and it's one that will bring about the end of an iconic Las Vegas attraction.
Image source: Hard Rock International.
Hard Rock Plans to End a Las Vegas Tradition
MGM sold The Mirage to Hard Rock International which plans to build a Guitar Hotel similar to its property in Florida, on part of The Mirage property. The company plans to rebrand and revamp the main hotel tower, but it needs to find space to build its signature property and that means that a Las Vegas icon has to go.
The new Guitar Hotel will sit on the site that's currently occupied by The Mirage's famed volcano.
“The volcano is incredibly iconic for its generation,” said Alan Feldman, a distinguished fellow at UNLV’s International Gaming Institute and former longtime gaming company executive told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “I think it’s very important to remember that Las Vegas is a city that is built on change. And it has built its success on change and on reinventing itself.”
Hard Rock has not made its plans for The Mirage public aside from an artist's rendering that shows the Guitar Hotel taking the spot now occupied by the volcano. The company has also not said when the iconic attraction would close so construction can begin.
The property's new owner has licensed the Mirage name and plans to keep using it during the transition. Mirage's new owners have been vague about their timeline and have only commented broadly.
"When complete, Hard Rock Las Vegas will be a fully integrated resort welcoming meetings, groups, tourists, and casino guests from around the world to its nearly 80-acre center-Strip location," said Hard Rock International Chairman Jim Allen in a press release.
The Las Vegas Strip Faces Change
The Las Vegas Strip has thrived on change. Losing the Mirage Volcano will be no different than when the original marquee of The Sands, the sultan at The Dunes, or the Crystal Room at the Desert Inn became footnotes to history.
Adding a Guitar Hotel will change the city's skyline bringing in a very distinctive new look that could result in people trying the new property at the expense of MGM and Caesars which currently dominate the Strip.
Las Vegas operates both frozen in time and in a state of constant change. The Mirage only opened in 1989 and, at the time, it was a groundbreaking property. And, while the volcano will soon be relegated to the history books, it will retain its place in history.
"At the time, there was no on-Strip outdoor attraction that even came close to The Mirage’s volcano. It would become an instant success, drawing huge crowds of pedestrians, and even its fair share of drivers along Las Vegas Boulevard who would stop their cars on the street just to watch the show, Feldman told the Review-Journal.
That idea may seem silly now when you compare it to the Bellagio fountains or the overall grandeur of The Venetian, but, in 1989 the volcano was something totally new.
“The volcano really symbolized the new Las Vegas in 1989, and all through the ’90s,” Feldman said. “It was the symbol of Las Vegas turning a corner and becoming something much more than gambling, and becoming really much more than Sin City.”
Las Vegas still, of course, offers its share of sin, but the loss of the Volcano marks an important transition for the city. It's the end of an era and a change that shows that the Las Vegas Strip has become a bit like one giant theme park where nostalgia matters but newer and better will generally win the day.
