BOOM: New Frontier Implosion

In light of the pending implosion of The Harmon, Vegas Inc. decided to list the Top 10 Vegas Strip Hotel implosions. I love implosions and figured this was a good excuse to visit the youtube archives.

For the next couple of weeks I’ll grab video of these 10 Las Vegas Strip Hotel implosions. We’ll start with #10 on the list – New Frontier.

Opened: Oct. 30, 1942

Closed: July 16, 2007

Imploded: Nov. 13, 2007

When the New Frontier met its demise in 2007, it was one of the few remaining Strip hotels to have witnessed the transformation of a portion of Highway 91 into one of the most famous streets in the world.

The property began as the Pair O’ Dice club in 1930, built by British theater owner R.E. Griffith, the second property on what is now the Strip. It underwent several transformations and saw many owners, including Steve Wynn, who had a small stake in the operation when he first started out in the city.

In 1942, the Pair O’ Dice was remodeled into the Western-themed Last Frontier, becoming one of the Strip’s first themed casinos. After a renovation, the casino was renamed the New Frontier in April 1955. Billionaire Howard Hughes purchased the property for about $14 million in 1967 and the Western theme was dropped, along with part of its name, becoming simply The Frontier. In 1999, after a few more changes in ownership, the name was changed back to the New Frontier.

As the era of the megaresorts ushered in an evolution on the Strip, the New Frontier took on a different role. It was sought out not as a Las Vegas destination but as a hotel that offered cheap room rates the newer attractions. Its glory days as a classy establishment that hosted Elvis Presley’s first Las Vegas performance, as well as the final performance of Diana Ross and the Supremes, were quickly forgotten. It became a place known mainly for its mechanical bull, often ridden by bikini-clad women, inside the Gilley’s cowboy bar.

The 16-story New Frontier was imploded just after 2:30 a.m. Nov. 13, 2007.