What to know
- A spot on the Atlantic City Boardwalk where movie stars, athletes and rock stars held parties and a future president honed his instinct for bravado and hype was reduced to a smoky mess on Wednesday morning.
- The former Trump Plaza casino was exploded after falling into such a state of disrepair that pieces of the building began to peel off and crash to the ground.
- And the demolition of the one-time gem of former President Donald Trump’s casino empire paves the way for an excellent development event in the middle of the Boardwalk, where the Plaza once marketed itself as ‘the center of Atlantic City’.
A spot on the Atlantic City Boardwalk where movie stars, athletes and rock stars used to party – and a future president honed his instincts for bravado and hype – was turned into a smoking mess on Wednesday.
The former Trump Plaza casino was exploded after falling into such a state of disrepair that pieces of the building began to peel off and crash to the ground.
A series of loud explosions shook the building around 9 a.m., and it collapsed almost like a wave from back to front until it went straight down into a giant cloud of dust enveloping the beach and promenade. In general, it took the structure less than 20 seconds to collapse.
The removal of the one-time gem of former President Donald Trump’s casino empire paves the way for an excellent development event in the middle of the Boardwalk, where the Plaza once marketed itself as ‘the center of Atlantic City’.
“The way we put Trump Plaza and the city of Atlantic City on the map for the whole world was really incredible,” said Bernie Dillon, the casino’s event manager from 1984 to 1991. ‘Everyone from Hulk Hogan to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it was the whole spectrum of personalities. One night before a Tyson fight, I stop dead in my tracks and look into about four rows as the place fills up, and there are two guys leaning close and having a private conversation: Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty. ‘
“It was very much like this: you walked in Madonna and Sean Penn, Barbra Streisand and Don Johnson, Muhammad Ali would be there, Oprah sitting with Donald ring,” he recalls. “It was a special time. I’m sorry to see how it goes. ”
To complete the explosion. demolition crews placed explosives at strategic points along the building’s support structures to knock its legs out from under it and bring the building down on itself, with the debris falling in a slightly north-northeast direction, Fire Chief Scott Evans said. said.
Although the former president built it, the building is now owned by another billionaire, Carl Icahn, who acquired the two remaining Trump casinos in 2016 from the last of their many bankruptcies.
Mayor Marty Small has suggested that the demolition be used as a fundraiser for the Atlantic City Boys And Girls Club, and start an auction for the right to push the button that will drop the structure.
But Icahn – a donor and former special economic adviser to Trump – objected to security and liability issues and got the auction house to stop bidding. Icahn said he would replace the $ 175,000 already offered with his own money.
Trump Plaza opened in 1984, when Trump was a real estate developer, and was for a time the most successful casino in Atlantic City. It was the place to be when mega events like a Mike Tyson boxing match or a Rolling Stones concert were held next door in Boardwalk Hall.
The former Trump Plaza casino along the Atlantic City Boardwalk will come down Wednesday morning. Randy Gyllenhaal of NBC10 looks back at the history of the resort from those who worked and played there.
Ron Gatewood, a food and beverage worker at Trump Plaza from 1986 until its closure in 2014, brought food and beverages to stars, including Aretha Franklin, Luther Vandross and Barry White, in their hotel rooms.
“They were very earthly people,” Gatewood recalls. “They never made you feel any less. They tilted very well. Well, some did it anyway. ‘
The casino even has a twist in the movie “Ocean’s Eleven.” When George Clooney and Brad Pitt recruit the character of actor Bernie Mac to help with a Las Vegas casino heist, they pick him up from Trump Plaza, where he was a dealer.
Bob McDevitt, president of the main union for casino workers, said the place was gleaming and buzzing when it first opened.
“When there was a Tyson fight, it was like New Year’s Eve in the city, big traffic jams,” he said.
But things started to sour for Trump Plaza when Donald Trump opened the nearby Trump Taj Mahal in 1990, with devastating debt taxes that led to the company pouring most of its resources – and cash – into the shiny new hotel and casino.
“The moment the Taj Mahal opens, it starts a decline for the Plaza,” McDevitt said. “To make sure the Taj Mahal was successful, they sent all the high rollers from Trump Plaza and Trump’s Castle to the Taj, and they really did not invest much in the Plaza.”
The Trump Taj Mahal, one of the casinos acquired by Icahn, has since reopened under the new Hard Rock.
Trump Plaza was the last of four Atlantic City casinos to close in 2014, the victims of an oversaturated casino market in the city of New Jersey and in the greater northeast. At the beginning of 2014, there were 12 casinos; there are now nine.
By the time it closed, Trump Plaza was the worst performing casino in Atlantic City, taking in as much money from gamblers in 8 1/2 months as the leading Borgata every two weeks.