apnews.com/article/mirage-casino-closing-las-vegas-hard-rock-8596aed7ea41859471af720265b963b6
The Mirage casino, which ushered in an era of Las Vegas Strip megaresorts in the '90s, is closing
Hard to believe, I laid carpet in the Mirage while it was under construction. Yep, retired now.
I laid some pipe there when me and my wife stayed there a few years ago.
The iconic Mirage hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip will shut its doors this summer, the end of an era for a property credited with helping transform Sin City into an ultra-luxury resort destination.
The July 17 closure will clear the way for major renovations and construction on the 80-acre property, which is to reopen in 2027 as the Hard Rock Las Vegas, featuring a hotel tower in the shape of a guitar soaring nearly 700 feet above the heart of the Strip.
“We’d like to thank the Las Vegas community and team members for warmly welcoming Hard Rock after enjoying 34 years at The Mirage,” Jim Allen, chairman of Hard Rock International, said Wednesday in a statement announcing the closure.
It will be the second time this year that a Strip casino shutters.
It's not really a closure, so much as a rebrand under new ownership. The building is staying up. They're only tearing out the volcano/waterfall from the front to put up the new building.
And furthermore, they've been calling themselves the Hard Rock on the inside for over a year already. This is about the least timely story I've ever read.
And finally, MGM resorts reserved the rights to the Mirage name in the deal, so they'll almost certainly be building a new Mirage south of the Strip at some point.
But I liked the volcano
Man, I remember when that was new and it was so wild to think there was a fucking volcano on the Las Vegas Strip.
I went to Las Vegas as a little kid. My mom knew a guy who lived there and I think he liked her because he flew us out and took us everyone and bought lots of gifts! Literally went to FAO Schwartz and was told I could get anything I wanted (being a little girl, I just got a Reptar stuffed animal and a doll house that was also a tea set - nothing crazy but still so amazing)
To me as a child the strip was a wonderland! I loved the Volcano and the Pirate Ship Battle! It was just magic. I loved the Circus Circus amusement park and the arcades in Excalibur and just everything. It’s sad that Vegas lost that family friendly magic.
I’m adult now and I know they make money off adults doing adult things like buying alcohol and gambling, but whole family entertainment everything magic was so cool!
That must’ve been epic! It’s funny & sad to see how much Vegas has changed over the decades, a tale as old as time, I suppose. It’s interesting to see Vegas catering to the Food & Beverage scene as well as the high-end shopping demographic.
They’re not dummies there, they know how to get people to come & spend money!
I wish this was staying, stupid guitar.
They are closing it to renovate the inside. Employees are getting severances and all reservations are cancelled and refunded.
Too bad I’ll miss it. I think the mirage was the first Vegas hotel I stayed in when I was 21+.
It was my 21st and just came back today from my 2nd love that place
Mine was Excal.
You did better!
St. Matthew Passion intensifies
I loved The Mirage. First time I went to Las Vegas with the family was in 1996 and we stayed there. The pool was awesome
Staying there last week of June. Bitter sweet to get the news today
The town will never be the same. After the Tangiers, the big corporations took it all over. Today it looks like Disneyland. And while the kids play cardboard pirates, Mommy and Daddy drop the house payments and Junior's college money on the poker slots. In the old days, dealers knew your name, what you drank, what you played. Today, it's like checkin' into an airport. And if you order room service, you're lucky if you get it by Thursday. Today, it's all gone. You get a whale show up with four million in a suitcase, and some twenty-five-year-old hotel school kid is gonna want his Social Security Number. After the Teamsters got knocked out of the box, the corporations tore down practically every one of the old casinos. And where did the money come from to rebuild the pyramids? Junk bonds. But in the end, I wound up right back where I started. I could still pick winners, and I could still make money for all kinds of people back home. And why mess up a good thing? And that's that.
Nice reference.
I love the Mirage; had great times there with friends and family! Too bad but progress is progress - will miss the quiet grounds around the volcano during the day and the hopping lobby at night!
Bob Stupak's Vegas World used to pay us to stay there, but as soon as we got our money, we made a beeline to The Mirage Poker Room. Those were the days!
Sad. I love that place. Got a mug to remember it! 😜
Tropicana gone and now Mirage to close. The disappointing part is they are both going to be gone for several years. Tropicana is at the end of the strip so less noticeable, but hopefully Mirage is not an eye sore for the next 3 years in the middle of the strip.
Got married on the strip in front of the volcano, will be sad to see it go
Hopefully your marriage will last longer than the volcano.
Thanks been 10 years already so here’s hoping
Crazy. My mom's first big job was at the mirage when it opened up. Met Michael Jordan when I was a kid there, he was playing blackjack at the table outside of the entrance to her offices. Damn I'm old
Please help me decide. I've got two rooms July 11 to July 14 check out. I'm afraid the place will have no staff, food, maintenance etc by then. Should I cancel and go elsewhere?
Had a friend from Yuma stay there once.
Honestly looking forward to seeing the giant guitar…. The one in Florida is pretty cool looking. It’s perfect for Vegas and isn’t just another ubiquitous glass tower.
Place has been a fucking dump for 5+ years, and frankly it started falling off a decade ago. Please, just blow it up and start fresh.
While I can say I had a good time while being there this January, the rooms were showing their age. We booked a 2 bedroom suite that was spacious but felt like a time warp back to the 90s. Additionally our master bathroom was very much slanted - we were jokingly worried the room was going to collapse.
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I once did a bump with Dan Marino in the bathroom at the Mirage. It will always be a special place for me (and maybe Dan?).
Laces out!