Eve of Implosion II: Riviera’s Remaining Towers Come Down Tonight

Greg C gets some final photos of the Riviera’s remaining towers…

The final implosion(s) of the Riviera happen late tonight/early tomorrow at 2 am. The Monte Carlo Tower and the South Tower will be coming down in explosive fashion. Here’s a look at some very recent shots.

The charges are set

The CDI (Controlled Demolition, Inc.) guys are on site — the first  pic shows two guys setting charges on the MC tower:

This second pic shows the steel beams supporting the front façade—with square boxes affixed to the steel I-beams. Those square wood boxes will have plastic explosive charges set in them to cut the supports (not dynamite as with more common concrete columns). This blast should be quite loud as charges set around open steel beams are not muffled by concrete.

This third pic is a rare angle I have never been able to shoot of the Monte Carlo tower. This rear view with Circus Circus was blocked by the (imploded) Monaco tower. Seeing this was kind of cool–and a limited opportunity photo-shoot!

This fourth pic I liked with the South Tower and the classic Circus Circus marquee:

More pictures from late last week and yesterday:

The Monte Carlo tower is see-thru now….   really gutted down to a shell.

They were removing the white RIVIERA logo letters from the glass facade while I was down there. These show a couple of the Riv letters set in the back of a truck….the other is a close up of the facade where they were pulled from:

Whether they will be used for scrap or preservation, I don’t know. Hopefully, they’ll go to the Neon Museum.

[Photos: Greg C]

Greg C

Vegas resident and former VegasChatter cameraman. Enjoys Vegas history and driving around town taking photos of the ever-changing cityscape. Also a fan of the desert and mountains–here in Nevada and the entire Southwest.