Monday, Nov. 25, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
The circular tower of the hotel once dubbed "A Place in the Sun" will be erased from the Las Vegas skyline as a demolition crew implodes it early Tuesday.
Law enforcement officials are advising people to stay in their homes and hotel rooms and watch the 44-year-old Sands hotel-casino's tower, scheduled to be razed between 2 and 3 a.m., live on television.
Metro Police and Nevada Highway Patrol troopers are closing off Las Vegas Boulevard from Spring Mountain Road to Harrah's hotel-casino north of Flamingo Road, said Trooper Steve Harney. The hotel sits on the east side of the Strip just south of Spring Mountain Road and across the street from the Treasure Island hotel-casino.
For those who feel they must see it firsthand, they'll be forced to stay behind barricades set up by police, said Metro special events Officer Steve Meriwether.
Because the Strip will be closed off to motorists and pedestrians, spectators won't be able to stand directly in front of the hotel to watch the implosion, Meriwether said.
"There will be barriers to keep the public out," Meriwether said. "My advice would be, it's better to watch it live on TV than to be there. It's cleaner, safer and it'll be much warmer. It will be broadcast live on almost every TV station."
It's the third Las Vegas hotel in recent years to be imploded.
The first was the Dunes hotel-casino on October 27, 1994, at the Strip and Flamingo Road, which was replaced with the Bellagio hotel-casino, scheduled to open in 1998.
The second was the Landmark's 356-foot concrete needle at Paradise Road and Convention Center Drive. It was imploded Nov. 7, 1995, to make way for a convention center parking lot.
But unlike the Dunes and Landmark, which were imploded while also being filmed for movies, the Sands is not being demolished in conjunction with special effects or films.
"There's nothing associated with it," Meriwether said. "There's no filming. There's no pyrotechnics. It's simply, push the button and seven seconds later it's over with."
While the Strip will be closed to pedestrians 45 minutes to an hour before the implosion, motorists will be blocked just five minutes beforehand, Harney said.
If no debris is left on the Strip, the street will reopen 10 to 15 minutes after the demolition, he said.
"We've done this before," Harney said. "It's just another implosion. This is just basically bringing it down. No fireworks. No major fanfare. No filming."
In place of the Sands, which was a 1950s hangout for the Rat Pack's Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., a $1.8 billion Venetian-themed mega-resort will be built. Construction is set to begin in 1997 with an anticipated grand opening in 1999, said Kurt Ouchida of Las Vegas Sands Inc.
The next hotel to be demolished to make way for a mega-resort is the Hacienda hotel-casino at the south end of the Strip next to the Luxor hotel-casino. The Hacienda is set to be imploded, with much fanfare, at 9 p.m. on New Year's Eve.
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