The glorious day of implosion and losing more Las Vegas history is set for March 13, 2007 at 2:30 a.m. I’m still trying to figure a way to watch it without being right in the dust zone and stuck in a million other bodies that are going to be there. I watched the Sands go down and in those days the digital camera wasn’t.

I started out to do a ‘project city center’ update and as I cruised down Industrial Road, heading for lunch with some of my buds and buddettes, I passed the Stardust. WHOA! Hit the brakes and get the hell in there Linda! I pulled in and parked, waltzed up to the security area and asked if I could shoot some photos, “Sure, as long as you stay right here.”

We visited. The guard told me that if I went to the next drive way off of Industrial, it was still open and ran to the Strip because of a McDonalds. He also told me there was an opening in the fence where trees were hauled off property and the guards there would probably let me take pictures. Done deal! They did -with the same stipulation that I stay right there. I did.

Most of the windows are gone.

Read the sign.

Another sign – almost reminiscent of the ‘happy clown’ at the Boardwalk before it bit the dust.

Part of the hotel rooms in the back.

The back of the property – used to be filled with more hotel rooms and storage.

Just past the destruction of the Stardust stands the Wynn, ever present on the skyline in Vegas.

The Sports Book.

Soon the dust will settle and the Stardust will return to the Earth. Theconstruction ofEchelon Place will begin. Anothergiant undertaking that willtake its place in the history of Las Vegas…for how long? Mistresses are rapidly discarded in this city and the luster always seems to fade as one building or complex is destroyed to make way for another. I can’t help but feel a bit sad as I watch ‘the dust’ become a memory.