Going, going, gone

Fireworks explode over the 11-story, 900-room Hacienda Hotel & Casino Dec. 31, 1996, in Las Vegas, as it is imploded to make way for a new 4,000-room resort.   (Lennox McLendon / Associated Press)

A fireball rips though the Hacienda Hotel & Casino to enhance the building’s implosion for a New Year’s celebration in Las Vegas on Dec. 31, 1996. The implosion was preceded by a fireworks display for the estimated 200,000 people crowding the Las Vegas Strip.   (Craig L. Moran / Associated Press)

The El Rancho hotel-casino crumbles as it is demolished in October 2000. The Las Vegas Strip property had been empty and decaying for years before it was imploded.   (Jeff Klein / Associated Press)

The New Frontier hotel and casino was imploded in 2007 on the Las Vegas Strip.   (Isaac Brekken / Associated Press)

Fireworks explode over the Stardust Resort & Casino just before it was imploded on March 13, 2007, in Las Vegas.   (Ethan Miller / Getty Images)

The Sands Hotel is imploded in November 1996.  (John Gurzinski / AFP)

The famous Landmark Hotel is reduced to a pile of rubble on Nov. 7, l995, in Las Vegas. The 31-story space-needle-shaped tower was opened in 1968 by billionaire Howard Hughes.   (Lennox McLendon / Associated Press)

Police officers watch as the historic Mapes Hotel-Casino is imploded Jan. 30, 2000, in Reno, Nev.   (David Hunter / Associated Press)

The 25-story J.L. Hudson’s tower is the final piece of the building to collapse as it is imploded by 2,728 pounds of explosives in Detroit on Oct. 24, l998. The building was once touted as the world’s largest department store and a landmark of the Motor City.   (Jack Gruber / Associated Press)

The North Park Plaza building is imploded on Dec. 14, 2014, in Southfield, Mich. Oakland Community College, which owned the property just north of Detroit, auctioned off the chance to blow it up to the highest bidder.  (Tim Galloway / Associated Press)

People look at the twisted wreckage of the 50-year-old South Bay Power Plant in Chula Vista after it was brought down by explosives on Feb 2, 2013, to make way for a park and bird habitat.   (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Texas Stadium is imploded April 11, 2010, as seen from the belltower of the University of Dallas, in Irving, Texas.   (Scott M. Lieberman / Associated Press)

The Pacific Trade Center commercial office building in San Pedro, built in 1965 and vacant for 10 years, sags as it is brought down by explosives on Aug. 6, 2006, to make way for a new high-rise condominium.   (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

The Trojan Cooling Tower collapses on itself at the PGE site on the Columbia River May 21, 2006, in Oregon.  (Greg Wahl Stephens / Getty Images)

The old Washington Convention Center collapses as explosive charges bring down the roof in less than 20 seconds four blocks from the White House Dec. 18, 2004. The 22-year-old structure was rendered obsolete by a new 2.3-million-square-foot convention center.   (Hans Ericsson / Associated Press)

Demolition experts implode a section of the old Mississippi River bridge connecting Cape Girardeau, Mo., and East Cape Girardeau, Ill., Sept. 9, 2004. The remainder of the bridge, scheduled to be imploded at a later date, unexpectedly collapsed into the river at the same time.   (Don Frazier / Associated Press)

The first sections of Cinergy Field begin to fall as it is imploded on Dec. 29, 2002, in Cincinnati.   (Joe Munson / Associated Press)

Team mascot the Philly Phanatic and former Philadelphia Phillies slugger Greg Luzinski, left, join onlookers as Veterans Stadium is imploded on March 21, 2004.   (Douglas M. Bovitt / Associated Press)

Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh is demolished on Feb. 11, 2001. Three Rivers opened in 1970 at a cost of $36 million.  (David Maxwell / AFP)

Charges detonate inside the Grand Hotel in Anaheim causing the building to crumble. The building was imploded to make room for parking space for Disneyland California Adventure.   (Kevin P. Casey / Los Angeles Times)

Hundreds turned out at the Hollywood Park race track in Inglewood to watch the implosion of the 10-story Park Plaza Hotel in December 1995. The area was being cleared to make way for a proposed football stadium.   (Williams, Clarence / Los Angeles Times)