circa 2022
That's The Mirage—which just closed in July 2024 to begin its conversion into the Hard Rock Las Vegas.
circa 2022If I'd had longer, I would've stayed there again and again. Or, maybe I wouldn't have, had I not known it was going away.
circa 2022
It's a sad comeuppance for the resort that started it all for the mega-casinos of the Vegas Strip—the brainchild of developer Steve Wynn, who would go on to create the pirate-themed Treasure Island, the faux-talian Bellagio, and the Wynn & Encore Resorts (which would set the tone for the current "glass tower" trend in Vegas). 
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circa 2022In 1986, it was Wynn who bought the Castaways Hotel and Casino—which had been on the Strip in some form or another since the 1930s—and demolished it to make way for The Mirage.
circa 2024Fortunately, the Mirage isn't getting plowed or imploded—but it is undergoing a major renovation that may render it unrecognizable. I don't think the lobby waterfall is long for this world.
circa 2022Who knows about that domed atrium skylight? It's so unusual to get daylight inside a Vegas casino, where the ambiance is typically tightly controlled by management—which generally doesn't want its patrons to know whether it's day or night, dawn or dusk.
circa 2022I always felt a really nice sense of place at The Mirage, even despite its escapist motif...
circa 2024
...with a 20,000-gallon, saltwater aquarium behind the front registration desk to add to the "South Seas" theme it opened with in 1989.
It was never meant to be tacky, like the Vegas that surrounded it at the time. It was supposed to be nice—and intentionally not affordable. Passersby wouldn't casually pop in, the front door was set so far back from the Strip. And if they did, they wouldn't find slot machines or tables right inside the front door. The high rollers The Mirage attracted knew where to head deeper into the hotel, farther into the casino floor.
circa 2022Nearly 35 years later, The Mirage still felt a bit elegant to me when I stayed there in 2022 and 2024—not passé, like some of the other themed casinos that sprouted up after it in the 1990s.
circa 2022Architecturally, the main hotel tower (which consisted of three wings in a Y shape, designed by architect Joel Bergman) is actually pretty straightforward and unornamented...
circa 2022...in stark contrast to the lush, palmed oasis at the pool down below (which Hard Rock promises to "enhance").
circa 2024From its inception, everything at The Mirage was meant to be its own attraction, drawing its own unique crowd—and not just gamblers.
circa 2024Spending the day at The Mirage pool, I spent more money on frozen margaritas and Caesar salads than I have on slot machines in a long time.
circa 2022At the time of its opening, The Mirage was unique in its offerings, including the 1.3 million-gallon dolphin pool...
circa 2022
...a main part of the Secret Garden & Dolphin Habitat.
circa 2022The white tigers and other exotic wildlife (made famous by Siegfried & Roy, who performed at the Mirage from 1990 to 2003) were already gone by the time of my visit in May 2022. I knew the closure of the dolphin show would probably soon follow—which it did, in November of that year.
circa 2022I can't say the rooms were particularly special by the time I spent the night in one (and they're considered pretty small by today's standards)...
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circa 2022...but I loved going to bed awash in the amber glow of incandescent bulbs from the monumental sign out front.
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circa 2022It was a Vegas casino I looked forward to coming home to, rather than staying out all night...
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...not just to get a tiki nightcap in its onsite rum bar...
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circa 2022...but also to stand somewhere alongside its 4.5-acre lagoon out front and catch a glimpse of the epic Volcano Show, which ran on the hour nightly almost continuously since its 1989 opening.
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Personally I think there's something very rock-and-roll about the beating drums (performed by Mickey Hart of The Grateful Dead since 2008) and blinding pyrotechnics of the Volcano Show...
circa 2022...but Hard Rock has decided to demolish it in favor of building a 600-foot, guitar-shaped hotel tower in its place.
circa 2024This "Strip-front attraction" played its swan song on July 17, 2024...
circa 2024Thankfully, I made sure to document the hot lava flows and the "FireShooters" during my April 2024 trip.
circa 2024I still can't believe it's closed. I can't believe the Volcano Show won't be running when I return to Vegas in May 2025. (The Hard Rock probably won't open until 2027.)
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circa 2024And all I can do is think about the time I wasted not hanging out at The Mirage, since first visiting Vegas with Tony in February 2001. I even went to a performance of Cirque du Soleil's The Beatles LOVE at The Mirage in 2016—but I don't remember a thing about the hotel I walked through to get to the theater.
In some ways, I wish I'd never gotten to know The Mirage, even just a little. It hurts too much to lose it.
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