The Tropicana was the first casino I visited on my first trip
to Las Vegas in 1965. I had driven my dad’s ‘59 Chevy up
from Tucson and it was two-lane roads all the way. Even
Tropicana was two lanes from Boulder Hiway to Maryland.
I remember hitting a $5 jackpot on an old mechanical
slot machine and ogling the topless show girls at the
Follies Bergere show. (they were required to remain
stationary) On later visits I recall eating in a lower level
pizza parlor and playing the Scopitone machine, a jukebox
that played specially produced movies. “Calendar Girl”
was my favorite. I remember the swim-up 21 game and
watching Dick Contino play his accordion in the Blue Room
when the Trop was called “The Tiffany of the Strip”. In the
70s I followed the adventures of Mitzi Stauffer Briggs as
she blew her 44 million dollar fortune investing in the then
mobbed-up Trop. I thought it unusual they used yellow $5
chips when everyone else used red. I was told the Trop was
the first to replace their silver dollars with $1 chips. (blue and
white quarter pie) They were first to have $100 tokens for
slot machines. Anyway, so long Tropicana.