LAS VEGAS (AP) — The aging Riviera Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip will age no more as…
This Feb. 16, 2015 photo shows the Riviera Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. Owners of the hotel which opened in 1955 have agreed to sell the property to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The tourism agency confirmed the potential purchase Tuesday, Feb. 17 after days of not commenting on rumors of a deal.
(AP Photo/Kimberly Pierceall)
AP Photo/Kimberly Pierceall
Don King productions stages Las Vegas heavyweight fights on June 15, 1985 at the Riviera Hotel.
(AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler)
AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler
Actress Joan Crawford, left, relaxes with her husband Alfred N. Steele, and her 11-year-old twin daughters Cathy and Cindy at tthe pool of Las Vegas Riviera Hotel, USA, October 1958.
(AP Photo)
AP Photo
Challenger Mike Weaver falls towards WBA Heavyweight Champion Pinklon Thomas during first round of their 12-round title fight at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas, Nev., June 15, 1985. Weaver was later knocked out in the eighth.
(AP Photo/Doug Pizac)
AP Photo/Doug Pizac
Sitting on a scooter, Michelle Bailey, 22, of Texas, talks on the phone while taking a break from selling raffle tickets at a pool tournament at the Riviera hotel-casino in Las Vegas, Thursday, May 17, 2007. In increasing numbers, Las Vegas tourists exhausted by the five miles of gluttony laid out before them are getting around on electric mobility scooters. “Four-inch heels,” she explained with a laugh, talking about her lipstick-red pumps. ** zu unserem KORR.
(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
AP Photo/Jae C. Hong
Undisputed middleweight champion Marvelous Marvin Hagler shows off his muscle during weigh-in on March 30, 1984 in Las Vegas for his championship fight with WBA number one contender Juan Roldan of Argentina at Riviera Hotel Friday night. Hagler and Roldan both weighed 159 ? pounds.
(AP Photo/ Lennox McLendon)
AP Photo/ Lennox McLendon
Piano virtuoso Liberace is shown playing the guitar with Elvis Presley at the piano in November 1956 at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas.
(AP Photo)
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The aging Riviera Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip will age no more as of noon.
The 60-year-old casino-hotel is expected to close its doors at that hour Monday.
The 2,075-room building and the 26 acres it sits on was sold to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority in February.
The publicly-funded tourism agency plans to tear down the casino-hotel where Liberace and Frank Sinatra were once headliners and expand the Las Vegas Convention Center to the Strip.
“The Riv” is among the few remaining hotel-casinos that got its start in Sin City’s early mob-led days.
The property has struggled in recent years as development around it went dormant, deterring walk-in traffic.
Furniture and fixtures inside the casino-hotel are expected to be auctioned in mid-May.
Neal Augenstein has been a general assignment reporter with WTOP since 1997. He says he looks forward to coming to work every day, even though that means waking up at 3:30 a.m.
