In cities across America, it is not unusual for a building to come down as a higher and better use takes its place. Often times the building is a few stories, but sometimes larger and many cities like to keep part of the old as a facade to allow for those on the street level to adapt to the new building. However in some cities, particularly in Las Vegas, they turn an implosion into a spectacle.

In an article by Rio Yamat of the Associated Press, the hotel known as the Tropicana Las Vegas was demolished complete with a fireworks display.

The last hotel to be imploded was the Riveira was levelled for a convention center expansion. This time, the Tropicana was imploded for space for the new Oakland A’s major league baseball team to build a stadium as it relocates to Las Vegas. The baseball stadium is expected to cost $1.5 billion.

If you have ever watched movies starring Frank Sinatra who was the one of the most popular singers in America, he was friends with Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop and the group was known as the Rat Pack. They often performed in Las Vegas including the Tropicana. Part of the history of Las Vegas is after Fidel Castro took over Cuba, the mob needed a place to wash its money, and the laws of Nevada allowed gambling. The mob and Teamsters poured money into the strip including the Flamingo and Tropicana. The Tropicana was once known as the Tiffany of the Strip including having a million-dollar green-and-amber stained-glass ceiling.

Times have changed and now most of the large hotels are owned by companies you can buy shares in. Las Vegas is a tourist town, and if you watch sports, people travel to various cities to watch their team perform. Watching the highlights of a NFL game between the Steelers and Raiders game in Vegas, there were lots of yellow towels in the audience or likely Steelers fans who made the easy trip to Vegas.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, things change, sometimes slowly but things do change. While it is important to remember the past, learn from it, and move forward. While the basic interaction of people does not change, how they do and where they do it can. People use different tools and when the tools change, how money is made, changes. Companies which adapt to change are ones you want to hold for a long time.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.