One Last Look at The Frontier

To wind up this Thanksgiving holiday, let’s take one more look at the last moments of the Frontier.

First a look at the hotel, prior to the implosion. As I arrived, I could tell the building had a good majority of windows removed and several floors were scored (parts of the outer wall were removed) to allow for the building to collapse upon itself, rather than explode outwards.

It gave the building a very eerie look. As though it’d been through a huge battle and didn’t come out the winner.

Thanks to Preferred Public Relations, the Las Vegas Logue was granted access to a special area only a few hundred yards away from the night of the implosion. With cameras in hand we (the press in attendance) made our way to the media area and set up directly in front of the tall building. We were given safety equipment, such as a hard hat, poncho, safety goggles and earplugs, to make sure we would stay safe from the dust and any possible debris that resulted from the demolition of The Frontier.

Here’s a few shots of me geared up:

On the left is me rocking the hard hat & poncho look. Stylish, eh? In the center is fellow journalist Shana Wright and I gearing up…or at least trying to. The final shot is of photojournalist Daniel G. and I, with me trying to give my best “I’m ready to blow stuff up so let’s bring this sucker down!” look.

Around 2:30am, a huge fireworks display shot off over the top of the building that was to be demolished. The entire show lasted about ten minutes and could be viewed for several blocks around the Frontier site.

This led into a row of ground level fireworks that led a visual path to the building. Then fireworks illuminated the countdown on the side of the building, going from 10 to 0, followed by the 0 turning into a plunger.

You can see in the center photo a flash of red light. This was the first major explosion in the building, which was accompanied by a loud boom that rattled my body. Several short smaller explosions happened, then a moment of silence, as the building hung on for a few final seconds.

It then crashed on top of itself, from our left to right, finally ending in a cloud of dust and debris. Thankfully, as the cloud got about halfway to us, a strong wind picked it up and blew it out towards the Strip, and away from us. I’m guessing a good portion of the dust ended up on the Wynn across the road, as it was soon enveloped in a haze from the cloud.

Tuesday, I’ll continue this look at the final moments of the Frontier with more photos of the implosion aftermath that highlight how precise a job was done by the demolition team. I’ll also feature a video of the whole event from fireworks to dust cloud, for your viewing pleasure.

Then on Wednesday, I’ll take a look at Plaza Las Vegas, the new hotel that will sit on the grounds where the Frontier once stood, including artist renderings.