LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – On April 2, the Tropicana Hotel will close its doors for good, just two days shy of its 67th birthday.
The goal is to tear down the property and make way for a ballpark for the Oakland Athletics baseball team after it moves to Las Vegas. A new hotel will be attached, but that project is not expected to be complete until the 2028 MLB season.
This means businesses inside the Tropicana will have to find a new home, including the Laugh Factory Comedy Club, which has called the Tropicana home for 12 years.
“This morning, one of the executives from the hotel called me and said, ‘Yes, we’re definitely closing April 2nd,’” Laugh Factory GM Harry Basil told FOX5 Monday.
Basil has been making plans to move the club ever since the Athletics announced the team will be moving to Las Vegas.
“They’ve been very transparent with us all along. They knew that it was going to be this date,” Basil said of hotel management. “I checked back with them a few weeks ago. I said, ‘Hey, if there is the opportunity to stay another month or so if you guys are planning on staying open, let us know.’ And they said, ‘We’re going to make an announcement at the end of this month.’ So I knew it was coming.”
Basil will miss the historic hotel.
“It’s going to be sad,” he said of the impending closure. “The old glitz and glamor of Vegas is going to be gone when the Trop is gone.”
But the end of the Tropicana does not mean the end of the Laugh Factory.
“It is sad to see the Trop go away, but we’re still going to be around,” Basil said assuredly.
There are a few locations Basil is considering for the Laugh Factory’s new location, to be announced in the next month or so. The club will move after the last shows wrap up in late March.
“It’s looking really good,” Basil said of the future prospects for the club. “A lot of people have been reaching out.”
Basil plans to bring all the staff he employs at the comedy club with him to the new location. Until then, he’s looking to go out at the Tropicana with a bang.
“We booked Tiffany Haddish Super Bowl weekend, which is absolutely amazing,” Basil said excitedly. “John Lovitz is coming back again Valentine’s week.”
For the last week of shows at the Tropicana, Basil plans to put on a series of best-of performances, featuring who he calls some of the best acts this location has seen.
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