Even if you’ve never been to Las Vegas, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of The Mirage. Opened in 1989, it was the start of a new era for the city that was previously known for crime and gambling. This was an image the city desperately wanted to shake off as the economic prosperity of the early to mid ’90s was coming into full swing. Vegas wanted to be the family destination, the resort city that offered something for everyone. The Mirage was front and center in that transitional period. Just like the illusion it shares its name with however, the vision eventually faded and this summer The Mirage is shutting its doors.
If you’ve ever seen “Vegas Vacation,” you’ve seen The Mirage. It may be the lesser entry of the Chevy Chase helmed film franchise but the film did go all out in trying to portray Vegas accurately by filming a great deal in the actual Mirage resort. The building played host to the magical duo of Siegfried & Roy, Cirque du Soleil, and their production, “Love.” The latter of these events is a tribute to The Beatles with elaborate choreography, musical arrangements of Beatles songs, and actually had its own unique theater built in The Mirage, in order to host it.
Come July 17th, it all comes to an end when the resort fully closes. While this seems sudden, the closure was in the works for a few years now. In 2022, The Mirage was owned by MGM Resorts. They sold the rights to the property to Hard Rock International in exchange for over a billion dollars in cash. Hard Rock had plans for the area but stated that they would continue to run the property under The Mirage banner until those plans came to fruition. Well, they’re finally coming along.
Over the next few years, construction is going to take place to turn the property into Hard Rock Las Vegas, complete with a guitar shaped hotel tower. (Look, Vegas has never been about subtlety, don’t expect it to start now) It’s planned to be about 700 feet tall with an estimated reopening date of 2027. While this will lay off a number of workers, the Culinary Workers Union worked out a contract that will allow former employees to return to work at the resort with their seniority intact. Leave it to Vegas to showcase the importance of unions.
If you want to see The Mirage before it closes, you don’t have a heck of a lot of time, so good luck trying to get a reservation while you can. If all else fails there’s still watching “Vegas Vacation” and booking a room at a different hotel under the name Nick Papagiorgio. It’s not exactly the same experience but it beats spending time with Randy Quaid.
