A hotel and casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, that was once owned by former President Donald Trump was demolished Wednesday morning.
The former Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino has been closed since 2014. The building, once a staple on the boardwalk, had deteriorated so much in recent years that chunks of it had started to peel off.
By 9:08 a.m., it had been destroyed, leaving behind a large pile of rubble and smoke.
Bernie Dillon, the former events manager for the casino, said the hotel used to be a hot spot for celebrities.
“The way we put Trump Plaza and the city of Atlantic City on the map for the whole world was really incredible. Everyone from Hulk Hogan to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it was the whole gamut of personalities," he said. "One night before a Tyson fight, I stopped dead in my tracks and looked about four rows in as the place was filling up, and there were two guys leaning in close and having a private conversation: Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty."
“It was like that a lot: You had Madonna and Sean Penn walking in, Barbra Streisand and Don Johnson, Muhammad Ali would be there, Oprah sitting with Donald ringside,” Dillon recalled. “It was a special time. I'm sorry to see it go.”
Trump cut ties with the casino in 2009 after a series of bankruptcy filings, but his name continued to adorn the building for a time, according to The New York Times. Billionaire investor Carl C. Icahn acquired it out of bankruptcy in 2016, the newspaper reported.
The demolition comes less than a month since Joe Biden was sworn in as president.
