The Stardust Casino Remembered

The Stardust Casino and Hotel's "Go Big or Go Home" approach to Vegas was the same philosophy that ultimately led to its implosion. (AP Images)

Exactly one year has passed since the legendary Stardust Hotel and Casino closed its doors after 48 years of continuous cocktails, Baccarat and sporadic corruption. Sparked by the recent implosion of the infamous Frontier Hotel last week, Vegas historians are looking at 2007 as a major marker in the demolition of classic Vegas icons.

Gone are the gangs of crooners and hit men, the spangled showgirls sipping Marigold gin on ice. These days, casino owners don't collapse dead on the Craps tables, clutching dice to their mean mobster chests. So of all the carpet joints in all the gambling towns, of the dozens of hotels that have graced the Strip, what made the Stardust so special? And why, a year after its demise, is it so sorely missed?

Read the rest of Bodog Nation's Requiem for the Stardust.