The Atlantic City casino of former President Donald Trump has been demolished with 3,000 sticks of dynamite on Wednesday morning.
Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino was the first of four casino hotels owned by Trump in the famous gambling area.
While many people were gutted to see the building go, some of the former President’s critics bought ‘front row’ seats to see the building crash to the ground.
Onlookers in vehicles hoping to see the end of Trump’s casino empire were charged $10.
The money raised from the auction will be given to the Boys and Girls Club of Atlantic City.
Jennifer Owen, a spectator who bid $575 for her front-row seat at a VIP breakfast in an oceanfront pavilion, told the New York Times: “It’s an end of a not-so-great era.
“It’s symbolic for sure. Him. Everything ending.”
Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small also said that the plaza had helped a lot during the early days of the area. However, things eventually turned sour.
“This is not about President Trump, because, quite frankly, the people here in the great city of Atlantic City knew how the presidency was going to play out on a national stage because we’re one of the cities that knew him best,” he said after the demolition.
The Plaza was once the jewel in Trump’s Atlantic City crown.
Bernie Dillion, the casino’s events manager from 1984 to 1991, told the Huffington Post that the plaza brought in the biggest celebrities of the day.
“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.”
Dillion continued: “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.
“It was a special time. I’m sorry to see it go.”
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Replaced!