November, 2003 - Page 2

Posted November 30, 2003

As if there weren’t enough huge gaping holes in the building yet, they needed to smash another one. This opening along Carson Street was cut right into the cinder blocks, presumably so it can become another entrance. The foundations they’ve poured suggest they’re going to be doing something with the current main entrance, seen to the right of the picture. So it makes sense they’ll want another way in.

The little openings you saw last month were shored up and reinforced, and then widened to make this big puppy.

But was that enough of a hole in the building? Oh, no. The workers picked November to start stripping the building of stucco. Here they are in the front, slowly peeling back the layers to expose the skeleton and some insulation. This job looks like it’s going to continue well into December, if they really are going to do the whole building.

Before they started ripping down the front of the building, they tried the technique out on the back to see how it looked. Here you can see the fruits of their labors. This weird outcropping in the back corner was the first area to get the stucco removed.

They tore off all the layers—outside wall, stucco, insulation, inside wall—and left the barest of metal frames behind. There’s a lot of this stuccoed wall on all sides of the casino, and if they’re going to be removing it all, I think December will turn out to be a mighty exciting month.

See you then!