Demolition of the Shamrock Hilton (1987) - The Bailey Collective Collection

Duration: 0:07:41

Year Published: 1987

Sound: silent

Description: This silent footage produced by the Houston-based Bob Bailey Productions documents different stages of the demolition of Houston’s historic Shamrock Hilton Hotel in 1987. The film begins with footage of the hotel’s exterior immediately prior to the demolition. It then shows footage of the partially destroyed hotel and of a wrecking ball collapsing pieces of the hotel. The Shamrock opened on March 17, 1949. Publicized as “Houston’s biggest party,” the grand opening attracted some 2,000 Houstonians and 150 Hollywood celebrities, including Ginger Rogers, Hedda Hoppa, and Errol Flynn. Hilton purchased the hotel in 1955, operating it as the Shamrock Hilton until 1985, when it donated the building to the Texas Medical Center. The site is now the home of the Institute of Biosciences and Technology,. Formed in the mid-1930s, the Houston-based Bob Bailey Productions produced mostly industrial and educational films for area oil, natural gas, and petrochemical companies, but also made newsreels for Fox and Movietone.