Only the front portico of the old Ireland's Inn came down Wednesday, but it won't be long before the rest of this beachfront piece of history meets a similar fate.
Jack Ireland, the 88-year-old head of the family that built and opened the hotel in 1965 and shuttered it in 2007, is ready to see it go.
"Buildings only last so long," Ireland said before a backhoe tore into the inn's front entrance, officially starting the demolition. "You have to keep up with the times."
A decade ago, historic preservationists tried to keep the mid-century modern architecture of the seven-story, S-shaped hotel from the wrecker's ball, but they have since come to terms with its impending demise.