Las Vegas has a reputation, and they play heavily on it, with slogans like “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas’ and ‘Sin City’ and more. But there are two other things that Vegas is especially famous for: Glitter and neon, and constantly tearing down and building new.
The slogans bring the crowds, the huge brightly-lit signs are part of the entertainment, and the constant re-invention and reconstruction brings the old lighted signs to the Neon Boneyard at the Neon Museum up north, past the heart of the city.
There, in a huge backlot called the Neon Boneyard, the museum lets visitors wander through the names and signs of the past, many of them familiar to anyone who’s visited the city at different times over the years and some familiar because newer brighter signs have replaced the relics on display.
The Hard Rock guitar (yes, it lights up; it recently had a full restoration) is an example of new for old. This was the world’s first neon Hard Rock sign, now the trademark everywhere it operates. At 80 feet tall, it adorned the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino from 1990 to 2017, when the hotel became the Virgin Hotel. A new guitar went up on a Hard Rock Cafe on the strip, and last month Hard Rock announced it’s bought the Mirage Hotel, which will take the Hard Rock name. But instead of only a neon guitar, they’re planning a new guitar-shaped hotel tower like the one they built in Hollywood, Florida
Even the museum building itself is a relic of the past: It’s the entry pavilion of the former La Concha Motel, disassembled and relocated to the site. The pavilion and the motel itself were designed by Paul R. Williams, the first African-American member of the American Institute of Architects.
Some of the signs are functional and lit-up; while daytime visitors get to wander on their own, evening visitors go on a guided tour, and get to see the lights in, well, another light. There’s also another lot across the street, the North Gallery, with more signs and a show and… this being Vegas… it’s also a wedding venue.
The Neon Museum was founded in 1996 to “collect, preserve and exhibit” classic Las Vegas neon. It originally showed off a small sample of signs in a temporary space near Fremont Street; ten years later it moved to its permanent location.
Wandering in the Boneyard and reading the signs about the signs I found some fascinating stories about Las Vegas entrepreneurs and characters, which I expected, and also a story I hadn’t known: the issue of racism and segregation.
The Moulin Rouge Hotel and Casino, whose sign is above, opened in 1955 as the first in Las Vegas open to African-Americans, who previously had not been allowed in casinos, hotels and restaurants along the strip and Fremont Street; in most, even the Black entertainers who drew audiences into the venues could not stay overnight. That didn’t end until the ‘Las Vegas Agreement’ of 1960, which ended segregation in the face of a growing movement for mass protests.
The Moulin Rouge sign, as well as the iconic Welcome sign, were designed by Betty Willis, nearly the only woman working in Las Vegas neon, and one of the most prolific designers. Most of her work was for YESCO, which has made and maintained a large majority of Las Vegas’s big signs.
The Normandie Motel sign was also by Betty Willis. It’s one of a number of signs that have been installed around the city as public art, though not at their original sites. To see what it looks like lit up at night, click HERE
The Silver Slipper, near the museum, and the Hacienda Hotel’s Horse and Rider are two more of the so-far nine signs that are part of the Neon Sign Project, which is connected to the designation of part of Las Vegas Boulevard as a Federal Scenic Urban Byway.
As you might have noticed, not all the neon at the museum is from casinos and hotels; the two above are from laundry and dry-cleaning establishments and there are a number of others from ordinary businesses. But the vast majority are what you’d expect, and there’s more below.
Some are fully assembled; many signs, though, are in bits and pieces, either waiting for restoration, or simply interesting in themselves.
And a few of the signs never graced a business anywhere: They were created by the film director Tim Burton for an exhibit based on his work in film and other media in 2019. They include the whimsical Lost Vegas sign, which seems an appropriate theme for the Boneyard; a rootin’-tootin’ space character and the one that fools many visitors at first sight: The Area 51 Motel.
The Boneyard is the main public space of the museum, but there is also the adjacent North Gallery, all of whose signs are unrestored—but which hosts an evening show called Brilliant!, a light and sound show that brings the signs to life. It’s also the space that can be rented for weddings and other events.
Admission is $20, or $28 with guided tours, which start after 4:30. The Brilliant! show is a $23 separate ticket. The museum is best-reached by car or the Las Vegas #113 bus. It’s a half-mile walk from the Deuce bus that runs along the Strip and Downtown. A photo note: the rules say no cameras, only phones to take pictures, but in fact simple cameras such as point-and-shoot compacts are allowed; they’re concerned about serious cameras and commercial use of their images.
And here’s the Easter Egg for typography fans: The origins of the Boneyard sign. ‘N’ is from the Golden Nugget, followed by a Caesar’s Palace ‘E,’ then an ‘O’ from Binion’s Horseshoe and an ‘N’ from the Desert Inn. All of those signs are on display in the Boneyard.
