Las Vegas has a complicated relationship with it’s short, 100-year history. The Neon Museum is exhibit A.
It sits on the grounds of what was the La Concha hotel. Behind it, the Neon Boneyard – a graveyard of old decommissioned signs from Las Vegas’s past.
The fact that these signs are still here, protected (and restored if needed), and are available for public enjoyment is the work of many people who have an interest in preserving that history. Many people who recognize its value.
The more you know about Las Vegas history, the more these signs mean something to you, too. And to walk through the boneyard at the Neon Museum is eerily similar any cemetery.
I took a guided walk through the Neon Boneyard and was allowed to take these pictures for personal use. So look and enjoy them, but don’t use or share the pictures in this slideshow.
The story starts a long time ago.
When someone has a new, bigger idea for the Las Vegas strip, and an old casino stands in their way, it’s out-with-the-old.
There have been over a dozen major hotel-casinos on the Las Vegas Strip that have met their fate through carefully timed TNT, and a beautiful albeit short demise, often to much fanfare of fireworks and dancers.
Never has a city been so confident in its future that it leaves its past in the dust so confidently, so violently. Yet it’s part of what makes this city what it is.
It’s the Las Vegas way.
And don’t think we’re done. There is an implosion scheduled for right around the corner – the famed Riviera hotel, home to Crazy Girls, Liberace, and countless movie features.
When it comes to marquees, Las Vegas treats those as important as the casino floor, the pool area, or the steakhouse. You don’t skimp on the sign.
In fact, there’s been an informal competition on the Las Vegas strip for decades. A race for the biggest, baddest, most expensive sign on the strip. The Frontier would put up a big sign, so The Stardust would put up one even bigger.
That game’s not over either. When Aria put up it’s new marquee in 2013, it became the tallest sign on the strip, standing at 260 feet. Consisting of 11 million pixels of LED, the price tag for the newest sign on the strip comes in at $18 million. (Um yeah, that’s not the new Aria sign pictured to the right. That’s a duck.)
When Bob Stupak’s sign blew down in the wind at his property, the Vegas World casino, he decided he’d take that opportunity to build an even bigger, better sign. Because you know, this is Vegas, right?
As plans for the new sign changed and evolved, with each passing iteration, the sign got taller and taller. The final product? The 1,149 foot tall Stratosphere tower.
That’s right – The Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas is the tallest marquee in the world.
For Las Vegas, the signs out front are a symbol of the measure of greatness you might find inside. The attention to detail. The desire to lure you in.
The Young Electric Sign Company (YESCO) knew this. And it is to them we owe the Neon Museum.
YESCO has been providing neon to Las Vegas for a long, long time. YESCO gave the world Vegas Vic and the marquee at Wynn Las Vegas and the light show canopy at the Fremont Street Experience.
YESCO sorta made Las Vegas the neon city, and in turn, Las Vegas made YESCO.
So how did all these signs end up here, on this 2-acre lot in the middle of Las Vegas? YESCO didn’t sell their creations – they leased them.
Why sell when you can guarantee a constant revenue stream for years and years? So that’s what they did.
Little did YESCO know, one day, we’d be knocking their signs down, one by one. Each time a casino came down, they came knocking on YESCO’s door: “We’ve got your sign.” And each time, YESCO replied the same, “Put it in the back.”
Before they knew it, the had this collection of things. This eery and beautiful, living and dead, colorful and dull display of history preserved where history was not.
It eventually got turned over to the city, and in 2012, the Neon Museum officially opened its doors.
The non-profit also restores signs and places them around Fremont. Look for giant shoes and martini glasses downtown. Those are the handiwork of these guys.
The Binion’s Horseshoe sign came down recently when Caesars bought them.
Ben Binion was a thick-skinned Texan who pulled the trigger first and asked questions later.
But he was also famous for bringing some innovations to Las Vegas we take for granted now. You can thank him for free drinks and comps for all gamblers, seats at slot machines, carpeted casino floors, airport limo pickup, and a $2 steak special.
He attracted tourists with a display of $1 million in cash, because why not?
Binion’s can add one other gambling tradition to its legacy – the World Series of Poker. And that’s exactly why Harrah’s (now Caesars) bought Binion’s Horseshoe in 2004.
They immediately turned around and sold the physical property, keeping the name “Horseshoe” and of course, The World Series of Poker.
The New Frontier came down in 2007 to make way for The Plaza, a multi-billion dollar resort complex of its New York hotel namesake. Then the recession hit, and that project pulled the plug. But it was too late for The New Frontier – the Las Vegas clock struck midnight.
The land eventually got sold to a new developer and will become Alon in 2018.
The Sahara lived a long healthy Las Vegas life (59 years). It was built by Del Webb in the ’50’s and has seen a million performers over it’s nearly 6 decades, including Ol’ Blue Eyes and the gang.
By the time SBE bought it, shuttered it, and eventually renovated it to become SLS Las Vegas, the Sahara wasn’t what it once was – home to NASCAR-themed roller coasters and $6 burritos.
Yes sir, it was time to go.
The Stardust Resort and Casino was a true Las Vegas legend (or you might know it as The Tangiers in the movie Casino).
And the Stardust sign was probably one of the most famous on the Strip. It was a true work of art.
That hotel closed in 2006. Sorry Stardust, not the record. But it was enough time for so much history to take place. Indeed, The Stardust was more than just Wayne Newton. I was there the day they closed their doors. It felt like a wake. It was already dead.
The site will eventually become Genting Group’s Resorts World Las Vegas (2018). Resorts World will be a $7 Billion Chinese-themed resort. (Who said themes were dead in Vegas?) Expect red Chinese roofs, panda exhibits, and a replica of the Great Wall. You can’t make this shit up.
And on and on. So many more to see at the Neon Museum. If you get a chance to carve out an hour or two of your life to walk the premises, you won’t regret it. You’ll be guided by someone who will enrich your experience with more history than I’ve provided here.
Call and make an appointment first and wear comfortable shoes.
THIS WEEKEND: NEON MUSEUM
Neon Museum | www.neonmuseum.org | 770 Las Vegas Boulevard North, Las Vegas, NV 89101
