The Neon Museum is an infamous art museum located on Las Vegas Boulevard and Bonanza who's main feature is to show, reclaim, and restore signs from the Las Vegas Valley's past from the 1930s all the way up to today.
The museum is home to "Brilliant!", a projected light show that pays tributes to Las Vegas in it's mafia days.
History[]
Early Years as the "YESCO Sign Graveyard"[]
Original photo from UNLV Digital Collections. Note part of the Lotus Inn Motor Motel sign in the background.
Before the museum was established, hundreds upon hundreds of signs made by YESCO (A signage company) would end up in the back lot of their warehouse. At the time, the lot was only available for filming purposes and scrapping.
The Creation of the Museum[]
Eventually in 1996, it was announced that the City of Las Vegas and the Allied Arts City Council of Southern Nevada would start collecting those signs and display them to the public, along with restoring part of the Hacienda's 1964 marquee (Specifically the horse and rider that was situated on top of the marquee).
At one point, the S from the original marquee for the Sands was going to be featured in the museum after the hotel was demolished. However, the sign was so large that there was no place to put it, so for that, the entire marquee was scrapped.
In 2005, in an effort to save a piece of Vegas history, the lobby for the La Concha Motel was dismantled after the motel was demolished and is now used as the lobby for the museum.
Before officially opening to the public, it was noted that the sign for the Glass Pool Inn, which was originally going to be in the museum, was stolen. It is still unknown who currently owns the sign.
The Ugly Duckling, from the Ugly Duckling Car Sales on Fremont Street.
Public Years[]
The Neon Museum officially opened for general admission on October 27, 2012, along with the restoration of the La Concha Motel sign, and part of the original Sahara Hotel and Casino marquee.
In 2014, the Neon Museum was featured in the Vegas PBS documentary, "Restoration Neon." The documentary was about the history of Las Vegas's neon signs, and the process of restoring a neon sign in YESCO's headquarters. The signs for Jerry's Nugget and the Liberace Museum were restored during the making of the film.
In 2015, the Neon Museum held a campaign to repaint the (at the time) rusted and iconic Desert Rose sign to it's former self. The campaign proved successful, as the sign was completely repainted.
In 2016, the Neon Museum demolished the long-abandoned next door L.A. Street Market to make way for a new expanded boneyard. The expanded boneyard would include signs from places such as Ellis Island, the Strip 91 Motel, a McDonald's on the Strip, and the Spearmint Rhino, along with various parts of the 1968 Stardust marquee.
Around the same year, Craig Winslow came to the museum to do what is known as "Light Capsules", a series of projections on old signage to see what they originally looked like. This is known as the precursor to Brilliant!
After the success of Craig Winslow's Light Capsules, the Neon Museum announced in 2018 that the north boneyard would now be home to "Brilliant!", a 30-minute projected light show that uses the broken signs to simulate a video montage of old Vegas.
On the same year, the Neon Museum gave free public access to Ne10 Studio, their main storage area for signs, in favor of the restoration of the Blue Angel Motel's statue of an angel. The free public access ended on July 7, 2018. The museum also started a campaign to restore the neon sign for the Hard Rock Hotel's Hard Rock Cafe. The campaign is still ongoing, and by March of 2018, the campaign has reached more than half of it's goal: $100,000.
On September 22, 2018, the Neon Museum announced that most of it's public signs throughout the Las Vegas Strip and Fremont Street, such as ones from Dot's Flowers, the Red Barn, the Anderson Dairy Company, and the Nevada Motel would return to the boneyard.
In late 2018, it was announced that the Neon Museum will be featuring Tim Burton, known for creating many famous stop-motion movies such as Disney's the Nightmare Before Christmas and Frankenweenie. A collection of his art will be showcased throughout the boneyard.
On January 28, 2019, the Neon Museum began restoring the neon sign for the Hard Rock Cafe inside the main boneyard while the campaign was still ongoing. It was announced that the restoration progress would take just a few days.
5th Anniversary[]
To celebrate the 5th anniversary of opening to the public, the Neon Museum made all tours free, and with that, a family fiesta that included food, drinks, a piñata, music, games, and dances.
Multiple signs in the main boneyard were restored, such as Yucca Motel and Steiner Cleaners.
Attractions[]
Brilliant![]
Brilliant is located at the North Boneyard, and was created by British photographer Craig Winslow. It uses two projectors disguised as the original champagne towers from the Flamingo Hotel and Casino to project on to various neon signs to give off an illusion that the signs are lit up. The attraction also plays a selection of music from famous Vegas-related talents such as Elvis Presley, Liberace, and Frank Sinatra. The show lasts 30 minutes.
Areas[]
Main Boneyard[]
The Main Boneyard is where tours are always held, and where some of the signs are restored and lit. The main boneyard includes signs from places such the Stardust, Frontier, La Concha, and the Greek Isles.
North Boneyard[]
The North Boneyard is where more of the bigger, un-restored signs reside. This is also where Brilliant! is located. The North Boneyard includes signs from places such as Jerry's Nugget, Terrible's, New York-New York, and Binion's Horseshoe.
Ne10 Studio[]
Ne10 Studio is the main indoor storage space for some of the signs. This area includes signs from places such as the Peppermill, Royal Nevada, Coin Castle, and the Desert Inn.
List of Signs[]
For a list of signs that are (or at one point, was) at the Neon Museum, click here.
Extra Facts[]
- This is the first ever article to be made on this wiki!
- Two cats by the name of Liberace and Elvis (named after popular Vegas-related talents) live in the Main Boneyard.
- The Neon Boneyard Park sign, which was installed by the Neon Museum in 2012 and designed by Brian K. Leming, is actually a mash-up of multiple neon signs throughout Las Vegas's history.
- The N is from the Golden Nugget, the E is from Caesars Palace, the O is from Binion's Horseshoe, and the N is from the Desert Inn. The large star and "the" is from the Welcome to Las Vegas sign, and the stars following the main red one are from the Stardust. The grid the sign is placed on is also from the Sands.
Gallery[]
Main Boneyard[]
