The Neon Museum
in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, features signs from old casinos
and other businesses displayed outdoors on over 6 acres (2.4 ha). The museum is
restoring the La Concha
Motel lobby as its visitor center, which officially opened on October 27,
2012.
For many years, the Young Electric Sign Company stored
many of these old signs in their "boneyard." The signs were slowly being
destroyed by exposure to the elements. The museum is slowly restoring the signs
and placing them around the Fremont Street Experience.
The Neon Museum was founded in 1996 as a partnership between the Allied Arts
Council of Southern Nevada and the City of Las Vegas. Today, it is an
independent non-profit. The Neon Museum maintains restored signs along the
Fremont Street Experience as well as the signs in the Boneyard collection.
Located on Las Vegas Boulevard and Bonanza, the Neon Museum includes a new
park.
November, 1996: The Neon
Museum at the Fremont Street Experience opens with the Hacienda Horse & Rider sign being lit
at the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Fremont Street.
On January 24, 2006, the
original 80-foot (24 m) tall Sahara sign was
donated to the museum.
The Neon Museum recently
restored three signs to the median. The Neon Boneyard City Park (next to the
museum) installed its sign based on pieces held in the collection and will open
soon. The museum also recently took in the sign from the Moulin Rouge
Hotel and is restoring the historic La Concha lobby to serve as the museum's
building.
Restored signs
The Neon Museum
maintains twelve restored signs throughout Downtown Las Vegas. Some can be seen on a
self-guided visitors walk through the Fremont Street Experience. Three others
have been added in recent years to the median of Las Vegas Boulevard in front of
the eventual site for the Neon Museum itself.
The Neon Museum is located on Las Vegas Boulevard and Bonanza Road, across
the street from Cashman Center and along the Las Vegas downtown museum corridor.
The boneyard preserves over 150 neon signs from the Nevada area. While the core
of the collection is from the old Yesco Boneyard, private donations and
loans have expanded the collection to the current size.
Important historical
pieces in the boneyard include the signage from the Moulin Rouge
Hotel, the Stardust, Desert Inn and Caesar's Palace as well as
many others. Not just neon signage, the museum also houses fiberglass sculptures
including a giant skull from the Treasure Island among others.
Tours (and private photo shoots) of the boneyard must be arranged with the
office prior to your visit. One-hour tours operate every thirty minutes during
daylight hours seven days a week. The there are tours for Summer starting at 9
and ending at 10am with a tour at 9:30. They then pick tours back up at 7 every
half hour until 9
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