What’s The Sign Of A Good Time in Las Vegas?

Whenever you see any footage of Las Vegas, it usually involves the ‘Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas’ sign or brightly lit buildings and iconic neon advertising for hotels, bars and casinos around the city. Everything is flashing and gloriously bathed in light, and that is how Las Vegas is in real life. However, the light sources in Las Vegas are changing and, as a result, so is the look and feel of Las Vegas.

Classic neon signs are cool

Las Vegas is known for its neon signs – the classic versions with the lightbulbs and neon tubing. They glow invitingly in the dark and often create iconic designs which are evocative of a time gone by. There’s no denying how cool they can look, although interestingly their popularity has ebbed and flowed over the years.

Modern signs with LED lights have, however, long been taking over from neon versions because they are more cost-effective and environmentally sustainable. LED lights also have the ability to create amazing fluid designs, rather than the static words and text of classic neon signs (sometimes referred to as Marquee signs).

This has sadly led to the retirement of many classic neon signs. Whilst some have been scrapped, others have been bought by collectors or are being restored, which is where the Neon Museum in Las Vegas comes in.

The Neon Museum, Las Vegas

The Neon Museum, Las Vegas, is a not-for-profit organisation which accepts donated neon signs and is committed to housing, restoring and preserving as many of these iconic signs as it can store..

You can visit the Neon Museum and tour the Neon Boneyard (‘where neon signs go when they die’) and North Gallery areas where, collectively, over 300 signs are displayed for visitors to see.

Book your slot at the Neon Museum

You need to book a slot at the Neon Museum to be able to tour the Neon Boneyard and North Gallery. The site is not very big and so they have to control the numbers of visitors throughout the day.

If you book a daylight slot, then generally you can roam around the displays of signs on your own. However, if you book a night-time slot then (for safety reasons) you must tour the site with a Guide – at night some of the signs (but not all) are illuminated.

We visited for an hour in daylight between 4-5pm without the need for a guide and were able to wander along the pathways to admire the signs. The signs throughout the Neon Boneyard are displayed in piles so there is a lot to look at in a small, concentrated space.

NOTE – the Neon Museum has some restrictions about when you can use personal camera equipment, but you can check this on-line before booking. They have designated times for Photo Walks and Portrait sessions around the Neon Boneyard. I was able to use my Nikon camera during our afternoon visit.

Learn about the history of Las Vegas through the signs

As well as enjoying the design of the signs, the Neon Museum is also a good place to learn more about the history of Las Vegas. For example, the Stardust sign is from the Stardust Hotel which opened in 1968, one year after the Sputnik (the first man-made satellite) was launched by the Russians, thus being inspired by the start of the space age.

Some of the signs are accompanied by information boards explaining the significance of the signs, but if a sign you are interested in does not have an information board, you can ask one of the staff members who are strategically placed around the exhibits – there was always someone to ask if you had a question.

Who was Betty Willis?

Betty Willis was one of the few female sign designers working in the 1950s, but she was responsible for designing some of the best ones, including the famous ‘Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas’ sign which still stands at the Southern end of the Strip.

Betty also designed the large, white Moulin Rouge Casino and Hotel sign which is so long that I struggled to fit in my photographs. The Moulin Rouge Casino opened in May 1955 as the first major ‘integrated’ casino at a time when Las Vegas was still a segregated city and so, although the hotel wasn’t open very long, it played an important role in helping to end segregation in the city.

Larger than life

One of the largest signs at the Neon Museum, which you can see from everywhere in the Neon Boneyard, is the 80-foot-high Gibson Les Paul guitar which used to advertise the Hard Rock Café in Las Vegas. The guitar stood for 26 years before being taken down in 2017 to be restored with ¾ mile of neon tubing and 1,538 lightbulbs.

There are many, many other pieces of history here in the form of neon signs which have been displaced from hotels, casinos and bars. As much as I loved admiring the wonderful designs, it made me feel a little sad to see the signs ‘without purpose’, but at least they still being enjoyed within the confines of the Neon Museum.

The Neon Museum is collecting new sign donations all the time and is currently looking for larger premises. It is well worth a visit and your entrance fee will be contributing to preserving a piece of design history.

Modern LED Lights in Las Vegas

The Fremont Street Experience, Downtown Las Vegas

It is said that Downtown Las Vegas is one of the most brightly lit places on Earth due to its concentration of signs, both classic neon and LED lights. In fact, the Fremont Street Experience in Downtown Las Vegas hosts a free nightly light show called Viva Vision, which is apparently the World’s largest and most dazzling graphic display system containing more than 12.5 million LED lights.

The Fremont Street area of Las Vegas still houses a lot of classic neon signs for casinos, bars and restaurants, therefore feeling like ‘old-style’ Las Vegas. In fact, one of the favourites, Vegas Vic has been lighting up the streets in Downtown Las Vegas since 1951.

NOTE – Whilst the Downtown area of Las Vegas is fantastic for seeing classic neon lights and the Fremont LED show, you should be aware that the city’s homelessness and drug issues are very visible in this area. You don’t need to avoid the area and miss out on the lights, but just be aware of what you might encounter and careful when wandering this area at night.

Lights of the Las Vegas Strip

There is a good mixture of old and new lights on the Las Vegas Strip. Early evening is a great time to walk the Las Vegas Strip and see the hotel signs lighting up as it gets dark. Some of the hotels, like The Flamingo still have vintage signage outside which is nice to see.

NOTE – there is a peculiar pavement system in some areas of the Las Vegas Strip where periodically the pavement runs out and you are directed to the other side of the road via footbridges and then back again. It’s just something to be aware of if you are in a hurry as your walk might take you longer than anticipated, particularly when you factor in many pedestrians also going the same way!

Visiting the ‘Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas’ sign

Don’t leave Las Vegas without visiting the ‘Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas’ sign. It is free to visit with a parking area in front of the sign, so that you can just pull up and get out to view the sign. We visited in the early evening after our trip to the Grand Canyon with Maverick Helicopters, as the sign is just outside the Heliport.

There was quite a large queue to have your photo taken in front of the sign but as I wasn’t bothered about being in the photo, I just took my photos and left. Don’t miss the back of the sign which is also cool – Drive Carefully. Come Back Soon. Thank you and yes, we hope to!

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