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The History of the Neon Museum in Las Vegas and When to Visit

Las Vegas does not have a very extensive history, but it is rich with vivid events, stories galore, star power, and icons. Many Sin City icons’ relics can now be located in one location: The Neon Museum. The museum is dedicated to iconic signage from some of Las Vegas’ most famous monuments and structures, both past and present.

In fact, for his 1996 film “Mars Attacks!,” a spoof of 1950s and 1960s sci-fi flicks and comic books, creative filmmaker Tim Burton borrowed old signs from Las Vegas’ YESCO, which is now housed in The Neon Museum’s boneyard. Burton was so taken with the collection and style of The Neon Museum that he collaborated with them to produce a brand new exhibition of his original fine art titled “Lost Vegas: Tim Burton @ The Neon Museum,” which was on display from October 15, 2019 through February 20, 2020. Meanwhile, celebrities like as Bruno Mars, RuPaul, Drew Barrymore, and Meat Loaf—who filmed an album cover here—regularly visit to bask in the glow of Las Vegas’ spectacular (and occasionally controversial) past.

History

The Neon Museum, founded in 1996 as a 501(c)3 organization “dedicated to collecting, preserving, studying, and exhibiting iconic Las Vegas signs for educational, historic, arts, and cultural enrichment,” gradually built its collection of over 200 retired neon signs. It moved to its current location on 1.5 acres of land in 2012. The Neon Boneyard, a maze-like outdoor space bordered with an ever-growing collection of hundreds of signs, some restored to their former glory and others awaiting such treatment, has a visitors’ center with a retail store crammed with nostalgia-themed products.

The North Gallery, another part filled with unrestored signs, hosts an immersive, animated light and sound performance titled “Brilliant!” at night. This innovative, augmented reality production, created by tech-forward designer and experimental multimedia artist Craig Winslow, sees these signs take an animated trip back in time and flicker back to life to a soundtrack of Frank Sinatra, Elvis, Liberace, and other legends that once graced stages of Las Vegas’ finest hotel theaters and lounges.The Neon Museum offers a rare and beautiful walk—self-guided or with a tour guide—down one of the country’s most imaginative (and yes, cheesy!) memory lanes at any time of year.

How to Visit

The Neon Museum, located just north of Downtown Las Vegas and a half-mile from The Mob Museum, is open Monday through Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Thursday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. The entryway is unmistakable: the space-age-y old lobby of the La Concha Motel. Visitors can opt for a guided tour of the Neon Boneyard ($28 per person) or self-guided general admission ($22 per person with a $2 discount if tickets are reserved online). The “Brilliant!” event lasts 25 minutes and costs $25 (strobe light effects are used).Locals, veterans, and older citizens can also get discounts to the Neon Boneyard.

 

Annual memberships in The Neon Museum start at $75 and include privileges such as unrestricted free entrance, discounts across Las Vegas, and early access to special exhibitions.

 

Due to the presence of rusty metal and broken glass, the museum suggests that daylight visits be restricted to visitors over the age of 10, and nighttime tours to visitors over the age of 12.

What to See and Do

After checking in at the Visitors’ Center, you’ll be greeted by a docent for your one-hour tour of the Neon Boneyard. While artifacts in the Neon Boneyard date back to the 1930s, one of the Neon Museum’s most recent acquisitions is also one of the most instantly recognizable: The Hard Rock Cafe’s iconic, 80-foot-tall, upright guitar-shaped sign, which once stood at the corner of Paradise Road and Harmon Avenue.

 

The endeavor entailed re-blowing the 28-year-old sign’s 4,110 feet of neon glass tubing, repainting its front, and upgrading the electronics inside over a 4-month period for roughly $225,000—raised via social media from individuals in over 30 countries. On March 4, 2019, it illuminated the landscape once more.

The restored Liberace Museum sign; signs from various casinos and hotels such as The Tangiers (immortalized in Martin Scorsese’s crime drama “Casino”), Stardust, Moulin Rouge, Golden Nugget, Stardust, Sahara, Silver Slipper, Hacienda, Yucca, and Caesar’s Palace; and businesses long gone, ranging from wedding chapels to a laundry are among the old school highlights from the Neon Boneyard.

 

The 1,300-square-foot gift shop at the Neon Museum is stocked with an incredible selection of clothing, mugs, magnets, and other merchandise emblazoned with graphics and logos from some of the casinos and hotels represented in the Neon Boneyard (including Stardust, The Mint, Ugly Duckling, and La Concha), as well as books, photographs, and much more.

Written by PH

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