The Neon Museum, Las Vegas

DETAILS:

• Location: 770 Las Vegas Boulevard North, Las Vegas, NV 89101

• Hours of Operation & Cost: Daily. Please see website (listed below under “resources”) for available times slots. You save $2 by booking online, but can only book up to one month in advance of your desired date. Walk-ups welcome, based on availability.

  • General admission: View the collection at your own pace. Available 9AM to 5PM on most days. [$22 Adult & $17 for NV residents, veterans, active military, seniors, students, and children between 7-17. Children under 6 are free]

  • Guided tours: Hour-long tour of the boneyard with a museum docent. Typically between 6PM to 11:30PM on most days. [$28 Adult & $24 for NV residents, veterans, active military, seniors, students, and children between 7-17. Children under 6 are free.

  • Brilliant!: 40-minute light & music show in the North Gallery across the street, using unrestored signs as palates for the projections. [$23 Adult & $15 for NV residents, veterans, active military, seniors, students, and children between 7-17. Children under 6 are free]

  • Guided tour & Brilliant! combo: $42 Adult & $32 for NV residents, veterans, active military, seniors, students, and children between 7-17. Children under 6 are free.

• Parking: Free parking lot at the museum.

• Miscellaneous: The museum is outdoors, so inclement weather (like high winds & lighting) can effect hours of operation and scheduled tours. However, the museum rarely closes due to rain alone. Pictures are welcome, but video or audio recordings are not permitted. Only service animals are allowed.

From retro chic to modern elegance and every shade of kitsch in-between, the lavishness of Las Vegas is always reinventing itself. No structure or institution in Sin City is safe from these tides of change; rising and falling as fast as you can pull the lever on a slot machine (I know, it’s mostly button pushing these days, but that’s not as poetic). Whether you’re cruising the Las Vegas strip or walking downtown on Freemont Street, nowhere is this turnover more evident than in the kaleidoscope of radiant signs calling you hither to their particular brand of debauchery until they eventually get replaced by another. So what happens to the former in this revolving door of real-estate? If they’re lucky, they’ll eventually find a home on their very own island of misfit toys that is the Neon Museum in Las Vegas, just north of downtown.

Affectionately known as the Neon Boneyard, this final resting place contains some of Las Vegas’ most historic logos. The original shingle for the Golden Nugget? Check. Aladdin’s Lamp from the Aladdin Hotel? Yes, sir. Binion’s world famous horseshoe? You better believe it. And the marque from the Stardust Casino? That’s here too. In fact, there are over 150 famed and now decommissioned signs housed at this 3 acre outdoor museum just waiting for you to visit and it’s worth making the detour for.

We chose to get the guided tour (and Brilliant! combo) to gain a historical perspective on the signs and of Las Vegas. We timed our tour to coincide with sunset which bathed these already celestial bodies in a rich hue of gold & violet. As dusk finally took over, each sign continued to glow even brighter, dazzling the night sky in a marvelous display of luminosity. So if it’s available and you’re flexible, I highly recommend going during this time period. With our tour complete, we headed across the street to the North Gallery to take in the Brilliant! show. Embodying the spirit of the Bellagio fountains, Brilliant! uses another set of defunct signs as the canvas for a projected video and light show timed to Vegas-themed music. Just like the city, the show was equally as hokey as it was sentimental, and the perfect way to conclude our time there. Viva Las Vegas and Viva the Neon Museum!

 

RESOURCES:

• Neon Museum website.