November 15, 2022

THE NEON MUSEUM LAS VEGAS

770 Las Vegas Blvd N, Las Vegas, NV 89101

“The Neon Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, features signs from old casinos and other businesses displayed outdoors on 2.62 acres. The museum features a restored lobby shell from the defunct La Concha Motel as its visitors' center, which officially opened on October 27, 2012.” -  Wikipedia 

This is a Vegas museum I’ve wanted to visit for quite some time, but never took time before now.  In planning to visit I found two different tours, the Boneyard and Brilliant!  Each one is billed as a 45-minute tour, I decided to do both.  The Boneyard tour was what I was expecting to see, many old casino signs, some working, some not.  The tour took you through three areas, old Vegas, commercial signs, and the Strip.  The guide was entertaining and informative telling stories about different signs and their significance in Vegas. 

I wasn’t sure what I was going to see on the second tour.  The trek to the North Gallery took us by a mural with portraits of sometimes overlooked Vegas icons including pioneering showgirls, heartthrob headliners, champions of civil rights, and dazzling designers.  Once inside the gallery it appeared there were just more defunct signs.  We were then treated to a video explaining that there were no working signs in this gallery, but we were about to see a show that would bring the signs back to life.  Set to vintage Las Vegas music, projectors bring the signs to life in an amazing, choreographed display.  I stood in awe during the entire production.  I am so glad I added this tour to my visit.

Just a note, the museum does not allow visitors to photograph with anything other than cell phones.  I now understand how a person like me with a DSL camera would probably slow the visit down trying to capture all the perfect pictures.  My iPhone did a pretty good job of capturing the images I wanted.