Vintage Vegas neon signs light up Sin City museum

The brightly-colored, flashing lights of neon signs and the city of Las Vegas go together like gin and tonic water, so it’s no surprise that Sin City is the site of the Neon Museum, which its founders say is the world’s largest museum of neon signage.

Other signs are from lesser-celebrated properties, like the one from the Algiers Hotel - once “the place for a power breakfast,” for locals, Kelly said. Other signs are from the Moulin Rouge, the Desert Inn, the Flamingo and other bygone hotels, restaurants, casinos and businesses.

Today, the museum’s collection includes almost 200 signs, as well as hundreds of pieces of signs. Some signs have been restored, but most have not. Many have peeling paint and faded colors but “are visceral and alluring. Their imperfect condition is really meaningful,” Kelly said. “But all the signs are significant, and tell a story.” In addition, “there has been a trend lately in people wanting to know about the history of Las Vegas, how the city got started.

The Mob Museum and the Neon Museum both tell that story,” Fitzgerald said. People often associate classic neon signs with ‘old’ Las Vegas, so they “are excited to see those signs are still living on in some shape and form.” Kelly, the executive director, said unlike so many cities that have pasts steeped in history, visiting the Neon Museum is a unique opportunity to pay homage to one of the country’s newer cities. Visitors to Rome can savor ruins from antiquity, but “in the Boneyard, you can feel the history of Las Vegas.”