By Gary A. Warner
Orange County Register

Pictures taken by Las Vegas Mikey

YESCO Neon Boneyard

LAS VEGAS — Hypnotic and sultry, glowing against the blue-black of the Western sky at dusk, neon signs have an allure that transcends the meager power of standard-issue lighting.

For half a century, Las Vegas has been the world capital of neon, its famed Strip and "Glitter Gulch" on fire with miles of tubes and millions of bulbs. Cascading, undulating, flaring, beckoning.

"Without neon, Nevada would fade into darkness," wrote Peter Bandurraga, one of the organizers of the Nevada Historical Society's landmark "Neon Nights" exhibit in 1990.

But a dozen years later, neon is losing its grip on the city that once couldn't get enough of the stuff. Las Vegas' new mega resorts have fallen in love with the massive baseball-stadium-style video-screen signs. The upmarket casinos attempting to clone the atmosphere of Venice,
Paris, Rome and Bellagio, Italy, have opted for
brighter but more visually sedate lighting schemes.

Neon hasn't exactly disappeared altogether. Even the McDonald's on Las Vegas Boulevard features a throbbing neon version of the golden arches.

A few classic neon hotel signs remain. The best of all is the bulbous rolling red knob of light fronting the Flamingo. It's now inexcusably obscured by a pedestrian
bridge taking slot hounds to Caesars Palace across the street

The Frontier and the Stardust retain their classic neon fronts. Smaller spots like the La Concha and Holiday motels on the Strip are a throwback to Vegas' great gaslight era. Nostalgia for neon even has some Las Vegans speaking fondly of the garish Circus Circus clown sign.

The greatest collection of neon, the famed "Glitter Gulch" section of Fremont Street, has been given the architectural equivalent of a hairnet. The "space frame" of the Fremont Street Experience covers the neon of the old casinos and replaces its golden light with a 500,000 watt sound and lightshow. This high-tech, digitally-delivered big screen system, created by LG CNS Co., Ltd., is fueled by over 12.5 million energy-efficient LED modules. While increased numbers of pixels added to overall resolution and clarity enhancement, the creators were also able to utilize over 16.7 million color combinations.

One of Las Vegas' great symbols since 1947, the 40-foot-tall waving neon cowboy over the Pioneer Club, nicknamed "Vegas Vic," appears to slouch under the metal ceiling. Across the way, boot-clad "Vegas Vicki" seems to have to sit down to avoid bumping her neon-lighted head.

Vegas Vic had a waving arm and a moving cigarette which blew smoke rings. He also had a voice box that enabled him to exclaim "Howdy Pardner". Vic became a symbol for Las Vegas and the infamous Glitter Gulch
area of downtown. Nevertheless, he was neglected for many years (faded paint and his arm stopped waving). He has recently been restored and is under the Fremont Street Experience canopy.

The Fremont Street Experience at its best can be pulse-pounding entertainment. But many Las Vegans fondly recall when cars drove along the street and the stars shone overhead.

Strollers suddenly find themselves at eye level with glowing martini glasses from long-gone bars and even the sparkling genie lamp
from 1966 that once sat outside the old
Aladdin Hotel.

Neon has become such an endangered artifact in Las Vegas that it has its own "museum." Since 1996, a nonprofit group has rehabilitated classic neon signs at a price tag of from a few thousand dollars to $200,000. The refurbished artifacts of Las Vegas' heyday are then affixed to pedestals planted on the side streets of "Glitter Gulch."

Plaques tell the story of each bygone sparkler. The current star of the collection is the 40-foot-tall horse and rider from the Hacienda, which was literally blown away in 1996 to make way for the Mandalay Bay casino. The rider sits atop a 24-foot-high pole and can be seen from blocks away.

Fund-raising continues for 35 signs awaiting restoration, including the massive Golden Nugget sign, in need of $196,000 in work.


Here is a postcard advertising the Las Vegas Sign Museum at Neonopolis

Many of the signs needing work are stored at the "bone yard" of the Young Electric Sign Co., on Cameron Street west of the Strip. It's not open to the public, but sometimes you can see Vegas' electric history through the fence.