The Neon Museum

1996

A city council vote in 1996 started a museum for old casino signs

Efforts to establish a neon sign museum began in the late 1980s but stalled for lack of resources. On September 18, 1996, the Las Vegas City Council voted to fund the project. It started by re-installing old signs in downtown Las Vegas to attract visitors.

Horse & Rider

The first project was a neon cowboy on a horse, lit again in 1996

The Hacienda resort had featured a neon sign of a cowboy on a horse, known as the Horse & Rider sign. It sat in storage for years, and the museum refurbished it. It was lit again on November 13, 1996, at North Las Vegas Boulevard and Fremont Street.

The Boneyard

A sign company's storage lot became the Neon Boneyard in 2001

Young Electric Sign Company, or YESCO, made many of the city's neon signs. As it prepared to close its storage lot, the city gave the museum land. Tours of the Neon Boneyard began in 2001. The collection grew to more than 200 signs as of 2006.

200signs or more in the collection as of 2006

La Concha

The La Concha lobby was cut into eight pieces and moved 3.5 miles

The Doumani family donated the shell-shaped lobby of the La Concha Motel in 2005. In 2006 it was cut into eight pieces and moved 3.5 miles north along Las Vegas Boulevard to the museum site. The museum opened to the general public on October 27, 2012.