Founded in 1996, The Neon Museum is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to collecting, preserving, studying and exhibiting iconic Las Vegas signs for educational, historic, arts and cultural enrichment.
It’s the only place in the world that has a large collection of historic neon signs set up in this manner.
There’s something surreal about seeing the skeletons of dearly loved signs from Vegas’ past as they sit slowly decaying in the desert sun. You’ll discover this at the museum’s boneyard, the large outdoor lot that’s the exhibit space of the Neon Museum. It’s like a graveyard full of electronic fossils. But instead of burial, here retired signs get an afterlife. Saved from the dump, they can be viewed by visitors and their storied backgrounds can be retold.
Created by tech-forward designer and experimental multimedia artist Craig Winslow, this innovative, augmented reality production sees these signs take an animated trip back in time and flicker back to life to a soundtrack of Frank Sinatra, Elvis, Liberace, and other legends that once graced stages of Las Vegas’ finest hotel theaters and lounges.
About 120 signs are there. They comprise the curated collection that the public can visit on a guided tour. The other half of the space serves as a staging area for commercial photographers and videographers. The Boneyard is fenced off and located directly behind the new visitors center. Adjacent to the Neon Museum is an additional acre of space being used by The Neon Boneyard Park. Along with benches, tables, a stage, informational kiosks and a parking area, there is a giant sign that welcomes visitors featuring replicas of letters from iconic casino signage.
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