In 1898, ninety-eight years before the museum opened, two British chemists, Sir William Ramsay and Morris W. Travers, discovered neon, which is Greek, for the "new one" -- an inert noble gas, it's a common element in the Universe, but rare on planet Earth. When the gas is deposited into neon lamps and tubing, it gives off a particular glow, a kind of reddish orange, perfect for advertising signs and Vegas, although the first use of the neon ads was employed by a Packard car dealership in Los Angeles in 1923. As the use of neon grew throughout the United States, people embraced their strange, kitschy possibilities, and the Neon Museum is designed to celebrate and research the past use of these signs.
To begin a unique walking tour for the museum, start at the shopping mall Neonopolis (the hundred million dollar entertainment complex located atop a city parking garage, which cost about 15 million dollars to build), where it's possible to find three of the fifteen thousand miles of neon adorning the building. The Hacienda Horse and Rider was originally installed in 1967 at the Hacienda Hotel, but today may be seen on Fremont Street. The neon depicts a rider on a horse rising up on two legs. The Young Electric Sign Company built this sign and most of the other signs in the collection.
Next, patrons of the neon museum will discover Aladdin's Lamp, once a part of the Aladdin Hotel. It's now at the Fremont Street Experience and Las Vegas Boulevard on the northwest corner. Other works of neon art include The Flame, on the southwest corner of the same intersection; Chief Court Hotel, located at 4th Street and the Fremont Street Experience on the northeast corner; Andy Anderson is a neon depiction of a milkman, and also known as the Anderson Dairy Mascot, which is on the southeast corner of 4th Street and Fremont. Other signs along the way include, Wedding Information, from the mid 1940s, The Red Barn, from 1960s (while the Red Barn bar burned to the ground, the Neon Museum has saved the sign of a giant martini glass, adding it to the collection in November, 2000), Nevada Motel, from the 1950s, and Dot's Flowers, from a local flower shop dating back to 1949.
The museum is actually a research facility; however, tours are possible of some of its other signs, but only on Fridays at 2 p.m. and twice Saturdays at noon and 2 p.m., with donations of 15 dollars per person accepted for each tour.
About the Author:
By: Bob Adams
No comments:
Post a Comment