City to bring old neon back to life

Steve Sebelius

Thursday, Sept. 19, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

The neon signs once beckoned gamblers to Las Vegas saloons, and city officials are hoping they've still got their magic.

After more than a decade of delays, planning and missed deadlines, the City Council moved Wednesday to take the first steps to bringing the neon museum to life on Fremont Street.

The council voted to spend $150,000 of redevelopment agency funds to develop the museum, which will feature signs mounted on pedestals and landscaping along Fremont Street between Las Vegas Boulevard and Fourth Street.

But that money will likely be repaid by private sponsorship of the museum, Barbara Molasky, who is coordinating fund-raising for the project, told the council Wednesday.

"They're our history," Mayor Jan Laverty Jones said of the neon signs. "We'll show them it's not disposable history."

Thus far, however, that's exactly what they've been. The signs have sat in the "boneyard" at Young Electric Sign Co., awaiting the museum's development. Plans for a neon museum have been in the works for more than 10 years, mostly at the behest of the Allied Arts Council.

But those plans were delayed because funding was scarce and a location hadn't been found. With the opening of the Fremont Street Experience, however, Las Vegas officials say they've found the perfect spot.

"It juxtaposes the old neon with the new technology," Jones said. There are a total of 13 signs in the boneyard, and the centerpiece -- the horse and rider from the Hacienda hotel -- will stand at the critical intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard Fremont Street. Other signs include the Silver Slipper, the original Golden Nugget emblem and the masthead from the Fifth Street Liquors store.

The placement is no accident: Officials are hoping that the museum draws people into the downtown area: parking at the Fremont Street Experience garage, patronizing the retail shops planned for the ground floor of that facility and, of course, dropping some money in the casinos.

Also Wednesday, the city authorized a professional services agreement with Friedmutter and Associates to design the museum, including placing the signs, lighting, paving and other services. The contract is worth $60,000 and work is expected to be finished by Oct. 31.