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What our outcry over the red graffiti on the ‘Fabulous’ sign says about us
We’re not much for civic pride, but something about vandalism touches nerve
Chris Morris
Above text is paraphrased from quotes and comments.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009 | 2 a.m.
In Today's Sun
Las Vegas Sign
Legendary Las Vegas neon sign designer Betty Willis, known for her world-famous "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign, talks about how she created her illustrious masterpiece and the significance of each of the sign's various symbols.
Sun Coverage
Sun Archives
- $500 later, red graffiti removed from 'Fabulous' sign (7-14-2009)
- Tall list of suspects for Las Vegas sign graffiti (7-14-2009)
- Vandals hit 'Fabulous Las Vegas' sign (7-13-2009)
- ‘Fabulous’ sign garners historic designation (5-21-2009)
Someone used a red Sharpie to scribble a few letters on a sign and the town went nuts. This was not just any sign. This one said, “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas.”
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, whose city does not technically include the sign and who has previously called for cutting off the thumbs of vandals, demanded decapitation.
The reader comments on the Sun’s Web site seethed with anger. Some blamed hippies. Others, the media. There were calls embracing Mayor Goodman’s earlier, more moderate call for merely cutting off vandals’ thumbs. One commenter called for flogging, another caning. Multiple people said the mob would never have allowed this. Still others called for the all-seeing eye of Big Brother.
“I am tired of the vandalism, hit & run accidents, and crime that goes on here,” a commenter with the moniker “henderson” wrote. “I want surveillance cameras everywhere catching criminals. These people do not deserve the ‘privacy’ to commit criminal acts.”
What is it about this sign? After all, graffiti is fairly common and almost nobody likes it, but it rarely inspires calls for blood-drenched vengeance or state surveillance. And this is Las Vegas. We’re not exactly known for civic pride, community involvement, public spiritedness, sentimentality or even waving at our neighbors. And yet it seems there is one enormous exception.
What is it about this sign?
The sign was created in 1959 by Betty Willis, a designer at Western Neon. The star-topped diamond, lit up with atomic-age glitz, was erected to welcome Southern Californians driving in on Highway 91, with the seven letters of “welcome” spelled out in seven silver dollars, a nod to the state’s silver mining legacy and the slot machines we hoped the tourists would play.
“I remember coming here with my family in the 1960s and driving past that sign. It was like, ‘Wow. Here we are,’ ” says Dorothy Wright, a program administrator for Clark County’s Parks and Recreation Department who led the successful drive to have the sign listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
The sign is one of the world’s most recognizable icons, appearing in ads and on T-shirts, coffee mugs, desktop replicas and even snow globes. Even though it’s not on the route into town anymore, thousands of tourists pose in front of it every year. Before the county put in a $400,000 parking lot last year, people daily risked injury or death to run across Las Vegas Boulevard to be seen with the sign.
Yet for all of the millions of visitors, the sign seems to have gone 50 years without any serious vandalism. Until last weekend.
“In that sense, it’s a violation of a sacred icon,” says Patrick Gaffey, a cultural program supervisor for Clark County who oversees public art.
If anything, it’s more an icon for locals than for tourists. Because while nearly everything in town has been torn down, blown up and rebuilt in the past 50 years, the sign has not. In a city of change, the sign has permanence. More than that, unlike the casinos that rise and fall, the sign is a civic object. Among all its charms, its biggest may be as simple as this: It’s ours.
And it’s ours in a very peculiar way. Unlike the Hollywood sign, which stands for an industry and glamour, or the Golden Gate Bridge, which stands for a feat of tremendous engineering, or the Statue of Liberty, which stands for freedom, the Fabulous Las Vegas sign stands for tourism, plain and simple.
That doesn’t diminish the sign. In this town, there is nothing more important that the sign could stand for.
“It means so much to everyone. The inter-connectedness between tourism and the rest of the city is so much more profound here than in almost any other city in the world,” says Alan Feldman, senior vice president of public affairs at MGM Mirage.
It’s one of the first things you notice when you move here: People talk about tourism. Not in a can-you-believe-the-traffic, can-you-believe-their-clothes kind of way, either. We talk about occupancy rates, room prices and the monthly gaming take. We’re interested because if the tourism machine throws a cog, we’re the ones who bleed.
The Fabulous Las Vegas sign is our representative on the Strip. It’s us, welcoming the tourists in, telling them to have fun, enjoy the bright lights and leave their money when they’re done. Please.
So, to have the sign defaced now, when the tourists aren’t spending and we’re hurting? It’s like being kicked when we’re down.
To get some perspective on this, we tried to get in touch with Betty Willis herself, through her daughter Marjorie Holland. It turns out, Holland had talked to her mother about the assault on the sign.
“I told her this morning, when it was on the news, and she said, ‘What’s this world coming to?’ ”
Discussion: 40 comments so far…
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You're talking about a sign so public and seen by tens of thousands.....and not one person saw a thing ? Not one. Amazing
I believe a public hanging is in order of the vandals who defaced the "Betty." Shameful that Las Vegas' most significant piece of public art would be so violated. We should organize a real western style posse to find the cowards...
C'mon-the outrage you describe in the article is nothing compared to the outrage about Ensign-(I don't recall anyone mentioning flogging)
Las Vegans are full of outrage and anger-according to most of the responses to your articles.
Is there a term for this yet-something along the lines of road rage while reading?
They should post a sniper with a high power rifle about 200 yds down the strip from the sign.
"You're talking about a sign so public and seen by tens of thousands.....and not one person saw a thing ? Not one. Amazing"
Yeah, really. And as mentioned earlier in the week - the graffiti was crap, like a 7 year old did it. Done with an item that could be purchased easily at any of the Walgreen's or CVS stores near the Strip. I still say it was done on a dare by some drunken 20-somethings that are constantly visiting Vegas and think that whatever drunken behavior they exhibit is cool and totally acceptable because "it's Vegas!".
With a Fire Station and a Metro substation across the street, and no one saw a thing? With those that go to work down on the Strip that take that route, no one saw a thing?
This isn't a sign that is seen by just tens of thousands, it's a sign that is seen around the world. It's our sign and we have the right to be very angry at the moronic minded individuals that did this. For this, I wouldn't mind a public flogging or humiliation for these idiots.
Seeing people there wouldn't necessarily raise a red flag. Late at night/early morning there's not a lot of traffic at all. It probably only took a few seconds to hoist someone up and let him scribble real quick. If they waited for a break in traffic, they probably did it without being noticed.
This story is a typical liberal response: "Why is everybody so outraged about such-and-such and not because our liberal agenda is being ignored."
This is the height of arrogance from a newspaper that is supposed to be serving the interests of the entire community.
Its just a sign, clean it off and life goes on! Vegas is people drinking to excess, gambling to excess, not a sign. "What you loose in Vegas, stays in Vegas"!
If vandals defiled the Eifel Tower the French would gullotine them!
Are people really this bad at spelling? Use spellcheck on Word if all else fails.
"cnev" has it right - The comments found on the "sign story" are not unique. The Sun could do a follow-up about the outraged (or outrageous) commentary found in the comments section of almost any story.
The bigger story is, what do the anonymous comments say about our society, and what does permitting them say about our news sources? What does the anonymity of the Internet add to (or subtract from) the discussion?
I am tired of hearing people say there's "no civic pride" or sense of community in Las Vegas, as the reporter suggests. I am also tired of people (such as LV4LIFE) saying that all there is in Vegas are people drinking to excess and gambling (and btw, I think the word you want is "lose" not "loose").
Sure, if you want to hole up in your gated community in Summerlin, you might feel a bit isolated. And if you have a gambling problem, well, you are likely to "loose" a lot of money.
But these stereotypes and myths don't speak to my experience living and working in Las Vegas, and they don't speak to my friends' experiences either.
To all the Vegas haters: leave if you don't like it. Or, better yet put a little energy into making Vegas the kind of place you'd like to live. But please stop your whining. It's boring and oh-so-very cliched.
Comment removed by staff.
Why not train a Webcam on the sign? Then people all over the world could look at it any time they need an escape from whatever world they're in (noon coffee break in the middle of a Midwest blizzard, anyone?), and if anyone tries to do this again, we'll have it on tape.
i know this is a beloved land mark but I think Mark Ensign did more dammage to your state than the tagger......
Rocco:
There are lots of recent Republican sex scandals, that's for sure, and they are indeed difficult to keep straight, but I think you are blending John Ensign and Mark Sanford into one person. Our hypocritical Republican Senator is John Ensign; South Carolina's hypocritical Republican Governor is Mark Sanford.
A religious icon? What? I guess that's what's wrong with Las Vegas. They worship a sign. Get real!!!!
that sign is both historic and futuristic.
both iconic and ironic.
i still remember the first time i came to vegas, i left the rental car lot by the airport and ended up going the wrong way and i came down sunset and turned right onto the strip.
seeing that sign for the first time was really cool.
i think the people that LIVE in vegas often forget that that 2 or 3 mile stretch there is the ONLY reason this town is still alive. if it looks ghetto...tourists feel unsafe, and that's not good.
Thumper...are you well ???
The first time I went to Vegas I arrived around 11 PM local time, about 2 AM in my city, so I went to sleep and the next day my first walk was direct to that sign, after a few pictures then I start planning what to do in the city. that sign is really something to see in Vegas time after time.
Well-said Thumper. It just shows how moronic our society and media is to be so outraged over a marker.
In a city where corruption is prevalent in almost every walk of life, the outrage over THIS particular incident really makes no sense.
It just shows how blind these conformists are to the mess of a city we live in.
They should add more to the sign in the effect of,JUST LEAVE YOUR WALLETS AND PURSES HERE.All your gonna go home with is a picture of you in front of this sign! This town is nothing short of a joke,and im glad after 20 years im outta here! VIVA LOST WAGES!!!
Thumper i will agree that vegas is a tolit,but it once was a nice place to live.This town is the laughing stock of the country and this just added to more laughs to all!Then mayor martini comes on and says we should cut off there thumbs?I am so glad after 20 years in this town,i will be shakeing the dirt of this place off my boots and will never return! GOOD LUCK VEGAS,YOUR GONNA NEED IT!OH YA,ALL THE LUCK WAS RUN OUT OF TOWN!
All you people bagging on Vegas are acting like jerks. It's so horrible here, then go somewhere else; we don't want you. Granted, the whole graffiti thing was kind of blown out of proportion, but calling my home all these nasty names is really not necessary.
Let me guess, you are all from sunny California where life is just great, never mind the BLARING hole in your budget that is causing your state to write IOUs. (Last time I wrote an IOU and it was accepted as payment it was for my grandma and I was 5)
I love this city, I love the culture that is allegedly not here, and I love the people who stick up for the little tiny piece of history that the megabucks has not been able to tear down yet.
Go Vegas lovers and supporters, go!
Im with babyboomer (1st comment)... NO ONE SAW ANYTHING DRIVING AROUND THE SIGN?! The vandals had to be at it for at least a few minutes... COME ON?! And there really isn't a camera on the sign? I thought at least an internet webcast type camera pointed at it?
You want to stop this sort of nonsense happening at The Sign again, gang? The answer is quite simple - Get rid of that little park they created which allows people to stop and idle their time away. And, of course, give them the chance to mar The Sign.
That sign is ugly and unattractive anyway - maybe we can get something that actually has some class to it - as for the outrage - it's a frickin' sign for pete's sake.
azsk8fan - Imagine someone going to Philly and marking up the Liberty Bell, etc. You get the idea, granted there may be more history there... its the same concept... This is not an "anyway..." type situation...
Not that anyones comments matter to me,(thats why its called freedom of speech)when i moved here,it was from the UP of Mich.I had a very good job,my house is paid off and i have 25 acres as well I relocated for the company.After 5 years in this city,they were forced to close due to the union.It put over 150 people on the street(The union never followed through with all there promises)but yet i stayed.If you have lived here longer than the past 7 years you knew of the good times in vegas.If you still think its the same,keep telling yourself so,and it might come true?Prob have a better chance winning mega bucks though!If the sign ever does get tagged again,maybe they can replace with WELCOME TO LOST WASTED! ONCE WAS A GREAT CITY!!!
Thumper - Its the concept of "Ok-ing" the vandalism just because one thinks its "ugly"... Not comparing...
thanx for making my afternoon interesting! lol.