Gambling

Las Vegas’ Neon Museum Moving to Arts District for More Room


Posted on: July 18, 2024, 01:32h. 

Last updated on: July 18, 2024, 01:32h.

With all the iconic Las Vegas casinos being demolished by their new owners, it was bound to happen. The Neon Museum is running out of room to display the still-glowing remnants of Las Vegas’ past.

Founded in 1996 to preserve the unique cultural heritage of Las Vegas, the Neon Museum currently resides on 2.27 acres at 770 Las Vegas Blvd., near Bonanza Road. Outside, in an exhibition space known as the Neon Boneyard, it displays 26 restored and operational old casino and hotel/motel signs, alongside more than 250 unrestored signs. (Image: Neon Museum)

This sad reason is why the cramped downtown attraction announced plans this week to move two miles south of its current location to the Arts District. The relocation — news of which was first tweeted by Vital Vegas back in November 2023 — will nearly triple the museum’s outdoor and indoor exhibit space.

Times of the Signs

In a press release, the museum admits it has yet to choose between two new sites, both of which it plans to “conduct due diligence on.”

The clamshell-shaped La Concha Motel was originally located on the Strip at 2955 Las Vegas Blvd South. Now it serves as the Neon Museum’s visitor’s center. (Image: Neon Museum)

One is a 60,000 square-foot outdoor display space that will also boast 47,000 square feet of indoor space on the ninth and 10th floors of a proposed parking garage.

The Las Vegas City Council approved the purchase of two parcels at Utah Avenue and Casino Center Boulevard for the construction of that parking garage in June 2023 — though it was supposed to be only five or six stories tall.

The second site, located a short walk away, sports 35,000 square feet of programmable space, the museum said.

The iconic La Concha Motel lobby, a circular shell designed by Paul Revere Williams that now houses the Neon Museum’s visitor’s center, will make the move to whichever new location is chosen. So will a new slew of signs and other relics expected to be donated by the owners of the Tropicana and Mirage.

 

 



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