The Neon Boneyard

My second day in Las Vegas was divided into two sections: first I spent the day in the great outdoors, taking a trip for a picnic lunch to Mount Charleston, which is the highest peak of the Spring Mountains and part of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. Some of the views were spectacular, and the park has rebounded from a wildfire that occurred last summer.

Then, in the cool of the evening (the temperature in Las Vegas was over 100 degrees during the day) I took a tour at the Neon Museum, informally known as the Neon Boneyard. It sprung from the "boneyard" of the Young Electric Sign Company, which kept its discarded signs in a scrap yard. Starting in 1996, the museum now has relics that have been donated and restored. In 2012, the museum opened at its current location.

The museum is outdoors, and as such there are only tours in the early morning and at night. I took a night tour, and while the signs themselves aren't plugged in and lit, exterior lights shining on them give them the illusion of being lit. A knowledgeable tour guide took us through on a one-hour journey, passing the remnants of casinos of yore, old motel signs, and signs from various businesses, ranging from a large metal sculpture of a billiards player (complete with mullet--it was made in 1983, after all) to a giant duck used for a used car lot called Ugly Duckling.

As Las Vegas has a complicated relationship with its history--the instinct is to tear something old down to make way for the new--it's important that this legacy be maintained, and the boneyard seems an apt place to do it. They have also sprinkled neon signs throughout Vegas' streets, including a large neon slipper (from the Silver Slipper casino) across the street from the boneyard.

Driving back to the hotel after visiting, we drove straight down the strip, and we viewed the signs currently in operation with a more studied eye. My 13-year-old companion, understanding perfectly the nature of quick obsolescence, wondered when these bright, flashy signs would end up in the boneyard.