Back to Vegas

 

Entrance to Fremont St. Experience

 

As I've said many times before on this blog, I may not be a big fan of today's Las Vegas, but I do have a soft nostalgic spot for the Vegas of yore, when the tourists and entertainers were a lot more glamorous than the buildings. Luckily, our good friends Suzanne and Mike feel the same, so we were happy to meet them in "Sin City," earlier this week, to help celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary.

An hour after arriving, we found ourselves eating at Siegel's 1941, an old-school restaurant in the El Cortez, the longest continuously-running hotel and casino in Las Vegas and a favorite of 1940s mobster Bugsy Siegel, who, along with Meyer Lansky and others, bought the place in 1945. Following dinner, we walked over to the Fremont St. Experience, dedicated to preserving the neon heyday of mid-century Vegas. Situated in the heart of the old downtown area, the two-block Experience is covered by a protective ceiling that projects films above pedestrians, casinos and shops. Though I'm glad my parents' favorite casinos (from the old days) have been saved, the whole thing smacked of the worst elements of Times Square and Hollywood Blvd., so we did not stay long. (But we do love neon, so more about that part of Vegas in my blog entry below.)

 Tim (lower righthand corner) looking at all the neon and

ceiling projections

Mike in front of the Four Queens casino

Binion's casino

 

The next day, we spent a couple of hours touring the Nevada State Museum, an unassumingly hidden gem located in Springs Preserve, far from the hub-bub and gaudiness of The Strip. In addition to a permanent collection of artifacts tracing the history of Nevada, from dinosaurs to present day, the Museum is currently featuring two small but fascinating exhibits:"Les Folies Bergère: Entertaining Las Vegas One Rhinestone at a Time," about the Tropicana hotel's now-gone cabaret show, and "Branding Las Vegas, 1941-1958," highlighting hotel memorabilia collected by Richard and Nancy Greeno. Both are wonderful reminders of Vegas' true glory days.

 

Typical "pouf" headdress worn by 

Folies Bergère dancers

 

1960s costume (front)

 

 And back

 

 Men, as well as women, danced in the Folies

 

Greeno collection: memorabilia from the now-gone New Frontier hotel

 

Tiki items from the once fabulous Stardust hotel

 

Frontier hotel poster

 

 When smoking was sexy: Tropicana hotel ashtrays

Desert Inn roulette wheel ashtray

Flamingo hotel: paper ephemera

 

Museum's permanent collection: old one-armed bandit slot machines

BTW, we stayed at the Signature at MGM Grand, a completely smoke- and game-free condo property, a couple of blocks off The Strip, that was relatively cheap, too. Highly recommended if, like us, you don't smoke or gamble.

 

Saw this double rainbow as we were leaving Vegas

 

Good luck followed us back into California 

Neon Boneyard

Today's Las Vegas is all about spectacle and imitations of attractions from other parts of the world. In the old days, however, neon signs were king, attracting visitors to hotels and casinos that were otherwise rather nondescript. Fortunately, as more and more of the old buildings are destroyed, the Neon Museum is on hand to collect, preserve, and showcase the once-glorious signs (over 200 items) in a small neon boneyard, open to the public day and night. We opted to tour it at night, in hopes of seeing lots of showy neon.

Sadly, few signs were actually lit. Still the tour was fabulous, using the signs—which are arranged chronologically—as a visual metaphor of the history of Las Vegas. We, of course, loved the old casino signs the best, but there were also less well known—and just as interesting—ones: the Green Shack's simple "cocktails, chicken and steak" sign, for instance, and the Yucca motel's amazing neon yucca. Highly recommended for either day or night tours.

Fabulous plexiglass sign for the La Concha motel, part of which

now houses the Neon Museum gift shop

 

A section of the entrance facade of the old Horseshoe casino 

 

Yucca motel

 

When it opened, the Green Shack served cocktails, chicken and steak,

just like it says on the sign

 

Another meat-centric restaurant: House of Steak

 

Las Vegas Club: the only sign in the collection that mentions Vegas

 

Recently restored sign: Jerry's Nugget 

 

Stardust casino's highly recognizable atomic font

 

Sahara casino 

 Riviera casino

 

Another recently restored neon: La Concha

 

Hacienda horse and rider, now part of the Neon

Museum's public neon tour on Las Vegas Blvd.

Museum of Neon Art (MONA)

 

We love neon. It’s colorful, technologically fascinating and, of course, magnificently retro. In recent years, L.A. has undergone something of a neon renaissance, with local businesses reactivating many of the area’s most iconic—and spectacular—signs, including Culver City’s fabulous Helms Bakery neon.

One of the first things we did, when we moved back to L.A. in the mid-90s, was join the Museum of Neon Art (MONA), which in those days was located downtown. It housed well-known, but discarded, signs of yore and was a wonderful slice of yesterday.

 

 New museum greeter

 

 Neon clocks for sale in the gift shop

 

Old (new?) clock

Last night, MONA reopened on trendy Brand Blvd. in Glendale.  The museum had been closed for several years, fundraising and renovating its new site, so we were anxious to go. We were greeted by a 10-foot neon frog—wearing a tux and top hat, no less!—in the gift shop window. Past the gift shop was a room filled with refreshments. Down the hall from there was the main exhibit room, where a string band—with neon instruments!—was setting up to play.

 

Wall art and neon musical instruments

 

One of the more fun new pieces 

 

Another interesting new piece: neon overlaid on

depiction of indigenous people

 

The room was filled with new art that was interesting and, in some cases, even fun. But only a handful of the museum’s older holdings were on display—where was the Brown Derby hat and Manny, Moe and Jack? To say I was disappointed would be a huge understatement. Still, if you’re into neon, you’ve got to go. The gift shop itself is worth a quick trip.

 

Iconic image: Van de Kamp's

Bakery

 

 

Chevrolet OK used cars

 

"Cameras" and "Win with Winning Wire"

 

 

Outside the museum: Clayton Plumbers