Past the towering Strip hotels and bright lights of the Fremont Street Experience lies a boneyard filled with history that comes alive at night.
When an old hotel, bar or even flower shop was set to be updated or demolished, the Neon Museum made sure at least one part of it remained– giving birth to the eclectic collection of vibrant neon signs that fill a dirt lot off North Las Vegas Boulevard.
Walking among the maze of signs—from the huge Hard Rock Hotel guitar stretching into the sky to the bright red Stardust sign or, soon, the white Mirage arch—it’s nearly impossible to see all of the things that have been collected over the past 30 years in one go. But in a few years, that could change with the Neon Museum set to move into two new spaces within Las Vegas’ Arts District.
“With a new art museum that’s coming into the City of Las Vegas (and) with the museums that are already here—the Mob Museum, the Natural History Museum, Springs Preserve—these opportunities are wonderful, and we’re just adding to that culture of Las Vegas,” says Aaron Berger, executive director of the Neon Museum.
“This is an opportunity to let locals embrace the Neon Museum and hopefully connect with their history here, but also bring tourists into the area as well and help tourists discover the locally-owned businesses and restaurants (and) bars.”
The Neon Museum is slated to move from their current 2.27-acre campus in the Cultural Corridor north of Fremont Street to a space in the Arts District. The entire move is estimated to cost around $45 million.
At least 250 signs are currently on display, but Berger says that’s only about 35% of the entire collection.
Growing pains have impacted the museum in recent years, according to data from Berger. In the past 12 years, the museum has gone from pulling in 20,000 visitors a year to attracting over 200,000. The admission slots, a roughly 45-minute period, sold out so often that the museum had to turn away 30,000 guests last year, he tells the Weekly.
A move to the Arts District, where it will have two new buildings, gives the Neon Museum a chance to “triple (the) footprint” and “showcase more of Las Vegas … indoors and outdoors,” Berger said. He added that the new location will not only increase the size of the museum, but allow the organization to present more exhibits to visitors as well.
Founded in 1996, the Neon Museum began as a nonprofit organization dedicated to collecting, restoring and exhibiting neon signs from as far back as the 1930s. The museum was officially opened in October 2012, and includes the Neon Boneyard where signs are displayed outdoors; the North Gallery, which houses the immersive audiovisual Brilliant! experience; the Boulevard Gallery outdoor exhibit and event space; and the visitors center inside the former La Concha Motel lobby.
Part of the new Arts District location will be within the ninth and 10th floors of a developing parking garage with retail and dining on the first floor. Dapper Companies will be developing the parking garage, which will contain 32,000 square feet of retail space, 20,000 square feet of office space and 887 spaces for cars.
The ninth floor will be enclosed so the museum can one day showcase its “robust” stash of Las Vegas-centered fine art and “the beginnings of a costume collection.”
An indoor location can also solve one of the problems affecting visitation: weather.
Because the Neon Boneyard is outdoors, the museum can cancel scheduled tours and admission slots during inclement weather, which includes those days when the heat exceeds 110 degrees.
On the 60,000-square-foot top floor of the garage, the Neon Museum’s collection of signs will be displayed in even greater numbers, with an “amazing view” of the Las Vegas Valley, saysBerger.
The second location, a “maker space,” willbe a three-minute walk away. Berger hopes that it will become a space for activities where visitors can learn how neon is made and possibly get to bend some themselves. He also wants to bring an outreach programs and field trip opportunities to the new location.
“I couldn’t be happier,” said Las Vegas City Councilwoman Olivia Diaz, who oversees the Arts District, at a city council meeting on July 17. “I think it’s going to be a spark that really ensures that on the north side of the Arts District, things start to happen.”
The Neon Museum would be moving next to the Mission Linen building, a “development program” soon to be anchored by the Evel Knievel Museum (relocating from its current spot in Topeka, Kansas); Heavy Metal Pizza Party, a restaurant from Evel Pie’s Branden Powers; and a new Mothership Coffee Roasters flagship store and roasting facility.
Right now, the Neon Museum shows no signs of closing and is in the early stages of planning the move. One thing Berger guarantees is that the restoration efforts will continue, and even amplify, in the coming years.
There’s work continuing on La Concha right now, giving everything from the original walls to the large stained glass sign some TLC before moving to the new site a few miles away.
Fundraising efforts to support the Neon Museum’s relocation will start soon, and it will be a group effort seeking individual, philanthropy and government support to get started.
Berger told city council members that officials expect to open in the new location in 2027.
“You can expect the Neon Museum to continue to provide for the next three years while we’re here in this location,” Berger says. “(But) with arts and culture, if we begin to synergize and actually work together to create a reason for people to come to Las Vegas as a cultural destination, that just simply makes everything else stronger in that process.”
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