Long before they fired up the four new specimens last Friday night, before Oscar “I am the happiest, luckiest, greatest mayor in the history of the world” Goodman took that heat-n’-gin-induced header and way before the notion of a Fremont East ever existed, there were the Old School neons.
Dating back to the ’40s, the likes of the Hacienda’s Horse and Rider, Aladdin’s Lamp, the Red Barn’s Martini Glass and the 5th Street Liquor sign have been collected and restored as Downtown public art. There are informative plaques. There’s a walking tour. There’s even the three-acre Boneyard, a VIP club of signs only accessible with a guide and advance reservation.
The old and new have nothing to do with each other at this stage. But according to a Neon Museum spokesperson, “Our collection is based on both historic and artistic merit.”
So, do the city’s present-day signs—a giant martini glass, modernized Vegas sign, scantily-clad showgirl and strappy red shoe (itself a reworking of a vintage silver slipper)—have that artistic merit it takes to pass the test of time? Will they embody the spirit of a $5.5 million economic turnaround for the Downtown area? Or will they be forgotten as quickly as the party itself?
Not even a half-hour after Goodman exclaimed of the evening, “It’s like New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas!” the crowd had cleared out, returning to the relative safety of the Downtown Cocktail Room, Fremont Street Proper and, safest of all, their homes.