Restoration Neon

Restoration Neon

Think of neon signs and you think of Vegas. Perhaps more than any other city on the planet, the neon sign is integral to Las Vegas' aesthetic, economic, and cultural history. From the early days of neon's first usage in Las Vegas to today, dazzling, larger-than-life signs have beckoned weary travelers and revved-up revelers alike, calling them in from the road or across the globe to the endless satisfaction promised by the pleasure palaces of motels, hotels, gambling halls, and casinos.

Like a siren song playing a visual symphony scored with notes of bright colors and gentle rays of light illuminating the crispdesert sky, the signs are the icons that defined Las Vegas. They were spectacles signifying fantasy, fun, and the kind of frontier freedom that had slipped away from so many other places in the American West. These were beacons - often of gigantic proportions - crafted with unparalleled vision and skill by unsung artisticinnovators. Yet many of the signs were in danger of forever disappearing beneath the dust and rubble of Las Vegas' famed tendency to demolish the old in order to build anew.

Recognizing the importance of preserving these historically significant artistic monuments to this unique city's evolution, the Neon Museum and its community partners and funders are restoring two neon signs essential to local Las Vegas history: the sign from the original Jerry's Nugget - a stalwart local casino now celebrating its fiftieth anniversary, and the sign from the Liberace Museum's former Tropicana location. Vegas PBS cameras are giving viewers an inside look at what it takes to bring these luminous historic icons back to life.

Witness each critical stage in the build process, meet the craftsmen behind the restoration, and see the signs revived, electrified and once again gleaming in the night sky in their new permanent home at the Neon Museum.