The lucky ones will be chosen to glow once again. In a few weeks, the vintage signs will be relocated to an empty lot on Las Vegas Boulevard, a few blocks north of downtown. By fall 2002, a visitor's center should be open and offer neon demonstrations for schoolchildren. Nine historic signs already have been restored and placed downtown by the Neon Museum, a nonprofit group set up by the city in 1996 to save the signs. Tourists can see the 1966 genie lamp from the old Aladdin Hotel and the 1940 Chief Hotel Court sign.
Plaques accompany each sign and tell their story.
The Hacienda was demolished in 1996, and Mandalay Bay went up in its place. Now the famous cowboy sits on a 24-foot pole at Las Vegas Boulevard and Fremont Street. The sign company first began designing casino signs in 1932, the year after gambling was legalized. Ever since, when casinos, motels, restaurants and businesses wanted new signs, the old ones were cast aside. The unplugged signs began collecting in the gravel lot next to the sign company behind the Strip.