Curator's Choice

Episode 52: Neon Sign Museum

• Ayla Anderson • Episode 52

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Step behind the neon glow with me as we venture into a radiant corner of Las Vegas history at the Neon Sign Museum. With Aaron Berger as our guide, we delve into a treasure trove of glowing lights that tell the story of Sin City.

🎰 Illuminating Las Vegas's Past and Preserving Its Glow 💡
Las Vegas's neon signs are more than just advertisements; they're historical landmarks that reveal the city's (dark and light) past. In this episode, you'll learn the ins and outs of neon sign restoration and how unique leasing arrangements inadvertently became a lifeline for preserving these glowing artifacts. Among the stories highlighted is that of the Moulin Rouge sign, which marked the first integrated casino in the United States and was created by a rarity in the sign industry, Betty Willis.

🎲 Weaving Neon into the Heartbeat of Las Vegas 💖
We'll also delve into the city's mission to weave these signs into the community's heartbeat, installing them in public spaces, and even enshrining their maintenance in law — exemplified by the legendary cowboy Vegas Vic. Whether you are looking for free aspirin, tender sympathies, or the brightest lights in town, the city that never sleeps has something for everyone.

🔗 Episode Links
Neon Sign Museum: https://neonmuseum.org/

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Curator's Choice - A podcast for history nerds and museum lovers

Ayla Sparks:

Hi, I'm Ayla Sparks and this is Curator's Choice, a podcast for history nerds and museum lovers. From ancient relics to modern marvels, each episode of this show features a new museum and a curator's choice of some amazing artifacts housed there. These guardians of history will share insights, anecdotes and the often untold stories that breathe life into the artifacts they protect. Thanks for tuning in to this mighty oak media production and enjoy the show. So, first off, I have never been to the neon sign museum. I'm from nevada, I grew up there, I did all of my college there and I I'd done so much there, but I've never been able to come to the Neon Sign Museum. The few times that I've been down to Vegas, I think it's usually there's an event booked and I don't get my ticket in time. I'm so stoked because eventually I will make it there. There will not be any stopping me.

Aaron Berger:

And we will be ready to welcome you. The Neon Museum brings in about 200,000 visitors a year and, much to our sadness, we turned away 40,000 last year just because of sellout nights. So we have now reconfigured and done a lot of changing up, of expanding what we do, so hopefully that won't happen in the future. So you'll be able to get your ticket. Come on in and I'll walk you through personally. You'll have a good time.

Ayla Sparks:

That's incredible, though that's a pretty big deal. So there are a lot of different things that you can do there. But for someone who might just be thinking, what the heck is a neon sign graveyard? What's going on at the sign museum? I'm so excited because it is such a unique style of museum as well. So if someone who has never heard of any of this before, what would you say? The museum is?

Aaron Berger:

So that's one of the greatest questions and it's one I'm asked often, and we really are at the root of what we are. We are the stories of Las Vegas and so I wouldn't call us a history museum because we do things with Sphere, which has just opened to the public, hasn't even been around a year yet. We were there opening night. We do things with ongoing programming with existing properties, so it isn't always looking back, it is very much a now and today, but we are telling the story of Las Vegas and that is a great way to do it. The largest way that I think people know us for doing it is through the signage that you see. So you refer to it as a graveyard. It is a. We get called a graveyard, a junkyard, and what it is is actually it's a boneyard. And the reason it's called a boneyard is that sign manufacturing companies when they are okay.

Aaron Berger:

Something a little odd about Las Vegas you can own the Riviera property, the hotel, but the sign manufacturer owns the sign, and so if I decide to blow up the Riviera or I blow up the Stardust and build Resorts World in place of the Stardust, the sign goes back to the sign manufacturer, so they don't get to blow that up and the reason is that the sign manufacturer leases that sign to the property, so they pay a fee every year for the ongoing care of that sign and keep it operating and shining and beautiful in all perfect conditions and it's less of an expense for the actual property owner.

Aaron Berger:

But, as it turns out in our case, that's been an amazing source of historic preservation for us. Go to a sign manufacturing location. You would walk behind the storefront and you would see what you see at our museum, which is a just mishmash of different signage, some that looks like salvage, some that has broken tubing, some that is in perfect working order. But it was a place and it is a place that a sign manufacturer would go and say I need a transformer. So they would run out to the yard, grab a transformer and reuse it. They would need more neon tubing or need some scrap metal, those types of things. So we've recreated that at the museum.

Ayla Sparks:

So this is. That's remarkable.

Aaron Berger:

First of all, I had no idea Any long story.

Ayla Sparks:

Long explanation, but an amazing one. So you're saying that that's specific to a lot of the signage that's happening in Nevada. Do you know if that's common in other places as well? It's not as common.

Aaron Berger:

There are certainly sign agreements that the manufacturers make with other properties around the country. It just comes down to what the property owner decides is best for them. So if they're going to go it's an expensive process, especially when you're talking about neon. Neon is an expensive undertaking. So to have someone else kind of foot that bill of the creation of the sign and then the property owner to just maintain the sort of service agreement with it, it is a lot better for financially viable in some ways, it makes a lot more sense actually.

Ayla Sparks:

Obviously, it was great for you guys as a museum, because all of these historic signs have been saved, and then I'm sure that they were at some point. What are we going to do with all of these signs? And hello, we have a great idea for that.

Aaron Berger:

It actually was. It was under our mayor at the time, jan Jones Blackhurst. Jan, mayor Jones at the time was approached about a series of signs that were in. They were owned by Yesco, which at the time was called the Young Electric Sign Company. They now go by the name Yesco, and Yesco had all of these again, ranging from the Hacienda Horse and Rider that dates back to the 50s. You've got signs that date back quite a long time, some of them as much as 70 years. So you've got these incredible pieces that are just sitting out baking in the sun not doing any good. And it was under Mayor Jones's administration. They decided to prioritize this and they created a boneyard and had it on a little city property and you actually would actually call. So we opened in 2012, which is just 12 years ago, but you would actually have to call and say I would like to come see the museum, and we went from 20,000 visitors to now, as I said, we're over 200,000 visitors, so in 10 years it's been amazing.

Ayla Sparks:

And what's really unique as well about something like this is you can go and view kind of almost gallery style like you would at a typical museum, but you guys have a lot of photographers and a lot of photographic events that happen. We do.

Aaron Berger:

So anyone armed with an iPhone can just wander through and we are truly the greatest Instagram backdrop in the city, like there is no better place than to have that sort of neon and light glow from the sort of vintage era of Las Vegas behind you. That is fantastic. You can also do a professional photo shoot, so we have everything from high school graduation photos to we've been on the cover of Italian Vogue, so to every music video on earth, and you name it. It's a great, iconic place to be.

Ayla Sparks:

So yeah, it's wonderful Hashtag, iconic Look at me. Wow, look at me being all millennial over here.

Aaron Berger:

Love it.

Ayla Sparks:

So whenever you think about Nevada and I mean every time I tell someone I'm from Nevada, they instantly go oh, vegas. When you think of it, you're like Las Vegas, sin City. You're walking down the strip, there's all these lights. What kind of started off the flashy party vibe of Vegas really.

Aaron Berger:

Las Vegas was an escape town. It was the place that you would get away with it, and I mean that in almost every sense. So you would get away with it and from it, I think, is probably the best way of thinking about it. And that could be you'd get away from your wife, you would get away from your family, you would imbibe. You know, gambling was the birth of this town and really it became this place of escape, and I think that's really visible today as you look at the architecture of Las Vegas and you see this sort of escapist architectural design. Everything from New York, new York to the Luxor, to the Venetian canals you've got the entire world sort of brought together in one small city. So it is a lot of glitz, a lot of glamour, definitely a lot of glitter. But if you are able to look past that, you can see there is an enormous amount of historic preservation taking place here and there's a lot of history that's alive and well in this city.

Ayla Sparks:

I love it. I have been to Vegas a few times, like I said, and every time I go I don't drink and I don't gamble and everyone's like what are you even doing here? And there's an incredible amount of history in Vegas itself and the surrounding areas and a lot of beauty as well. So I think that this museum in particular is perfect because it really kind of takes the combination of those two things and puts them to the forefront. Right, you have this flashy, amazing, fanciful kind of escapist reality, but it's also incredibly tied to Nevada's history, particularly Las Vegas. So what are some of the older, the original signs and when neon first started becoming seen in Vegas?

Aaron Berger:

So you're going to see signs. So the way I like to describe neon, especially in Las Vegas, as you're from Nevada, you can appreciate this part of it which is we're in the middle of a desert. Right, in the case of Las Vegas, we're in a valley. So imagine driving from LA and you're driving to someplace like Salt Lake City and you're going through this vast, almost Mars-like wasteland of there, their very, very few outposts of any type of civilization, and so you see this orange glow of a neon sign, maybe as much as five miles, 10 miles ahead on the road, that sign becomes the sort of beacon that says this is a place for you to get a drink, this is a place for you to spend the night, this is a place for you to get a meal. But you know that there's something out there.

Aaron Berger:

And so with that flat land, that flat desert land and the absence of other light, that neon really became what grabbed your attention. So Las Vegas sort of blossoms and it takes that idea and really wants to try and fight for your attention now. So it is my neon sign, has you know, it is a static outline of letters versus my neon sign that has flashing light bulbs in the center of it, which has my neon sign, which has this animation and is showing you and welcoming you into the sign. So it's this sort of one-upsmanship that is again trying to get you to come into the next location and spend your money here versus there. We work a lot with kids in that thinking of, if you're going to open a barbershop, what are you going to create that's going to get someone to come to your barbershop instead of the barbershop that's a block away. So what does your sign look like that makes you more attractive and really describes what you do as a business.

Ayla Sparks:

That's great, and it makes a lot of sense too whenever you think about, you know, a growing Vegas fighting for everybody's attention.

Aaron Berger:

It is. It is the land of ADD.

Ayla Sparks:

Yes, because anytime you go into one of those casinos too, I mean, it's just sensory overload with all the mirrors and everything. And that's pretty much by I mean it is by design for Vegas as a whole itself, anyways.

Aaron Berger:

I think that you know Las Vegas is a place where we have so much to offer that even walking just from the reception desk to your hotel room, you can walk by unbelievable blue chip artists and amazing art installations that have come from around the world, that have been custom made, that have you know seven figures that are important works of art and here they're sort of decorative right. They're not necessarily seen as part of the arts and culture of Las Vegas and I think it's something that's really overlooked and it's something that we don't get enough credit for is the fine art that we have here in the city.

Ayla Sparks:

Yeah, there's a lot more to Vegas than gambling and a red light district. You got it.

Aaron Berger:

Yeah, there is a Vegas for people who hate Vegas. I think is really the rule of thumb to think of.

Ayla Sparks:

Definitely. I know that we're going to be talking about some really cool signs that you have, but I'm curious what is the oldest sign that you guys have and what are you doing with the signs? That tells a story.

Aaron Berger:

Sure. So let me take the second part of that first, which is the signs that tell stories. So all of our signs tell fabulous stories and I think the thing that mesmerized me about joining the Neon Museum I've only been here, I haven't been here three years yet, but I've had almost 30 years in museums, and so it is. I expected the Neon Museum to be, you know, sort of a glitz and glam kind of moment, and then I came through and the first sign that we came across is the Moulin Rouge, and we're going to talk about that in detail and through that got to learn about the civil rights story in Las Vegas. And then, further down, we learn about some of the Western architecture of the city and how there's sawdust on the floor and some of the first stools that were put in front of SWAT machines were actually covered in saddles, just to give you this sense of you know, you're in the Wild West kind of idea, and I love that sense of history.

Aaron Berger:

I also love the fact that we talk about Betty Willis. Betty Willis was the woman who created the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign. That's so you know, unbelievably renowned and copied everywhere, and she did it without a copyright. She did it deliberately as a gift to the city. No-transcript Black community stories of women. These are all parts that are interwoven into the experience when you tour the Neon Museum.

Ayla Sparks:

It's a great way to start a story really is by having a visual sign that can lead into this really cool history.

Aaron Berger:

Yes.

Ayla Sparks:

So going to the Moulin Rouge? Why is that, in particular, one that you wanted to showcase?

Aaron Berger:

So the Moulin Rouge is a personal favorite of mine for a couple of reasons. One is the three reasons. I think so. One reason is that the Moulin Rouge was the first integrated casino in the US. If you're Pearl Bailey, you would perform on the strip. You would be encouraged to perform on the strip because people wanted to see these acts. However, you came in the back door, you performed on stage, you would travel eight miles to the west side of town, to what's called the historic west side of town, which is the black community of Las Vegas, and you would stay in a black boarding house. So the Moulin Rouge is the first integrated property. And they were famous for their 2.30 am show. So I know right, I'm in bed by 7.30, am show. So I know right.

Ayla Sparks:

I'm in bed by 7.30.

Aaron Berger:

The thought of a 2.30 show is a lot for me, but if you think about these major acts that are performing on the strip, they would have an eight o'clock or nine o'clock start and then they do a second show at 10 or 11 o'clock. So it's the 2.30 show that you might get again Aretha Franklin on stage, or you might get Frank Sinatra on stage, you may get Bobby Darin, or you may get Sammy Davis Jr, or it could be all of them just appearing. The other part, too, is that the Moulin Rouge is appealing to middle-class Black tourists who aren't able to stay on the Strip. So this is a very important property because it is serving a need of those that want to visit Vegas but don't have the ability to do so or are discriminated against and not allowed to. So Moulin Rouge, despite its incredible success, despite the fact that in its time it's on the cover of the Life magazine for being this incredible destination property, it closes within six months and it files for bankruptcy. Now there's a lot of Las Vegas legend as to why that and whether or not the mob was involved because it was pulling too much money off of the strip and it was becoming too attractive. That's a possibility. But it is a fantastic property to talk about and really discuss the civil rights movement. You have to remember Las Vegas was known. It had a nickname of the Mississippi of the West. So we were very much a discriminatory city that held back people from just an everyday experience that white clientele could enjoy on a regular basis. So that's one reason I love the Moulin Rouge.

Aaron Berger:

The other is that it is partially restored and so if you're standing in front of it, the entire sign is lit. It is beautiful and it's pink and it's pink hue, so it's Moulin Rouge. It's taken after the Moulin Rouge in Paris, so it speaks to that Parisian influence, the Moulin Rouge. Obviously you know the Rouge is referring to pink or red, but if it had been any other color it wouldn't be as beautiful as that sign really is. It is also truly a beacon. You can see that sign from miles away A because of the size, but B because of that pink.

Aaron Berger:

But if you're standing in front of it you can see where we have restored the sign. So you'll see some bubblegum pink neon tubes and you'll see some coral pink. The coral actually dates back to 1955. So that's the original tubing, the original neon that was used to create that sign. It has endured Las Vegas summers of 120 degrees, las Vegas winters below freezing monsoons, windstorms all of that time over 70 plus years. It has endured all of that and again. At the end of the day, this tubing is glass. It breaks that's what glass does but it has survived. So I love that. I love that you can see that and experience that with that sign.

Ayla Sparks:

I would like to point out as well that, though it's got all of these signs, they're on the ground so people can actually come up to them and see them. The signs are not up like how they were in front of the hotel, they're eye level, so you really can see those.

Aaron Berger:

That's a really important point, and I'm glad you said that that's exactly true, and we want you to be able to see the sign in its detail. We want you to hear that buzz that only neon makes, which is fantastic as well. So the third thing about the Moulin Rouge sign that I love is that it was also created by Betty Willis, the woman who designed the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign. The handwriting of the sign itself is actually Betty's handwriting. So if you look at this, you'll see this amazing script that she has, and this is before the days of AutoCAD and any type of kind of computer engineering. She is scaling this out mathematically to make these 17-foot foot tall letters and scaling this all by hand. It's really. It's a beautiful, beautiful piece that is also architecturally spectacular.

Ayla Sparks:

I mean a seven foot tall letter. Who doesn't want to go stand next to that?

Aaron Berger:

17 foot tall letter. Yeah, it's amazing.

Ayla Sparks:

When Betty was making these signs. What is the process for making one of these kinds of neon signs?

Aaron Berger:

It hasn't changed much, which is really fascinating. So neon started around 1905, and the process has not. Again, there aren't computers really engaged in this process. It's very much an act of craftsmanship. What happens? The best way to do this via podcast.

Aaron Berger:

Imagine having a plastic straw and you take a plastic straw and you bend it. And if you bend it you're going to get a V right. It's going to have a crease in the middle. So the same thing would be true for a neon tube. If you were to heat it and bend it, you're going to get a crease. That crease is going to stop the flow of neon and the gas and the electricity. So what the neon bender has to do is blow air into that tube so that it expands to a point where it remains consistent in its width. You blow too much air, you get a big bubble gum bubble. If you don't blow enough air, you get a crease and again that gas won't flow. So it's an amazing art.

Aaron Berger:

But again, there's no machinery doing this. This is an individual doing this. They have sheets of paper and they lay them out and they map out the tube. Does it fit the shape? Yes, it fits the shape. I need to bend this a little bit more. I need to fold this back to create the letter that I need to write, or I need to fold it so that I can hide the electrode, so that the electrode isn't something that you're distracted by. So all of that's being thought through and planned into again without the use of computers, and oftentimes you know you don't go to school for this. This isn't like HVAC repair, where you get certified in how to do these types of electrical work. This is apprenticeship. This is working under another neon bender and then being able to work closely with them to learn the craft.

Ayla Sparks:

Which is really remarkable, considering basically, these guys are engineers, these guys and then this gal Betty. So she was not only a woman in the field, but she was practically an engineer for all purposes of these neon signs.

Aaron Berger:

Absolutely so. One of the things that the museum has begun doing is something called STEAM Saturdays. So, from our perspective, it takes science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics in order to make a sign. So all of those components come together, all of them sit down and create projects together that are STEAM-based, because, it is to your point, they are engineers, they're graphic designers, they're electricians, they're all of that in order to make this sign work and they have to, at the end of the day, not just make it work, but it also has to do its original purpose, which is attract you off the street. It has to meet that goal of getting you to come off the street and come into that property.

Ayla Sparks:

What is the difference between neon and just a regular light?

Aaron Berger:

So neon is a gas. It's a noble gas, and when it's charged with electricity, that's what gives it its glow. So in most signs that we refer to as neon signs, they're either filled with neon gas or argon gas. One will produce a color. Of one color, one will produce another color. Then you add powder coatings to the tubes themselves and that's how you get the variations in color of that, but they're all sort of under the umbrella of a neon tube or neon color.

Ayla Sparks:

So the two different ones argon what natural color without any powder is argon?

Aaron Berger:

Argon will provide a yellow tube or a yellow color, blue, green and white, where neon gives you more of that red coloring. So the first neon signs are the ones that we talked about. That sort of orange glow out in the desert horizon. Those are true neon signs. You add argon, that's where you're going to get into some of those yellows and blues. So if you add that powder coating inside the tubing, that's where you can get into some more really fun brighter colors, brighter, different variations in color.

Ayla Sparks:

Definitely really fun. Brighter colors, brighter, different variations in color, Definitely so. Moulin Rouge, this beautiful, gigantic sign made by this incredibly well-known woman engineer what was his journey from being taken down after? So the Moulin Rouge was only open for six months, Correct? So it was created then six months. And then what was his journey to eventually coming to the museum?

Aaron Berger:

So that's a story. So the sign was saved. I believe it was saved by the city and, strangely, the building burned down shortly thereafter. So it was a great save on behalf of the city and so it's a wonderful act of preservation. And again, we're a city that builds things, then blows things up, and then builds them again and then builds them and blows them up. So we're about to have another implosion coming this fall and people are excited. They're trying to figure out how to, you know, get tickets and see it Nevada is known for explosions.

Aaron Berger:

Unfortunately, unfortunately, atomic and otherwise, yes, but it's true, and so you know, we're known for that and we celebrate it. And really, if you think about it, while I think, at heart I'm a historic preservation, evolving, constantly changing, and part of that process is implosion. So we do go in aggressively and, with the case of the Tropicana, we've been working very, very closely with them, preserving as much as we can in preparation for that upcoming implosion.

Ayla Sparks:

That's going to be another event to behold, I'm sure.

Aaron Berger:

It will be, it will be another one, yes, yes it will.

Ayla Sparks:

So it sounds like there might have only been a few different companies who made the multitude of signs. Is that correct?

Aaron Berger:

There were several that did in this area. I think Yesco is the most prolific. They did quite a few of the signs. Almost 200 of our signs are from. Yesco is the most prolific. They did quite a few of the signs. Almost 200 of our signs are from Yesco. Of what we see in our collection, yesco does tremendous work and is sort of in many ways the go-to for a lot of the larger properties they did and even today, at I think 102 years old now, they did the lettering on top of the Legion Stadium. I mean, you name it, that's Yesco. So we're very fortunate to have partnered with them in creating and again going back to the Boneyard we recreated the Yesco Boneyard in our efforts with the Neon Museum.

Ayla Sparks:

How many signs do you have in your collection?

Aaron Berger:

It's a great question. So we have about 250 that are on display. I have another 600 that are in storage. So that's one of our biggest goals is to get these guys out of storage and out into the community. So you've got about a little over an acre of land that you can walk through at the museum. Again, those 250 signs if I were to have all 800, 900 out there, you would hit a saturation point pretty quickly. Our effort is to try and get these signs into civic plazas. We've started a new partnership with the city of Las Vegas Plaza's. We've started a new partnership with the city of Las Vegas.

Aaron Berger:

It's actually, I think, my favorite sign is going to be installed there this fall.

Aaron Berger:

It's a sign that says free aspirin and tender sympathy. And the reason was it was on a convenience store in front of a convenience store, kind of gas station that was on the outside of town. A convenience store, kind of gas station that was on the outside of town. And the legend behind it is that, as you were coming into Las Vegas from LA, you would stop there, you would give the owner $20 and he would write your name on an envelope, put it in a little shelf and you could go and lose your shirt on the strip, but you would always have that $20 to get gas to get back to LA on the strip, but you would always have that $20 to get gas to get back to LA. And so this free aspirin and tender sympathies he really leaned into. All that is Las Vegas, and so what I love is we partnered with the city and that sign is going to be installed in the medical district here in Las Vegas, which is just the perfect marriage, I think, so I'm really excited about that.

Ayla Sparks:

And what's perfect about that as well is it could almost be a walking tour outside of the museum. If you have enough of them that are kind of out and around, that's awesome.

Aaron Berger:

We do. We have about a dozen that are along Las Vegas Boulevard and that walking tour is in development. So we do have it available on our website, where you can learn about the signs right now.

Aaron Berger:

We are in the process of also working with the city to have some historic markers made for each one of those existing signs, so that you know what is historic versus. You know what's an adornment, what is something that's a prop that was made, what's an adornment, what is something that's a prop that was made. Especially, as you get close to Fremont Street, there are a lot of things that have just been made versus what really dates back. You know again, 50, 60, 70 years.

Ayla Sparks:

Is there anything in particular that you can see in style or in, I guess, brightness of color, if you are someone coming through Vegas and a trained eye could tell the difference between, possibly one that's historic and one that's brand new?

Aaron Berger:

Yeah, so I love that. That's a great question. So one of the things I love to take people up and down Fremont Street. So Fremont Street is really the origin point of Las Vegas, where the Plaza Hotel and Casino stands right now. That was where the original train station was and really the birthplace of the city. So I like to take people there and then just kind of walk them up Fremont Street. And one of the things that I always encourage people to look for and it's really best seen sort of on the Golden Gate Casino, which is right across the street from the plaza.

Aaron Berger:

But if you look at the Golden Gate, you're going to see these metal rungs that are attached to the front of the sign. And if you see the Golden Gate, it goes up about I don't know 50 feet in the air and it's got a series of neon outline and flashing bolts. So the rungs are there because some poor schmo had to climb up that ladder and change out those light bulbs and this is all pre-OSHA right. So this is definitely not the safest act in the world. And so as you go through the city and especially Fremont Street, look at some of these signs. If you see these metal rungs that are sort of sticking out. That don't really make sense. With the sign it was for maintenance. It was totally there so that someone could climb up, change light bulbs, fix neon tubes. If there was damage in some way, they would go through and fix it that way. So yes, that's the thing to look for.

Ayla Sparks:

That is so cool. I'll be looking the next time I do get to come into Vegas.

Aaron Berger:

Yep, you'll see it on, like the Hacienda Horse and Rider which is at Fremont Street, las Vegas Boulevard, again, the Golden Gate, many of the signs that you see of Vegas Vic, which is underneath the canopy on Fremont Street. You'll see these pegs, basically, that are sticking out of the metal.

Ayla Sparks:

I think, if I have to look back and think of my most iconic sign that I can picture, I don't know exactly which one it is, but it's the man who has the cowboy hat, who has the bent leg, who is moving his cowboy hat like this.

Aaron Berger:

Correct, that's Vegas Vic.

Ayla Sparks:

Oh, that is Vegas Vic.

Aaron Berger:

That is Vegas Vic, created by the Chamber of Commerce and is just sort of this. He was here to welcome people to the city, so he is under the canopy. The original is still there. It is actually again Las Vegas law of being quirky and weird. The law is that if you have a neon sign underneath the canopy on Fremont Street, it must be lit, so you cannot turn it off, and it must be maintained. The city that never sleeps, that's it, so it is important that we are preserving that history. So I actually had to do an interview with CNN because Vegas Vic went out and there was a lot of scuttlebutt about that.

Ayla Sparks:

Yeah, what happens if a sign does go out?

Aaron Berger:

It has to be repaired. So they just call a repair guy and they're like go out, it has to be repaired.

Ayla Sparks:

So they just call a repair guy and they're like immediately this has to be done.

Aaron Berger:

The owner is responsible for maintaining it and making sure that it is in working order. So yeah so it was. These are the kinds of things, but Vegas Vic is fantastic. He's a great, you know cowboy. And then inside Circa, which is sort of diagonally across from where Vegas Vic is positioned, inside the Circa Casino is Vegas Vicky and Vegas Vicky is. There was actually a wedding between the two of them. They're officially married.

Aaron Berger:

So, Vegas Vicky, I know exactly. But you know we've talked to the folks who at one point Vegas Vicky had fallen into renowned sign maker and now she sits literally in the heart of Circa. So wherever you go in the casino you can sort of see a different avenue or a different sight line of Vegas Vicky staring back at you and she's got her big cowboy hat, her big grin and she's a well-endowed country lady. The proper welcome to Vegas right there, you got it Exactly yeah.

Ayla Sparks:

So there is also another really interesting sign that you'd like to talk about, and this particular plant. As a conservation person, yucca is fantastic in so many ways, but I'm sure you're going to be more of talking of the neon sign variety, yucca.

Aaron Berger:

The neon sign variety, but it does support your concept that Yucca is fabulous. So that's fair, totally fair. So the Yucca Motel sign is another favorite. It's a favorite with a lot of our visitors, but also with me as well, when we talk about that craftsmanship of how to make a neon sign and that we're making these bends, and we talked about the plastic straw and making a V.

Aaron Berger:

So if you look at the top of this yucca sign and you see the yucca bloom, it is nothing but a bunch of squiggly little twists and turns and it is a beautiful flower that has been created out of neon and it's done in a way that all of the electrodes are hidden to the best of their abilities. In most cases, with most signs, you can put an electrode behind a piece of metal, but this is completely exposed, and so with that, the person who made this and we don't know who made it, but the person who made this piece was so thoughtful as to find ways to keep your eye focused on that beautiful flower and not necessarily the electrical parts of it, and get lost in that. So I love that piece from an artistic standpoint. That's where I see the artistry of neon and also its functionality.

Ayla Sparks:

And what was the sign for? Was there a yucca hotel?

Aaron Berger:

It was a yucca motel and if you look at the sign, you'll see that where the word yucca is placed, it's actually sort of center point in an arrow that's kind of directing you into the parking lot, and then the yucca plant is on top with that beautiful flower in white above that. So it's really, it's a striking piece. And again it all goes back to what can I as the property owner, what can I make that's going to get you to pull off the road and come into my property? So is it beautiful, Is it flashy, Is it? You know saying the right words, what is it that's going to make you come see me instead of the guy next door?

Ayla Sparks:

Yucca would get me in because I would be like in this city of lights and traffic and you know like people, flashy things, there's a little bit of nature brought into this one, so the hook line sinker me right there.

Aaron Berger:

You'll love the photo I'll show to you. You'll love it.

Ayla Sparks:

Awesome. So we know that you can come do the pictures. You can walk around in the amazing boneyard not graveyard, the boneyard and check out these signs. Do you guys have any events that you do yearly that are kind of big? If someone's going to try to make it, they should try to come to those.

Aaron Berger:

So we have been very fortunate. In the last two years alone I think we've lit four or five signs. So a sign lighting is always exciting. It's when we take a sign out of the boneyard and it goes away for a few months and is restored, brought back to its original glory. There's an enormous amount of historic research that goes into this. The last one we did was the palms and that was a. It was on a billboard. This neon sign was attached to a billboard advertising the palms, but we ended up finding a photograph someone had taken of just the freeway where that sign had been and we were able to do some color matching as a result of that photo. So it's incredible how we kind of dig through to find what's accurate from the timeframe. So lighting is always great fun.

Aaron Berger:

The next one coming up is actually May 19th. We are lighting three signs, all from the Flamingo. The Flamingo is the longest running property on the Strip and so these are two signs that are by Raul Rodriguez and they are feathers that were on the facade of the Flamingo. And then we have the marquee, the big kind of plume, as well, and that was done by Bill Clark, all of which from 1976. Those have been restored over five months. So right now if you come to the museum if you were to come to the museum today you would literally see a flat dirt patch with a piece of plywood over a hole as we're waiting to put that sign back into installation. So right now we're doing the underground electrical work, all the fun that goes with that. So that sign lighting is great fun.

Aaron Berger:

The other thing that we have annually is something called Duck Duck Shed. So Duck Duck Shed I know it's a crazy name, but Duck Duck Shed refers to, specifically, architecture of Las Vegas. There was a book written 52 years ago called Learning from Las Vegas and it was by three Yale professors and in it they discussed buildings being either ducks or decorated sheds. And so we took that and we had some fun with it and called it Duck Duck Shed. We have a four-day celebration of Las Vegas architecture, design and culture. We bring people in from literally all over the world and we did tours of the home of Siegfried and Roy and you got to get in and see how they lived and we had dinner inside the Lion Pens at their house. We had lecturers who talked about how it was to build an art collection inside the casinos. We've had people who've talked about what it's like to move historic buildings down Las Vegas Boulevard, so it's a great four days. Duckduckshedcom is a great way to learn about that too. It's a lot of fun.

Ayla Sparks:

And when does that happen?

Aaron Berger:

So it's usually. It'll be in. The spring of 25 will be the next one, but it is about 40 programs in four days. It's food, drink, merriment, lectures, tours, walking tours, helicopter tours, you name it. We do it all.

Ayla Sparks:

That sounds amazing. I might have to make that trip to Vegas and finally visit the museum Come on, come on, we'll show you a good time. The last time we were in Vegas I was tired of taking all the selfies, which I guess was probably anti-neon sign museum, right, but uh. So my husband and I got little legos that replicated ourselves, and so we started taking selfies with the lego and then the thing in the background. So I have this gorgeous little lego picture of us in front of the flamingo I love that.

Ayla Sparks:

That's fantastic that would be fun. We'll come do it and we'll do it in front of the signs.

Aaron Berger:

One of the things we're doing I think starting next or no, starting later this week is we are asking the public to just send us your photos of the flamingo. So it's just sort of getting up to that excitement of lighting the sign. So you'll have to send it in and we'll tag us on the social media platforms and we'll get it out there and let the world see.

Ayla Sparks:

And they can revel in your Lego people. That's great.

Aaron Berger:

A Lego couple.

Ayla Sparks:

Yes, well, thank you so much. This was really interesting. I just love doing these because I get to learn so much of different kinds of history, and Nevada always has a very special place in my heart. So thank you so much for agreeing to come on and talk about what you guys offer, because it's a lot.

Aaron Berger:

It's my pleasure and thank you for your interest and please, when you do come to town, let us know. We'll make sure you have a good time, oh, I will.

Ayla Sparks:

So there is also another really interesting sign that you'd like to talk about, and this particular plant. As a conservation person, yucca is fantastic in so many ways, but I'm sure you're going to be more of talking of the neon sign variety, yucca.

Aaron Berger:

The neon sign variety, but it does support your concept that yucca is fabulous.

Ayla Sparks:

So that's, fair.

Aaron Berger:

Totally fair.

Aaron Berger:

So the yucca motel sign is another favorite.

Aaron Berger:

It's a favorite with a lot of our visitors, but also with me as well, when we talk about that craftsmanship of how to make a neon sign and that we're making these bends, and we talked about the plastic straw and making a V.

Aaron Berger:

So if you look at the top of this Yucca sign and you see the Yucca bloom, it is nothing but a bunch of squiggly little twists and turns and it is a beautiful flower that has been created out of neon and it's done in a way that all of the electrodes are hidden to the best of their abilities. In most cases, with most signs, you can put an electrode behind a piece of metal, but this is completely exposed, and so with that, the person who made this and we don't know who made it, but the person who made this piece was so thoughtful as to find ways to keep your eye focused on that beautiful flower and not necessarily the electrical parts of it, and get lost in that. So I love that piece from an artistic standpoint. That's where I see the artistry of neon and also its functionality.

Ayla Sparks:

And what was the sign for? Was there a yucca hotel?

Aaron Berger:

It was a yucca motel and if you look at the sign, you'll see that where the word yucca is placed, it's actually sort of center point in an arrow that's kind of directing you into the parking lot. And then the yucca plant is on top with that beautiful flower in white above that. So it's really a striking piece. And again it all goes back to what can I, as the property owner, what can I make that's going to get you to pull off the road and come into my property? So is it beautiful? Is it flashy? Is it? You know, saying the right words, what is it that's going to make you come see me instead of the guy next door?

Ayla Sparks:

Yucca would get me in because I would be like in the city of lights and traffic and you know, like people, flashy things there's a little bit of nature brought into this one, so that would hook line sinker. Flashy things there's a little bit of nature brought into this one, so that would hook line sinker me right there.

Aaron Berger:

You'll love that. You'll love the photo. I'll show it to you. You'll love it.

Ayla Sparks:

Awesome. Thank you so much for tuning in and supporting Curator's Choice, a Mighty Oak Media production. If you enjoyed the show, please consider subscribing and rating the show on Apple Podcasts, spotify, youtube or wherever you get your podcasts. If you love a museum and would like to hear it featured in an episode, shoot me a message at CuratorsChoicePodcast at gmailcom. I'll do my best to reach out and see if I can get them to be on the show. You can also view articles, artifacts and more by following us on Facebook and Instagram. Thanks for listening to Curators Choice, a podcast for history nerds and museum lovers.