On a trip to Las Vegas in 2009, a very friendly taxi driver told me about the Neon Graveyard: Three acres of arid dessert housing decaying neon signs that once proudly served as magnificent advertisements for many establishments on the Las Vegas strip. It is a very haunting place which is simultaneously sad and beautiful. Punctuated with flashes of colour and the sound of creaking-metal yielding to the wind, It is a form of retro art gallery where one expects to find a ‘Bond villain’ kicking his heels into retirement in an underground top hat made from 2000 light bulbs.
The non-profit Neon Museum has refurbished a small number of the original signs and displayed them around the city, breathing life once again into these iconic metal & light sculptures (allowing the world to see some of this city’s oldest cultural relics restored to their former brilliance). I hope that the Neon Graveyard is always a part of Las Vegas as these signs have just as much charm in restoration as they do in death, dereliction and decay.
Tags: Las Vegas
