I got up this morning and went to Jerry's Nugget for breakfast. The old coffee shop has been remodeled for the good. It still has a 50's retro look. It is big and open and a lot of booths give a feel of privacy. The food was really good and prices were reasonable. Service was fine.

Afterwards I went to the Reed Whipple Center to check in for the tour. You have to make reservations in advance through the Neon Museum website at http://www.neonmuseum.org and they request a donation of at least $15. If you take pictures, you must sign a form about how you use those photos.

There were about 15 people on the tour and we had a nice tour guide named Sandy. She had only been giving the tour for about 4 months. I learned a lot and I caught her in a few errors. We had a lot of fun though. Some of the stories I heard I will assume are true unless I hear otherwise from a better source.

We talked a little about the history of neon and how it came to Las Vegas. One interesting fun fact I learned is that many years ago when neon first started to come to Las Vegas, the Young Electric Sign Company made the signs for the casinos and RENTED the signs to the casinos in an agreement that included maintenance. So whenever a casino decided that they didn't want that sign anymore, YESCO would come out and take it down and take it back to their shop and use it for spare parts.

Many of us have heard the story of how Howard Hughes was annoyed by the lights of the Silver Slipper sign that rotated outside his window. It bothered him so much that he bought the Silver Slipper. They told me on the tour that after he bought the casino, he never had the lights turned off.

The Welcome To Las Vegas sign near Mandalay Bay was designed by Betty Willis. She also designed the Bow And Arrow Motel sign which is at the boneyard and features flashing neon that simulates the bow being drawn. Betty also designed some other signs around town that you can find if you look hard enough.

I won't bore you with lot's of details. I will tell you it was two solid hours of fun Las Vegas history. It was every bit as informative as the Segway tour. The main difference is the information is that most of the Segway tour was info that you just don't run across in normal Las Vegas research. A lot of the boneyard tour was stuff that you can easily find if you are studying Las Vegas history because it was more mainstream and touristy subjects. I highly recommend this tour. There are restrooms and water at the Reed Whipple Center. There are none on the tour itself. It is a 2 hour walking tour outside, with a little bit of uneven terrain, rocks, broken glass, and miscellaneous obstacles. I suggest bringing a bottled water, camera, sunscreen, sunglasses, etc.

This is new to me, JMT. WIll check it out on my next visit. Some of the old signs were/are on display along Fremont Street between the Fritz and the El Cortez AND in the vicinity of Hogs and Hefers. Are these a part of that same project?

Check out the photo section.

At one time I had heard that one company wanted to collect all these old electrical signs and set them up at the Primm border for one big, colorful display.

I forget the year but we stayed at the La Concha ('63?) hotel/motel the very same week that it opened. In fact they were still laying the carpet and it was a darn nice place back then.

Please do check it out will. I'm sure it will bring back some great memories. There is one sign that made me think of you as it was something that someone with your sharp observations would have remembered. It was a minimart, and at the bottom of the sign it said, "Free asprin and tender sympathy". I think I remember it being way south on the strip (which in those days was anything past the Aladdin) but I don't remember exactly where. Any ideas?

JMT, actually I do remember that sign but I honestly don't remember where it was located. I have a feeling that it wasn't unique to the LV area though.

Maybe I will be able to recall its old time location upon seeing it in person.

In my days the south end of the Strip only included Russell Road and Doc's Hacienda and one very old garage on the east side of that southern LV Blvd. Now-a-days I see the Southern end of the Strip as any part of Las Vegas Blvd south of the airport (south of Sunset.

And I forgot to mention a technicality to answer your other question. The neon boneyard is owned by YESCO and the city. They are slowly trying to rebuild the old signs and present them as a museum. The actual museum are the pieces on and around Fremont St that you mentioned. The boneyard is a separate area. Now that the La Concha building is up, they want to have the museum there. After all, that part of LV Blvd is the museum district part of town. If all goes as planned, refurbished signs will stay on that site and the boneyard and museum will be at the same approximate location. it is not known if they will move the pieces from downtown back to the new museum.

I could be wrong but I think the Aspirin sign was at a gas station around where the Monte Carlo is now. I remember seeing it in the late 80's. But that was when it ws a 2 lane road beside the Las Vegas sign. Seems like it was an Union 76 station. I just rememeber that gas prices were pretty high even back then

Layne, You know that rings a bell with me too.
It was some service station as you where leaving Las vegas! Union 76 or Phillips 66 but something like that, and near what is now NY NY.

JMT - thanks for the review of the boneyard tour. This is something I've always wanted to do. I'm going to have to make a special trip out there to do this and the Segway tour. Thanks again!