Neon Boneyard – Las Vegas, NV3 min read time

During my last trip to Las Vegas, NV several years ago I had heard about the Neon Boneyard Museum so I was hoping we would get the opportunity to visit this time.  We were told that you need to make a reservation well in advance so we thought we would have to miss it this time. BUT upon doing some research, we found that

the long waiting list was for a true photography shooting session.  They make reservations for the hour or so “tour” daily.  So we talked it over the night before, found that there was still several openings at Noon the next day and decided to go for it!   We arrived a few minutes before our appointed time and found that there were neon signs outside of the the museum as well.  The museum is a bit off the old “strip” on Las Vegas Blvd.  Every so often, as you go toward the old strip, they have installed one of the old signs.

Inside the iconic building (below), we found all sorts of neon & Las Vegas related items in the museum giftshop.   We had a few minutes of fun talking to the Las Vegas natives who man the shop & conduct the tours.

Our tour guide/docent took us in hand and gave us the rules of the tour.  He did tell use he would give us some time to get some images but that we had to keep up with the group!

I am sure all of their docents are very knowledgeable but we really got lucky and our’s was retired from the Las Vegas legal establishment and had an interesting take on all the goings on and history of Vegas that he told us about as he showed us all these cool old neon signs!

The neon boneyard has sections for casinos like mega reel casino, hotels, businesses and odd & unusual signs.

It would have been nice to have a bit more time and another time of day would have been better photographically but I am still happy we took the tour when we did and got the images that we did!   The info we heard was well worth it!

We were there during the daylight and most of the signs are not restored to light up so we enjoyed the colors they were painted.  They do have a few that have been completely restored and they do light them up at night.

After making a few purchases at the giftshop (it helps support the upkeep and the restoration of the signs), we decided to shoot some of the signs on Fremont Street.    FYI- These signs are lit up at night so they are a treat to shoot after sundown as well.

I highly recommend a stop at this interesting and historic museum.   For more info and to make reservations, visit their website.

To see these and additional images, please visit my Neon Boneyard Museum gallery.

That is all for now

Lynn