LAS VEGAS (AP) — After talking, planning and collecting
iconic Las Vegas casino, motel and store signs since 1996, the Neon
Museum finally has an opening date.
The 2-acre resting place for
more than 150 brightly lighted signs, known for years as the Neon
Boneyard, is expected to open to the public for foot tours Oct. 27,
after its keepers finish converting the lobby of the old La Concha motel
into a visitor center and shop.
The La Concha embodies an era
before the Strip became dominated by large corporations and video walls.
Its distinctive clamshell shape, dating to 1961, stood next to the
Riviera hotel-casino. It was moved several miles up Las Vegas Boulevard
six years ago.
"Part of the lure is that people are looking for
the ‘Old Vegas’ experience," said William Marion, chairman of the board
of trustees of the nonprofit Neon Museum. "This is a unique way to show
it to people."
The museum near Cashman Center just north of
downtown Las Vegas has been generating revenue for a couple of years by
offering $15 tours for about 80 to 100 people a day. But Marion told the
Las Vegas Review-Journal (http://bit.ly/NC6ked ) that
limited capacity has forced the museum to turn away about 20 people a day.
The
museum board now aims for a first-year operating budget of $1 million.
Tours will be every half hour from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through
Saturday. Tickets will be $18 for adults and $12 for seniors, students,
locals and veterans. Children 6 and under will get in free. Souvenirs
and rentals for photo shoots or receptions also will be offered.
Project
architect Patrick Klenk calls the 16 restored signs that have been
placed as teasers around the downtown Fremont Street area in recent
years "bits of the Neon Museum spread like bread crumbs."
Klenk, president of Westar Architects, said the idea create interest about the signs.

Marion,
managing partner of the Purdue Marion & Associates public relations
firm, said an aggressive marketing push will follow the opening in the
attempt to more than triple visitor counts to the about 400 a day during
full operations, he said.
The museum had to raise $2.8 million to
bring its plans to life. About $600,000 was spent to rescue the La
Concha from demolition and move it.
About $500,000 came from
private donations and the rest from local, state and federal sources.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority contributed about
$300,000.
Much of the collection was donated by sign companies,
Marion said. Many companies leased the signs to the casinos, then kept
them in a boneyard for spare parts after they were replaced.
Neon
signs in the United States date from the 1893 World Fair in Chicago. But
Las Vegas has become almost as known for bright lights as for slot
machines. The museum features signs from wedding chapels, used car lots
and prohibition speakeasies and a looping 40-foot moniker from Las
Vegas’ first integrated casino, the Moulin Rouge.
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Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.