Photo: Dale Cruse from San Francisco, CA, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.The place
A boneyard of signs from places that no longer exist.
The Neon Museum shows signs from old casinos and other businesses outdoors, on a 2.27-acre site north of Fremont Street. The collection grew out of the Neon Boneyard, and guided and self-guided tours tell the story behind each sign.
Many pieces come from hotel-casinos around the Las Vegas Valley, especially ones that have closed, among them the Stardust, the Riviera, the Flamingo, the Tropicana and the Moulin Rouge. There are also signs from local businesses, such as a Hard Rock Cafe, the Peppermill restaurant and a used-car lot, and fiberglass sculptures like a giant skull from Treasure Island. About 250 signs were on display in 2023, and the oldest piece is a remnant from the Green Shack restaurant.
The visitor center is the lobby of the former La Concha Motel, a shell-shaped building from the Strip. The motel's owners donated it in 2005, and in 2006 it was cut into eight pieces and moved 3.5 miles north along Las Vegas Boulevard. Many signs are unrestored and do not light up on their own, so on night tours they are lit with outside lighting.
How it began
From a preservation idea to a boneyard open to everyone.
Neon signs appeared in Las Vegas in the 1920s and boomed in the 1930s, many of them made by the Young Electric Sign Company, known as YESCO. Calls to save them grew after the Sands Hotel and Casino took down its original sign in 1981. A local arts council tried to start a museum in the late 1980s and received a first donated sign, from a liquor store, but the effort stalled for lack of money and staff.
In September 1996 the city council voted to fund the project. Its first job was to refurbish the Hacienda resort's Horse & Rider sign, a cowboy on a horse, and relight it in November 1996 at Fremont Street and Las Vegas Boulevard. In 2000 the city gave the museum land for its own lot, and in 2001 YESCO began moving old signs there. Tours of the Boneyard began later that year, by appointment only.
After the La Concha lobby was converted, the museum opened to the general public on October 27, 2012, ending the appointment system. It has kept growing: in 2023 it counted 200,000 visitors and had to turn people away from sold-out tours. In 2024 it announced plans to move to a larger site, with several locations under consideration as of 2025.
Photos
The boneyard and its signs.
The Moulin Rouge sign lit in pink neon at night, with the Hard Rock Cafe guitar sign at left. APK, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.The Flame restaurant sign at the Neon Museum, with a yellow crescent beside it. Carol M. Highsmith, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.The Hard Rock Cafe guitar sign lit at night at the Neon Museum. APK, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.The Neon Boneyard Park sign at night at the Neon Museum. APK, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Go and see it
Practical notes.
The Neon Museum is in downtown Las Vegas, north of Fremont Street, and the signs stand outdoors in the boneyard. Tours and activities near Neon Museum.
You visit by guided or self-guided tour, and tours can sell out, so check the official site for how to reserve before you go.
Night tours show the signs after dark, but many are unrestored and are lit by outside lights instead of their own tubes.
The museum has said it plans to move to a larger site, so confirm its location on the official website before you travel.
Pair it with downtown: the Horse & Rider sign, the museum's first project, was relit in 1996 at Fremont Street and Las Vegas Boulevard.
Sold by Viator. Prices and review counts checked on 09/09/2026. This walking tour covers downtown and Fremont Street, near the museum; it is not a Neon Museum ticket.
Questions people ask
Before you go.
What is the Neon Boneyard?
It is the museum's outdoor collection of retired signs. It began as a lot the city gave the museum in 2000, as YESCO prepared to close its own storage lot, and started receiving tours by appointment in 2001.
Is the Neon Museum indoors?
Mostly not. The signs are displayed outdoors on a 2.27-acre site, and the entrance is the relocated lobby of the La Concha Motel.
Do the signs light up?
Some do, but many are unrestored, and restoring one can take three to six months. On night tours, signs that cannot light themselves are lit with outside lighting.
Where do the signs come from?
Mostly from hotel-casinos around the Las Vegas Valley, especially closed ones, but also from restaurants and other local businesses. Owners now often call the museum when a building is about to close or be imploded.
More to see
Around Las Vegas
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