As a graphic designer, I’ve always been drawn to typography and letters in the wild. Seeing signage on the weekends or after class was one of my favorite things to do when I first moved to Los Angeles. I remember loving my walks because I saw so many beautiful fonts all over the streets of Santa Monica.
In fact, one of the first things I did when I downloaded Instagram back in like 2012-ish… was to photograph signage! So it’s a wonder why it took me so long to visit the Neon Museum in Las Vegas. I’ve gone to Vegas plenty of times but it never occurred to me to go see this boneyard of vintage signs — I didn’t know what I was missing.
Visiting The Neon Museum
The Neon Museum is just outside of the Strip. It’s under 15 minutes via Uber and kind of tucked away in the middle of nowhere. It’s definitely a hidden gem. Tickets are super easy to get through their website and you can stay inside the museum as long as you want.
It’s actually quite smaller in person than you see in photos taking up just one big loop around the property. There are a lot of signs stacked all around in different shapes and sizes — it’s like a graphic designers playground! Not to mention that the staff is super friendly and are ready to go with interesting stories behind each marquee.
We spent over an hour looking at all the signs and taking photos. There was a lot of little details hidden in between the big letterforms that we loved finding. Our favorite spot was in the back by the cactus. The view was gorgeous with the palm trees on the back. We also loved the giant red “stardust” sign at the beginning of the exhibit.
If you are in Vegas, I would definitely go check this out. There is something for everyone and getting to see the huge marquee’s up close is kinda cool!
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Have you ever been to the Neon Museum?