This is an excursion worth taking while in town! Jaunt downtown to The Neon Museum for its new Viva Las Vegas! movie tour, led by one of the staff’s knowledgeable guides. (Many of them are Las Vegas born and raised, and have a wealth of knowledge and anecdotes to share.)

The tour is about 45 minutes and starts in the museum’s lobby, which is the actual lobby of the La Concha Motel, which opened in 1961 just three miles down the road. The tour is a great mix of cinema history and city history, all told based on the signs that you’ll stroll past in the museum’s Neon Boneyard. (There are a total of 30 illuminated pieces in the boneyard.)

Cool history tidbits include that the Moulin Rouge, the country’s first racially integrated casino, opened in 1955 (sign pictured). The famed Rat Pack would often perform here late into the night. The Aladdin lamp stood atop the Aladdin Hotel, where Elvis and Priscilla got married in 1967. The Red Barn sign helped illuminate one of the city’s first gay bars in the late-’60s, and it’s also where one of the first drag shows, RB Follies, was staged.

The Desert Inn sign sat on the property that Howard Hughes ended up purchasing after checking in to the top two floors beginning in 1966. It became the recluse’s permanent home until 1970, when he left the room on a stretcher to be flown to the Bahamas, never to return.

Cinema history includes the Plaza sign—the property appeared in Diamonds Are Forever, Back to the Future Part II, Cool World and Casino. The Riviera sign’s history includes the filming of movies like the original Ocean’s Eleven, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery and Jason Bourne. And you can view the giant 82-foot Hard Rock Café guitar, appearing in a scene from Honey, I Blew Up the Kid.

So many more stories and fun facts fill the rest of the tour—time well spent for those that want to learn a little more about Las Vegas and its starring role in pop culture.

770 Las Vegas Blvd. N. 702.387.6366. neonmuseum.org

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