Neon Museum
The boneyard where every dead sign on this tour ended up — Stardust, Moulin Rouge, and hundreds more.
Key facts
- The Neon Museum preserves a large collection of historic Las Vegas signs in its outdoor “Neon Boneyard” — around 250 signs.
- Its visitor center is the salvaged lobby of the La Concha Motel, a shell-shaped mid-century-modern building designed by architect Paul Revere Williams (1961) and moved to the museum in 2006.
- The boneyard holds retired signs from resorts featured earlier on this tour, including the Stardust and the Moulin Rouge; the grounds are unpaved gravel, an accessibility consideration for visitors who get out.
Narration transcript
On your right, at 770 North, is the Neon Museum — and of all the stops on this drive, this is the one that quietly ties the whole thing together. Because this is where the signs go when the hotels die. Out back is the Neon Boneyard, an open-air field of around two hundred and fifty rescued signs, lying in the sun in rows — burnt-out, unplugged, still magnificent.
Think about everything you've passed today. The Stardust, gone since 2007 — its sign is here. The Moulin Rouge, which we're about to finish at — its sign is here too. For the last hour, you've been driving past the empty lots where these places used to stand; this is where their light ended up. It's the most honest museum in Nevada: a place that admits, out loud, that the whole city is temporary, and then lovingly keeps the leftovers.
Even the front desk is a survivor. The visitor center is the swooping, shell-shaped lobby of the old La Concha Motel, designed in 1961 by Paul Revere Williams — one of the great architects of mid-century America — and physically trucked here in 2006 to save it from the wrecking ball.
This is the first of two optional get-out stops. If you've got the time, it's absolutely worth parking and walking the boneyard — just know the grounds are gravel underfoot, so wear the right shoes. If you'd rather keep driving, no problem at all.
When you're ready, continue north on Las Vegas Boulevard just a little farther, up to Washington Avenue. On your right you'll find the oldest building in Nevada — a small adobe fort that is, believe it or not, the reason this entire city exists. That's our last stop before the finish.