He watched daily as people stopped at his motel and raced across the open road for a picture with the sign. This was decades before it had its own driveway and parking spaces.
So Woodrum did what any proud new business owner would do with a dead landmark in front of the property. He ran a power line out to the sign and fired it up himself. Just like that, let there be light. As the Welcome sign approaches its 60th anniversary, the lights are still on and it's never been more celebrated. It has become the undisputed symbol of Las Vegas, recognized around the world.
It is the quintessential neon road sign and a staple of American culture. Those who created the Las Vegas Strip dreamed big and planned for the future but there's no way they could have foreseen the longevity and iconic status of this one sign. So how did it come to be? We have surprisingly little to go on in answering that question. City markers and gateways have a history that stretches back centuries, but modern "Welcome" signs are the type developed in the age of the automobile.
We see them through windshields - landmarks at the edge of town in all corners of the country, decorated with local symbols of culture, character and values. The gateway heading into old-time Greenville, TX proudly displayed their racism: "Welcome to Greenville - the blackest land - the whitest people. Just a few years later, Las Vegas made one of its own. Never mind that Las Vegas - a stop on the L. Ripe with enthusiasm for construction of the dam, the city erected an arch over Fremont and Main by the depot that read, "Welcome to Las Vegas, Gateway to Boulder Dam.
By the late 50s, Las Vegas had come into its own and was no longer a railroad town. Travel by air and automobile was booming, car culture was in its prime. Those driving in from Los Angeles on Hwy 91 found motels, resorts, and casinos lining the Strip all the way from the airport to downtown. Fifty years after the birth of the city, it was as if the perfect place for a city marker had suddenly emerged.
Whose idea was it to make the Welcome sign and place it there by the airport? Here, at the beginning of the story, we rely on anecdotes passed down over the decades. Another story has it the other way around, with a group of hotel and casino owners approaching Rogich. Either way, the first record we have of the idea is in Clark County's Board of Commissioners meeting, Feb. Surprisingly enough, the sign is actually located in Paradise, Nevada, as well as much of the old Vegas strip.
Yes, the iconic sign is just under one mile south of Mandalay Bay so this is certainly an option. The best choice is to park in the Clark County parking lot which was added in to aid in the convenience of reaching the sign. When the sign was originally built, the Mandalay site was home to the Hacienda which was a one-story building that operated from to It was in March , that the Mandalay Bay was established.
In , it was nominated and approved for the National Register of Historic Places. The sign is feet tall, significantly smaller than many other signs in Las Vegas which reach heights of up to 40 feet. Until relatively recently, to be exact, the sign was rather difficult to access; tourists had to navigate across the North and South-bound traffic to reach the median for that sacred photo.
But now the area hosts a space parking lot to make it a whole lot easier to plan your trip to the famed attraction. After all these years and through its tumultuous history, the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Sign still retains its glamorous reputation as one of the most sought after photo ops in the world! Whilst its formative years lacked promise, the last two decades have seen it gain the iconic status it well and truly deserves. We use cookies to enhance your browsing experience and provide you with additional functionality.
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Site improvements in added a median to allow official public access safely. The parking lot was expanded several times over the last decade and now includes more than 40 spaces and traffic signals to help large groups of pedestrians get across the lanes of traffic on Las Vegas Boulevard safely.
Several notable events have happened at the Welcome to Las Vegas Sign, including being host of the largest bikini parade, which made it into the Guinness Book of World Records.
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