Spent a fascinating morning at the Las Vegas Neon Museum, situated downtown near Freemont Street. The ‘museum’ is actually outdoors and consists of two large lots packed full with old neon signs rescued or purchased by the museum. There was no wandering around by yourself, we had to book a ‘guide’ who helped us through the maze of rusty metal, shattered bulbs and old neon tubes. But, despite our loathing for any sort of ‘guided tour’, the volunteer who took us was amazing. She had worked in one of the casinos back when they were run by ‘the mob’ rather than the present day corporations. She had so much to share on the different signs in terms of how they were made, information about each establishment and the project to preserve the old ‘neon’ Vegas. Early that evening we returned to the downtown area where many of the old signs from the fifties and sixties have been preserved and were lit up. This was the Vegas I’d been longing to see rather than the plastic fantastic strip. There was a sense of seediness to Freemont Street and the surrounding area but also one of pure vintage bling. And returning on the bus, we passed lots of wedding chapel signs illuminated for business and were lucky enough to see a wedding party outside one of them.
And out last evening in Vegas? Well Dragon and Kitty went out with a bang! Loss after loss on the tables and the pokeys saw the pikey pair creeping back to their room at 1.30am determined never to gamble again. The humiliation for Dragon of bringing out a handful of change at the roulette table, searching for a half dollar, while the man beside him happily toyed with a $200 bet was just a chip too far for the glamorous pair.
