Las Vegas
Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas
The sign, just to the south of the
Las Vegas Strip, welcoming visitors to the city.In
1959, Betty Willis and Ted Rogich created the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign for
Clark County, Nevada. Betty received $4,000 for her work. The sign was built by Western
Neon. Over the years, the sign has been moved south several times on
Las Vegas Boulevard as growth has continued. Currently it is located just
south of Russell Road across from the
Klondike Casino just west of
McCarran Airport.
Some consider the sign to be the "official" southern end of the
Las Vegas Strip. The sign, like most of the strip, sits in the town of
Paradise, Nevada and is located roughly four miles south of the actual city limits of
Las Vegas. (Such distinctions are usually ignored by residents of the
Las Vegas metropolitan area, who refer to the entire urban region as "Las
Vegas".) With the sign so far away from the city itself, the
Las Vegas City Council erected a Welcome to Fabulous Downtown Las Vegas
sign just within the city limits of the City of Las Vegas, on Las Vegas
Boulevard.
The image of the sign is featured on the Nevada
license plate that was issued to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the
City of Las Vegas in 2005.
The sign lights up at night.
The sign is currently owned by
Young Electric Sign
Company which leases it to Clark County. The sign is currently located in
the center island of Las Vegas Boulevard across from the
Klondike Hotel & Casino.
History
On October 4, 1999 the
sign went dark for about a month when the company that had been paying the power
bill was bought by another company who decided to not pay the power bill. When
the problem was discovered payment of the past due amount, under $60, was made
and power was turned back on.
The design of the sign was never
copyrighted,
so all over the city, smaller souvenir signs, roughly 10 inches in height, in
the same style that light up the same way are available to buy and are fairly
popular with tourists.
Trivia
The back of the sign, says "Drive carefully come back soon."
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