Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Sign

Straddling Las Vegas Blvd, south of the Strip proper, is the city’s most iconic sign, which announces in vintage style, ‘Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada.’ Of course, when Betty Willis designed it in the late 1950s, it wasn’t retro – it was cutting-edge Googie style, with an atomic-modern starburst at the top and, on the back, a friendly reminder to ‘Drive Carefully’ and ‘Come Back Soon.’ The sign was placed on the highway to LA. The Strip still hasn’t managed to spread its fingers quite this far south yet. Now a tourist attraction in its own right, the famous sign had fallen into disrepair by the ’70s. The city’s centennial in 2005 was a rare chance for Las Vegans to reflect on their history, often anathema in a place where the next big thing is always rated more highly than that which came before it. Sitting alone on its lonely little island in the middle of the road, the sign was rescued and spruced up in time for Vegas’ 100th birthday. It made cameo appearances on limited-edition license plates, too. The city even installed a smaller version of the sign announcing ‘Welcome to Fabulous Downtown Las Vegas’ north of the Strip. (Which, if you’ve been downtown, you know is not exactly truth in advertising.) As you drive by the original welcome sign, expect to see limos pulled up alongside the busy boulevard and excited tourists dashing out onto the median to get a souvenir photo of themselves by the icon. The city plans to build a parking lot next to the sign soon, as it’s currently illegal to park or even stop your car alongside it. If you somehow miss out on your photo opp, you can order a mini working model of the sign (it lights up! it flashes! it has Elvis standing underneath it! and he’s singing ‘Viva Las Vegas’!) for a mere $29.95 plus shipping; order online at www.lvsignco.com or call 702-735-7446.