Museum sights in Las Vegas
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Clark County Museum
On the valley outskirts, this humble but jam-packed museum merits a stop en route to Hoover Dam. Inside you’ll find exhibits on the history of Las Vegas as an ancient sea, Native American camp and Western frontier town. Step outside the museum onto Heritage St and walk through beautifully restored historic houses.
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A
UNLV Special Collections
Lots of memorabilia gets cast off in this ahistorical town. Thankfully, some of it ends up here, where it’s closely guarded and housed by the university. The Lied Library holds a pit boss’ ransom of books, photos, maps, posters, manuscripts and much more from the city’s early, hurly-burly days. The best way to pay a visit, though, is from the comfort of your own hotel room: online exhibits are free. While you’re online, also visit the virtual museum of the UNLV’s Center for Gaming Research for a photographic survey of neon on the Strip, a World Series of Poker retrospective, Rat Pack memorabilia and more.
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B
Neonopolis
Plaques tell the story of each sign at these al-fresco galleries of restored vintage neon signs. Look for the flashy 40ft-tall chap on horseback, along with sparkling genie lamps, glowing martini glasses, 1940s motel marquees and more. For now, the biggest assemblages are found at the Neonopolis, on the 3rd St cul-de-sac just north of Fremont St and at the old fort. The permanent museum (www.neonmuseum.org) is a work in progress, although tours of its neon-sign boneyard, usually at noon and 2pm Tuesday through Friday, are available by advance reservation.
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C
Las Vegas Natural History Museum
If you’ve ever been to a really good natural-history museum in a big city, you certainly won’t be wowed by this one, but youngsters still might. A couple dozen or so stuffed exotic animals are rather weakly displayed, including in the Wild Nevada au naturel room. The junior scientist club is an interactive weekend activity workshop that’s popular with kids, as is the ginormous dinosaur gallery. Check online for upcoming events schedules and possibly two-for-one discount admission coupons for adults.
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D
Nevada State Museum
Unless you’ve got a hankering to see a stuffed Columbian mammoth or the Nevada state fossil (psst, it’s an ichthyosaur), you can skip this small historical museum. It does have one intriguing room dedicated to the modern history of Las Vegas, replete with casino memorabilia and exhibits about the Hoover Dam project and 1950s atomic testing. Look for the museum’s new-and-improved location at the Springs Preserve in 2009.
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E
Lied Discovery Children’s Museum
At a public library branch, this award-winning museum is designed for much younger kids than the natural history museum across the street. Most of the rotating exhibits, however, are either too complex for children to operate successfully without lots of guidance or they are too simple and unfortunately, boring. Check the schedule in advance for multisensory creative play workshops for families.
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F
Museum Of The American Cocktail
Delve into the liquid origins of American mixology, from the pre-Prohibition era to the modern day. Witty historical exhibits fill an elegant side lounge at Commander's Palace restaurant, which offers 25¢ martini weekday lunches to put your newly acquired knowledge to immediate use. Check online for cocktail seminar schedules and to see if the museum has found a new permanent home.
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G
Pinball Hall of Fame
Tim Arnold lets anyone play his 200-plus collection of vintage pinball, video-arcade and carnival-sideshow games, all dating from the 1950s to the ’90s. Take time to read the handwritten cards, which describe the priceless collection. Profits from every quarter you drop into the slots go to charity. The Pinball Hall of Fame is east of the Strip, not far from the Liberace Museum.
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H
Neon Museum
Plaques tell the story of each sign in this alfresco assemblage of vintage neon. Genie lamps, glowing martini glasses and 1940s motel marquees brighten up downtown, especially inside the Neonopolis and on cul-de-sacs north of the Fremont Street Experience. Tours of the giant ‘boneyard’ of rescued signs are by appointment only. The permanent museum is still a work-in-progress.
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I
Atomic Testing Museum
At the Atomic Testing Museum, the quality is what you'd expect of a Smithsonian Institution affiliate. The Atomic Age exhibit has a neat timeline that shows how popular culture (in the form of lunchboxes, toys, movies) reacted to the nuclear arms race. Don't skip the deafening Ground Zero Theater, which mimics a concrete test bunker.
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Liberace Museum
For connoisseurs of kitschy celebrity shrines, this memorial to ‘Mr Showmanship’ houses the most flamboyant art cars, outrageously cheesy costumes and ornate pianos you’ll ever see. There’s a hand-painted Pleyel, on which Chopin played; a Rolls-Royce covered in mirrored tiles; and a wardrobe exhibit full of feathered capes and million-dollar furs.
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K
Unlv Marjorie Barrick Museum
Learn about Las Vegas’ original inhabitants – the southern Paiutes –and other Native American tribes from around the Southwest, along with pre-Columbian American artifacts. Outside is a small xeriscaped garden of Mojave Desert plants. During spring and fall, the university sponsors a free science lecture series that’s open to the public.
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L
Madame Tussauds Las Vegas
By the Venetian’s moving Rialto Bridge walkway is this unique interactive wax museum, where you can strike a pose with Michael Jackson, be judged by Simon Cowell like you’re on American Idol or put on Playboy bunny ears and sit on Hugh Hefner’s lap (be sure to touch him, because Hef’s made of silicone – how apropos!).
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M
King Tut Museum
Exquisite jeweled reproductions of the artifacts discovered in 1922 by English archaeologist Howard Carter on his descent into the fabled tomb of an obscure Egyptian dynasty are explained during a grandiosely scripted self-guided audio tour.
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Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino is home to one of the world's most impressive collections of rock-and-roll memorabilia. The pool complex is a sexy, see-and-be-seen scene that's perfect for entourage wannabes.
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