In Las Vegas, giant, elaborate signs flash and blink at casinos. Las Vegas Boulevard is lined with vintage signs that remind drivers and pedestrians of bygone businesses. The city is home to The Neon Museum.
But it wasn’t always this way. For roughly the first 20 years of the city’s existence, there was no neon.
Neon signs came to Las Vegas in the late 1920s, according to Emily Fellmer, senior collections manager at The Neon Museum.
The Overland Hotel at the present site of Circa likely put up the first neon sign, Fellmer said.
“Las Vegas business houses are taking the initiative in installing ornamental electric signs,” a 1928 Las Vegas Age editorial said. “El Portal has a handsome one with moving lights and now the Overland Hotel has installed one of the attractive Neon signs in red and blue. They help to make the town attractive.”
Neon signs were enough of a novelty that when the Las Vegas Club on Fremont Street erected one in 1930 it made the Review-Journal’s front page.
UNLV history professor Michael Green said early neon signs in Las Vegas weren’t elaborate, but eventually, neon became central to the city’s identity and a tool hotels and casinos used to attract customers.
Fellmer said the element neon was discovered in the late 19th century and not used with glass tubes until the early 20th century. Neon light debuted in Paris in 1910, and the first neon sign was installed in Paris in 1912, she said.
Neon signs came to the United States in early 1920s, she said, and the first one was in San Francisco.
According to Fellmer, the oldest signs in the museum’s collection are a late 1930s Green Shack restaurant sign and a motel sign from 1940.
Once the Hoover Dam was completed, Las Vegas was able to expand its electrical grid, she said, and that probably helped drive an expansion of neon signs.
It was in the late 1940s and early 50s that neon became central to the city’s identity, she said. As neon signs disappeared around the country and some environmental groups opposed them, Las Vegas doubled down and built taller, more elaborate signs.
“Neon stood out and stands out,” Green said. “Las Vegas stood out and stands out.”
Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.
LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — A string of deadly crashes in and around Pahrump has prompted Nye County Sheriff Joe McGill to push for more safety measures along dark, sidewalk-free roads.
“The worst penalty is death, if you consider that,” McGill said.
The recent deaths include a single-vehicle rollover on State Route 160 during the morning hours of the last Wednesday in January that killed one person and injured another.
Then, into February, two pedestrians were killed in less than three days.
The first was a 7 p.m. crash on Quarter Horse Avenue. Investigators believe a 2006 Jeep Liberty was driving on the street when it hit a pedestrian, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
A few days later, this last Saturday, state troopers responded to a crash just after sundown at Charleston Park Avenue. A sedan hit a pedestrian, who was also pronounced dead at the scene.
Nevada State Police investigators are still investigating both pedestrian cases before more details are released.
McGill said the recent crashes were enough to spur action.
“When the third one came out, I was sitting at home and watching TV. I looked at my wife and I said, ‘We got to do something about this,’” McGill said.
McGill is responding with a reflective vest giveaway, pointing to limited infrastructure as a possible factor. He noted a lack of street lights off State Route 160 and no sidewalks inside the community.
“The only light that you have is the ambient light from houses and cars so it is really dark,” McGill said.
John Treanor of AAA Nevada said poor visibility can quickly turn dangerous for both drivers and pedestrians.
“It is very easy to be confronted with a situation that you cannot see coming because the visibility might be bad,” Treanor said.
Treanor encouraged pedestrians to carry lights and drivers to be prepared if they end up outside their vehicles in dark conditions.
“Having lights on you. Even carrying a flashlight allows something where a driver can see it,” Treanor said. “If you are a driver, make sure you have the right stuff in your car, in case you do get in a situation where you are on the side of the road and now you are in dark. Make sure you have a kit with some reflectors, some lights. Anything the trunk of your car in case you need it.”
McGill said vigilance is important even in daylight.
“Any time of the day, you have got to be vigilant. You have to keep aware of your surroundings if you are a walker or on a bicycle or if you are the driver,” he said.
Authorities also urged caution as more people may pull off roads in rocky areas along the route toward Death Valley National Park during springtime blooms, increasing the need for drivers and pedestrians to stay alert.
A waterfront mansion on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe just sold for $46 million, less than three weeks after hitting the market.
The speedy deal marks a departure from the typical U.S. market.
Nationwide, homes took a median 78 days to land a buyer in January, five more than the same time last year and the 22nd straight month of homes taking longer to sell on a year-over-year basis, according to data from Realtor.com.
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The lavish log cabin-like residence, in Incline Village, listed on Jan. 24 for $47.5 million. It sold 20 days later, on Feb. 13, listing records show.
The more than 7,000-square-foot residence was built in 2014, and has double-height living spaces, walls of windows, beamed ceilings, fireplaces, and plenty of rustic exposed stone and wood, listing images show.
There’s also a gym, a wet bar, a spa, a wine room, an office, two separate game rooms, seven bedrooms and dramatic Lake Tahoe views. Outside, there’s a private sandy beach, multiple decks, a heated driveway and two exterior fireplaces, according to listing information.
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The seller and the buyer are both limited liability companies, according to property records. Both parties were represented by Jeff Brown of Tahoe Mountain Realty, who declined to comment on the deal.
The median home price in Incline Village was $1.595 million as of December, a fall of 3.3% from a year earlier, according to data from Realtor.com. Listings, meanwhile, spent an average of 130 days on the market.
Updated February 26, 2026 – 8:28 pm
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Green Valley’s softball team claimed an 8-6 win at Liberty on Thursday on the first day of high school spring sports competition in Nevada.
Green Valley next hosts Silverado at 3 p.m. Friday. Liberty plays at Bishop Gorman at 3 p.m. Friday.
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
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