Las Vegas - Brilliant

Following our tour of the Neon Museum we waited for about half an hour as the sun set, for the start of Brilliant.

Lights were coming on

The Brilliant show is an extra option available after the Museum tour (for an added fee)

We walked into another area, surrounded by Neon signs.

It was explained that although the signs would look as if they are working, the illusion was created by laser projection.

Two posts in the centre of the space projected light, very precisely, to make the signs look as they would have when they were operational.

There was a video talking about the vast array of glittering lights on the strip and then, one by one the signs came to life.

Accompanied by performances by stars associated with Vegas (Sinatra, Liberace etc) the signs flickered and flashed and sometimes video was projected on to them.

The signs really did look as if they were working and a couple of small children attending, started to dance to the music. Over the mountains there was a thunderstorm and the lightning was a bit of natural competition.

I am putting some pictures in the post in case the videos don't work well.

Chris and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience

but felt a little sad at the end when we noticed the O'Sheas sign. George, Cyndy, Jim and I had come to Vegas about 22 years ago, for Cyndy's birthday, and had played $2  blackjack at O'Sheas in the afternoons. Ever frugal, it was George's favorite place to play.

We were very tired by the end and took a taxi home.

Las Vegas - the Neon Museum

One of the things that both Chris and I wanted to do in Vegas was visit the Neon Museum. We bought a 3 day bus pass and traveled down to the old downtown area. It took 45 minutes, mostly because of the huge amount of traffic on the strip (which is 6 lanes wide!).

Freemont Street is now a covered, pedestrian street with a light show on the ceiling and zip lines (screaming people flying overhead is a little off putting)

We had not been sure where the museum was and ended up having to take a taxi to it. We had booked the tour, on line, the night before.

Our tour guide, Wendy, was a volunteer, passionate about Vegas and its history.  This is an original sign from The Golden Nugget, downtown. The 1905 refers to the start of Vegas, when a railway was being built through the valley and underground spring made it a good place to start a settlement.

Wendy explained that the building of the Hoover Dam, nearby, meant that there were jobs. The dam was started in 1930  and in 1931 lots were sold that resulted in the development of Las Vegas. In 1941 gambling was legalized in Nevada but what had more impact was that a divorce could be obtained by anyone who had resided in Nevada for 6 weeks, so divorce tourism was actually more important than gambling at that point.

The signs are laid out in a rough loop and Wendy talked about the history of the particular businesses, how neon works, and the evolution of the neon signage.

The Moulin Rouge Casino was the first integrated casino in Vegas. Before it opened blacks could perform at the hotels and casinos but not stay there.

Many of the signs were made by YESCO (Young Electric Sign Company) and they retained ownership while the businesses leased them. When the business name changed or it went under YESCO got the sign back. When the Neon Museum found a home YESCO donated many of the historic signs that had been sitting in their "boneyard". They even restored some of the signs for the museum.

This is the oldest sign on the lot. Neon signs were first made to get attention with their glow and tended to follow the lettering of the sign.

The next step in the neon evolution was animation. The sections of the sign would flash on and off giving the illusion of movement.

As the businesses used more and more neon lighting to "one up" their neighbour, the lights would blend and be unreadable so then they placed the neon tubes in channels to create clearer letters and images.

There is a section with motel signage.

This one restored.

Some artifacts are not really signs, but landmarks, like this huge metal pool player with his 80's clothing and haircut,

and this huge scull that came from Treasure Island Casino and should be displayed upright but would need considerable supports.

Letters and

pieces of signs are lying everywhere and the museum has more in storage and not enough room for them.

Wendy had stories about the different businesses and casinos and

often placed them in  historical and cultural context.

The final sign we looked at was from La Concha Motel. Restored by YESCO it has the red (neon) and green (argon) lights.

The entrance to the Neon Museum is the original lobby of La Concha Motel. A solid concrete building, it was cut in 4 and then moved to the current location.

There are pictures of the process inside.

Floodlights,

not neon,

attract attention.

Las Vegas

I am in Las Vegas with Christine for a few days. We took a late flight down and didn't get to bed until 3am (Toronto time) so I slept until about 8am (Vegas time). I went in search of coffee and found a Starbucks before returning to the room and rousing Chris.

We are staying at the Excalibur which has a medieval castle theme; knights, heralds, jesters, shields, banners etc. The actual casino floors all look pretty well the same but the trappings differ.

To go to the place Chris had picked for breakfast we had to walk though shopping malls, tunnels with moving walkways and the lobbies/casinos of the Luxur and Mandalay Bay. This is the inside of Luxor's pyramid.

I rather like Luxor's decor

and the high ceilings absorb the sound.

We ate at a restaurant that was promoted as "farm to table" which was quiet and away from the hustle and bustle and had an eggs and bacon style breakfast. We then set out to explore a bit, both inside and out.

A huge sports bar/betting area with screens showing the sports events and the odds.

We wandered into a gallery selling photographs by Peter Lik. He has taken 4 of the top 10 photos in terms of purchase price and won many awards. Although not light boxes his photos positively glow due to their processing on silver paper.

|Our hotel is opposite New York, New York and we can hear the people screaming on the roller coaster from our room.

We spent the afternoon by the pool, paying a bit extras to have an umbrella by the adults only pool.

I love sun and warmth but I couldn't walk outside for very long and burned in spite of a good base and sunscreen. The hotels are massive and "over the top". There are a surprising number of families here and they seem to outnumber the drinkers and gamblers. The kids have to stay on the designated carpet pathways through the casinos.

Its dominated by roads and huge hotels, scatterings of shopping malls, strip malls and strip clubs

and in the distance; the desert mountains.

Tonight we went to the Neon Museum but I have too many pictures and that will have to be the subject of the next blog.

Hooking weekend

These 6 lovely ladies joined me for a weekend of rug hooking, eating, drinking etc, etc, etc

This happens a couple of times a year and my posts are a record of our projects over the years. This was a particularly productive hooking weekend (sometimes there's more knitting or relaxing than hooking) with all of us spending most of the time at our hoops and frames although we also walked on the beach, sat on the deck and swam.

Lynn hooking on the deck.

Pam was working on a whimsical rug with some lovely bright colours.

Sue's was a large floral.

Heather was hooking a couple of Santas for Christmas in Paris.

Brit was working on the sky and mountain of her Scandinavian church (I can't pronounce what it is called let alone spell it)

Peggy was working on a geometric. She said it was as far as she could get from the "Fish Rug" that was her project at this, and many other hooking events, for years.

Lynn is nearing completion of her "cell phone rug".

I finished hooking this mat which was a geometric class that I took at the OHCG Annual and I did a bit of work on the Race Night Port Dover rug.

The weather was very cooperative; warm and breezy during the day and cooler and breezy at night. The food was, as usual, delicious and varied with some old favorites and some new experiments. It was a lovely weekend with hooking friends.
This last picture is of people at the Junction Summer Solstice working on the colouring banners that we made when I spent the weekend in Toronto helping Chris prep for the event.

Chris said that it was a popular activity with all ages.