Las Vegas Business Press :: News : Stepping out, stepping lively

Stepping out, stepping lively

BY MIKE STOTTS

The famous neon slipper once sat atop the historic Silver Slipper Gambling Hall, a part of the Last Frontier Village -- a replica of an Old West town once located on Las Vegas Boulevard.

Although the Silver Slipper opened in 1950, the sign didn't go up until the 1960s. The Last Frontier became the New Frontier, which was eventually absorbed into the Frontier. The slipper was designed by Jack Larsen Sr., a designer at Young Electric Sign Co. The sign is 12 feet high and 17 feet wide. The slipper's main body contains 900 incandescent light bulbs, with about 80 more in the bow.

Displaying the slipper downtown is part of Las Vegas' $1.1 million Neon Sign Improvement Project, which includes three vintage neon signs placed in the heart of the Cultural Corridor. The slipper was refurbished and set into place on the median island of Las Vegas Boulevard, just south of Washington Avenue, by eight workers from Ultra Signs on Sept. 20 after first being refurbished by Rafael Construction.

MIKE STOTTS | BUSINESS PRESS

The slipper is the last of three Las Vegas vintage signs to be set in place on the corridor. The Bow & Arrow Motel sign, set into place north of Bonanza Road on Aug. 24 and the Binion's Horseshoe sign, installed a week later north of Washington Avenue are the other two. New landscaped median islands are also being installed.

Crews will now work to provide power and conduct a series of tests before the signs are officially put into service.

The cultural corridor is made up of the highest concentration of cultural institutions in Las Vegas and includes Cashman Center, the Las Vegas Library, the Las Vegas Natural History Museum, Lied Discovery Children's Museum, the Neon Museum, the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park and the Reed Whipple Cultural Center.

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