Saturday, January 20, 2024

E-472: Preoccupied

 Random Vegas

In Vegas history, 3 signs have been knocked down due to high winds.  The first was the Silver Slipper in May of 1978.  The second, in May of 1991, was Bob Stupak’s Vegas World sign.  The third was the Hilton sign, the tallest free-standing sign in the world at 365 feet, had the top portion of the sign collapse in July of 94.  The incident caused designers to be questioned how a sign designed to withstand winds of over 100 mph fail at 70 mph.  The sign was repaired, then totally replaced in 1997 with the sign they have today at Westgate, the current tallest free standing advertising sign in the world at 279 feet high. (News3lv.com)

Twitpic of the week

When installed in 1967 the Frontier, formerly the Last Frontier and, for a time, the New Frontier, was the tallest sign in the world at 184 feet tall.  It had 16-foot-tall letters and a giant 30 foot tall “F” logo resting at the top.  The sign contained more than a mile of fluorescent tubing, a mile and half of neon and more than 23,000 light bulbs.  In Dec of 2008, after the property had closed and was being prepared for new construction, Wynn paid to have the signage be taken down for the opening of Encore across the street.  This week, @summacorpshared that moment in time.  The Neon Museum sought to save portions of the sign but exactly what they were able to retain from the pylon marquee is unknown.

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