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From 1951 and Don Cox comes our second nighttime glimpse of the Las Vegas Club, "The House of Jack Pots." 35mm Kodachrome transparency. View full size.
I thought the last installment of the Las Vegas Club neon was impressive, but this view of the vertical version outdoes even that!
There's something real about Neon and actual light globes that today's LED lighting simply just misses the mark.
I agree with the comment about high maintenance. Neon can last a long time, but the complexities of the signage of the Vegas strip of that era must have been huge.
Not only the massive amounts of hand blown tubing, each with a particular 'noble gas' eg argon, xenon, neon - each gas produces a different colour under electric current.
But think about the enormity of the control switching making it all work.
In that era it would have been all electro-mechanical relays and micro switches attached to motorized spinning wheel switching etc. Fascinating to see in action both in the control rooms and on the street.
On a road trip in 1977 I stopped in Las Vegas for one night. I don't gamble, but the neon signs were spectacular and the people watching entertaining. Here is a Kodachrome slide I took of the rest of Fremont street, with part of the Las Vegas Club sign on the far left.
What else can one say. Keeping all that functioning was a very good contract to have.
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