Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas Sign

Las Vegas, Nevada

Signs and neon are synonymous with Las Vegas. One of the city's main photo ops is its iconic "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada" sign. Though it isn't technically at the city limits, it has come to be regarded as the entrance to The Strip and Sin City. The sign has remained operational, outliving most of its electrified brethren, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.

The Googie-style sign was designed by Betty Willis and installed in 1959 on Las Vegas Boulevard South. It's 25 ft. tall, a riot of fonts, bulbs and neon attached on a set of poles. A star twinkles above. The lucky seven neon silver dollars provide the WELCOME. The burned out incandescent bulbs have been sold as keepsakes, alongside countless renderings of the sign on Vegas souvenirs -- the design was never trademarked.

The site has always been a popular photo op, albeit a dangerous one to access between busy highway lanes. In 2007, the county added artificial turf beneath it. In 2008, the city officially built a Welcome Sign parking lot on the median, in time to celebrate its 50th birthday the following year. It reportedly cost 100 times what it cost to design the sign in the first place.

The sign is owned by YESCO (the company responsible for so many Vegas signs) and leased to Clark County.

The back view provides a farewell for all who survive their visit: "Drive Carefully. Come Back Soon."