拉斯维加斯名人 shines a light on the diverse communities and lesser-known individuals who helped to shape Las Vegas's vibrant, 丰富多彩的文化历史. The mural, which spans the 101 feet length of The Neon Museum's North Gallery wall, 特点多样, dedicated and sometimes overlooked cast of icons including pioneering showgirls, 激情演出, 民权斗士, 令人眼花缭乱的设计师和更多. The mural also gives a nod to those keeping the longstanding craft of neon bending alive to ensure our city continues to glow. Read more below to learn about these luminaries and their accomplishments that lit the way to a more inclusive and equitable future for the citizens of Las Vegas and beyond.
Delcenia Boyd Jones |先锋舞者
图片由UNLV特别收藏提供 & Archives
Delcenia (Boyd) Jones (1938-2019) was among the first chorine dancers to work at the Moulin Rouge Hotel and Casino, 拉斯维加斯第一家主要的种族融合赌场, 它于1955年5月开业. The finest Black dancers and entertainers from around the country were hired to play to packed audiences at the Moulin Rouge's popular nightly performances, 以持续到黎明而闻名. Racial segregation kept Black and white patrons from mingling together at properties downtown or on the Strip, 但欢迎观看《十大买球平台》的观众喝酒, dine, 以一种在拉斯维加斯前所未见的方式跳舞和擦肩. Boyd's likeness was used in promotional images to advertise the many amenities of the Moulin Rouge, 包括泳池边的豪华休息室. 这张泳池边的照片在当时是开创性的, as no African Americans would have been allowed poolside at a Las Vegas resort prior to the Moulin Rouge. 1955年10月红磨坊突然关闭, entertainers who had uprooted their lives to move to Las Vegas were forced to find employment elsewhere. Delcenia and her sister Theodora were hired by legendary swing-era bandleader Cab Calloway to dance as a "Cotton Club Beauty" in his traveling revival show, 《靠谱的体育网站》." The traveling show became so popular that Calloway and his orchestra (including the Boyd sisters) were invited to play a residency at the Royal Nevada in 1957. After her time in Las Vegas, Delcenia went on to earn a Master’s of Science and Social work. 她倡导民权, Women’s Rights and Human Rights and participated in the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. While working with the NAACP she met her husband Benjamin Jones. Delcenia于2019年去世，享年81岁.
自由| Mr. Showmanship
图片由艾伦·沃伦提供
列勃拉斯(1919 - 1987), 出生时的名字是Wladziu Valentino Liberace, 作为钢琴家和歌手而成为明星. He performed at many Vegas properties, including the opening of the Riviera in 1955. Liberace was a famously flamboyant Vegas headliner and during the 1950s-1970s was recognized as the highest paid entertainer in the world at that time. His over-the-top style earned him a place as an entertainment icon and the title “Mr. Showmanship.” He resided in Las Vegas for a time and eventually founded the Liberace Foundation that holds many items from his performances including crystal studded pianos, cars, and costumes.
Today, The Liberace Foundation for the Performing and Creative Arts presents artifacts that showcase the king of stagecraft. 欲了解更多信息，请访问 www.liberace.org
维加斯维克|狂野西部吉祥物
拉斯维加斯商会Courtsey的照片
Vegas Vic is a character commissioned in the 1940s by the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce as part of the city’s western-themed marketing efforts. He was featured in various print advertisements and on neon signs. One of the neon versions of Vegas Vic can be seen on the Nevada Motel sign in The Neon Museum’s Boneyard. The larger and more well-known sign that once waved and said ‘Howdy Podner’ remains at the Pioneer Club on Fremont Street.
小萨米·戴维斯. 维加斯的头条人物和民权先锋
图片由NBC电视台提供|公有领域
小萨米·戴维斯. (1925-1990) began performing at a young age with his family in the Will Mastin Trio. He rose to stardom with his dancing, singing and eventually acting. When he first began performing in Las Vegas in 1944 most of the venues were segregated. At that time the properties that booked him would relegated him to enter through the kitchen to perform for white audiences. After he would perform he was not allowed to gamble at the casino or stay at the hotel. He was noted for refusing to perform on a few occasions due to the location being segregated. 即使是著名的鼠帮成员, performing at the Sands and filming blockbuster films like Ocean’s Eleven, 戴维斯仍然受到歧视. His efforts, along with many other performers and local Civil Rights leaders, 帮助整合了拉斯维加斯的赌场. Davis continued to break barriers becoming the first Black man to obtain a Gambling License and part ownership of a major property on the Las Vegas Strip, 热带酒店和赌场, 在20世纪70年代早期他购买股票的时候. His stardom and pop culture influence assisted in bringing issues of Civil Rights to the forefront and ultimately helped break barriers.
肯尼·科尔|“男演员”和艾滋病活动家
图片由UNLV特别收藏提供 & Archives
肯尼·科尔(1952-2013)成为Boylesque的明星, 一篇女性模仿评论, that opened at the Silver Slipper Casino’s Gaiety Theatre on Friday, May 13, 1977, 科尔被称为“先生”. 芭芭拉·史翠珊. 玛琳·黛德丽. 卡罗·钱宁先生. Diana Ross.". 银拖鞋店关门后, the act moved to other prominent locations such as the Stardust, Sahara, Frontier, 广场和黛比·雷诺兹. Boylesque set a new standard for female impersonation productions, 并成为拉斯维加斯的知名机构. Kerr never came out publically despite supporting many gay causes. Kerr went on to become one of the Las Vegas gay community's most thoughtful and honored leaders raising both funds and awareness for AIDS research in the Vegas Valley.
内容与历史学家丹尼斯·麦克布莱德一起发展
Those Fabulous Fabricators: Artists, Engineers and Installers That Made Vegas Larger Than Life
图片由UNLV特别收藏提供 & Archives
Let's face it, 如果没有这些耸人听闻的招牌，拉斯维加斯就不是拉斯维加斯了, and we wouldn't have our signage without the talented folks who conceptualized and crafted many of the famous signs now on display in our Boneyard. YESCO (Young Electric Sign Company)等标识公司, AD-ART和Federal Signs是标识行业的巨头, responsible for shaping the Las Vegas skyline and taking the art of signage to new heights (literally). From cobbling together oversized shoes (seen here with the Sliver Slipper) to hanging twinkling atomic stars, 标志设计, electricians and fabricators are equal parts artist and engineer. The combined skills of these unsung heroes is what gives Vegas its trademark glow.
首席酒店法庭
霓虹博物馆图片集
The 首席酒店法庭 was located on East Fremont Street, and this sign dated to ca.1940年是拉斯维加斯最古老的. This sign is an example of the romanticized imagery of Native Americans tied to the concept of the “Old West." The 首席酒店法庭 sign design is believed to be appropriated from the Atchison, Topeka, 圣达菲铁路线和汽车. In 1939, Las Vegas into tapped this Western nostalgia for marketing itself as “Still a Frontier Town”. The proliferation of the Old West narrative in Las Vegas and at 首席酒店法庭 contributed to the perpetuation of stereotypical Native American imagery which is still found advertisements and sports teams across the United States. The sign depicts a stereotypical Plains Indian motif, not the local Paiutes. The sign inadvertently served to erase the presence of the native people living in the area and substituted a stereotype. 拉斯维加斯派尤特人部落, 南派尤特人的祖先, lived on this land long before the founding of Las Vegas and continue to live on this land. 从那以后的几十年, the Las Vegas Paiutes have pursued financial success and the expansion of reservation acreage, first operating a tobacco business and in recent years a golf resort and marijuana dispensary.
内容开发与威廉鲍尔, 圆谷印第安部落的瓦拉奇和康沃尔, 历史学教授, 内华达大学, Las Vegas
Paul Revere Williams |创造历史的建筑师
图片由 约翰逊出版公司档案. 福特基金会，J. 保罗·盖蒂信托，约翰·D. 凯瑟琳·T. 麦克阿瑟基金会，安德鲁·W·. 梅隆基金会和史密森学会.
Architect Paul Revere Williams (1894-1980) was the first African-American member, 后来的同事, 美国建筑师协会(AIA). Williams learned to draw upside-down in order to accommodate his early clients who were uncomfortable sitting next to a person of color. Known as the “Architect to the Stars” because of his Hollywood clientele, he also designed a variety of buildings and developments in a variety of styles in Southern
加州和拉斯维加斯，包括拉孔查汽车旅馆, 现在是十大买球平台游客中心. His other Las Vegas projects include the Guardian Angel Cathedral, 伯克利广场, 皇家内华达和卡佛公园.
丹尼斯·斯科特·布朗|作家兼建筑师
Robert Venturi/Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, Inc
丹尼斯·斯科特·布朗(b.1931年)，教育家、建筑师、城市规划师和作家. 1972年，她与人合著了 向拉斯维加斯学习 罗伯特·文丘里和史蒂文·伊泽努尔. This landmark publication represented a detailed study of Las Vegas architecture and signs, and introduced ideas like the Decorated Shed (a simple building known more for its signs and décor rather than architectural design) and the Duck (a building designed as a symbol such as a duck-shaped building).
贝蒂·威利斯|标识设计师
图片由杰夫·沙伊德提供
Betty Willis (1923-2015) was one of the only women employed in the sign industry in Las Vegas during the 1950s. She is most well-known for designing the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign as well as signs for the Moulin Rouge and the Blue Angel Motel.
Raul Rodriguez |标识设计师
图片由加州州立大学长滩分校提供
Artist Raul Rodriguez (1944-2015) used his creativity to design over 500 parade floats including many for the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California. While working with Heath and Company in 1976 he designed the trademark pink signage for the Flamingo hotel that are on display throughout The Neon Museum. 人们经常看到他和他的风信子金刚鹦鹉塞巴斯蒂安一起工作.
Oscar Gonzalez | Neon Bender
霓虹博物馆图片集| Stephen Siwinski
奥斯卡·冈萨雷斯(b).1978) began his career sweeping the floor of a neon sign company in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. 多年来，他使霓虹灯弯曲的艺术臻于完美, 一个久经考验的, yet rarely practiced art form of shaping glass over an open flame in order to create bright, beautiful signs that serve as both wayfinding and glowing masterpieces. 他现在为拉斯维加斯的哈特劳尔标识公司(Hartlauer Signs)加工玻璃. Oscar crafted the neon tubing for many of the pieces on display at The Neon Museum, including the namesake tower from Tim Burton’s Lost Vegas exhibition and the restored Moulin Rouge sign. 他的作品在拉斯维加斯山谷随处可见.
十大买球平台艺术家| Nanda Sharif pour和Ali Fathollahi
霓虹博物馆图片集| Stephen Siwinski
The 拉斯维加斯名人 Mural was conceptualized by Stephen Siwinski and painted by Las Vegas residents Nanda Sharif-pour and Ali Fathollahi. The husband-and-wife artist team creating the mural are originally from Iran and moved to the United States in 2012 as refugees. Since then, they have participated in numerous public and private art projects in Southern Nevada, including commissioned murals for Zappos and Get Outdoors Nevada (formerly the Outside Las Vegas Foundation), 赢得了市长城市设计奖. They also installed the large-scale mural designed by James Stanford on the Reed Whipple Cultural Center, 位于十大买球平台的街对面. In general, both Sharif-pour and Fathollahi focus their artistic endeavors on using both traditional and non-traditional mediums to explore the viewers’ perception about psychological, sociological, 文化和政治主题.
This project has been financed in whole or in part with funds from the Las Vegas
Historic Preservation Commission through the sale of the Las Vegas License Plate. The
contents and opinions of this funded project do not necessarily reflect the views or
拉斯维加斯市的政策.
