Sahara sign added to the Las Vegas neon museum.

LAS VEGAS—A one hundred foot tall sign that has greeted visitors to the Sahara Hotel for decades made a ceremonial trip to the city’s Neon Museum today. This giant marquee emblazoned with the SAHARA letters was donated to the museum in order to preserve a classic piece of Las Vegas history for future generations. It is being removed in order to make way for a new visitor’s attraction to be built on Paradise Road adjacent to the resort’s monorail station.

The Neon Museum is a non-profit organization that preserves and exhibits vintage electrical signs from casinos, restaurants, and other local businesses. This extensive collection ranges from 1940s era signs up through present day equipment. Some have been completely refurbished and are publicly displayed in outdoor galleries in downtown Las Vegas. Many others are kept in a storage area known as “the bone yard” while awaiting restoration.

Sahara’s sign was once located outside the hotel’s west entrance on Las Vegas Boulevard, and carried the names of many famous international stars including Johnny Carson, Redd Fox, Don Rickles, Buddy Hackett, Jerry Lee Lewis, and a host of others. The sign was later moved over to the east side of the property to a location that would eventually become a monorail station.

The Sahara Hotel & Casino, home of the NASCAR Entertainment Center, opened on the Las Vegas Strip in 1952. Today it is the first stop on the new Las Vegas Monorail line. The resort features new variety show “Buck Wild!” in the Sahara Theater plus musical concerts by “THE PLATTERS, Cornell Gunter's COASTERS and Beary Hobb’s DRIFTERS” followed by comedy/magic late shows starring “Amazing Johnathan” in the 550-seat Congo Room. Sahara's “SPEED - The Ride” roller coaster and the world famous Casbar Theatre Lounge have both been awarded “Best of Las Vegas” honors by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.