Skip to main content

Search the Special Collections and Archives Portal

Photographs of Skyline Hotel and Casino sign, Las Vegas (Nev.), March 14, 2017

Information

Creator

Date

2017-03-14
2017-09-18

Description

The Skyline Hotel and Casino sign sits at 1741 North Boulder Highway. Information about the sign is available in the Southern Nevada Neon Survey Data Sheet.
Site address: 1741 N Boulder Hwy
Sign owner: Jim Marsh American Corp.
Sign details: The business began as the Dixie bar, which was operating by 1948 in what was then known as Pittman, Nevada (Moore, 2016; Skyline Casino, n.d.). The property's colorful history includes the suicide of one of the original owners on the motel premises and the first library in Pittman, which was located inside the tavern (Skyline Casino, n.d.). The Skyline Casino and restaurant was built on the property in 1964 (Benston, 2003; Meehan, 2016; Skyline Casino, n.d.). The name was briefly changed to Wheel and then returned to Skyline (Old-And the new, 1988). Jim Marsh purchased the Skyline from the son of the original owner in 2003 (Benston, 2003; Meehan, 2016; Skyline Casino, n.d.). In June of 2017, Marsh added a hotel to the casino and restaurant (Meehan, 2016; Moore, 2016; Skyline Casino, n.d.).
Sign condition: Condition is 5, fully restored to a "like new" state. The cabinet, paint and lights are in excellent shape.
Sign form: Pole Sign
Sign-specific description: The sign consists of a rectangular metal pole which supports an electronic reader board topped by a badge-shaped metal cabinet. The pole is painted yellow with a red stripe running down the center. The frame of the reader board is black metal. The badge-shaped metal cabinet is painted red outlined in gold. Yellow incandescent light bulbs outline the cabinet. Light boxes framed in black metal faced with yellow plastic spell out "SKYLINE HOTEL" in western-style serif letters. "SKYLINE" is stacked over "HOTEL", the words separated by a horizontal ornamental design. Below the light boxes, "NO VACANCY" is spelled out in clear skeleton neon letters.
Sign - type of display: Neon
Sign - media: Steel, Plastic
Sign - non-neon treatments: Incandescent lightbulbs, lightboxes and electronic readerboard
Sign environment: Property is located on Boulder Highway near the Skyline Casino
Sign - date of installation: c. 1988
Sign - thematic influences: Western style, common to a lot of Las Vegas valley casino and motel properties
Sign - artistic significance: The property opened in the 1960s, still during the heyday of Western themed properties
Survey - research locations: Assessor's website
Survey - research notes: Benston, L. (2003 June 5). Owner to sell Henderson's Skyline casino. Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved from https://lasvegassun.com/news/2003/jun/05/owner-to- sell-hendersons- skyline-casino/ Meehan, J. (2016 June 26). Marsh adding hotel to Skyline Casino. Las Vegas Business Press. Retrieved from https://businesspress.vegas/gaming-hospitality/marsh- adding-hotel- to-skyline- casino/ Moore, T. (2016 October 11). Changing Skyline: Hotel wing coming to old-time casino. Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved from https://lasvegassun.com/news/2016/oct/11/changing-skyline- hotel-wing- coming-to- old- time-cas/ Old-And the new. (1988 October 20). Henderson Home News [Newspaper clipping]. Retrieved from http://www.recapturist.com/wp-content/uploads/Sky- Motel_Henderson-Home- News-19881020.jpg Sky Motel. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.recapturist.com/portfolio/sky-motel/ Skyline Casino. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyline_Casino Skyline Casino & Restaurant. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.cardcow.com/368494/skyline-casino- restaurant-henderson/
Survey - other remarks: Date(s) of any major redesign/move: An undated postcard shows the sign sometime between 1964 and 1988 (Skyline Casino & Restaurant, n.d.). A round pole supports a light box type reader board topped by a badge-shaped metal cabinet. Yellow incandescent light bulbs outline the cabinet. "SKYLINE" is spelled out in clear red skeleton neon sans serif letters. "CASINO" is spelled out in blue skeleton neon western-style serif letters. "RESTAURANT" is spelled out in clear red neon skeleton neon sans serif letters. A photograph taken for a news article in 1988 shows the sign with the same design when it was taken down and moved next door to the Sky Motel (Old-And the new, 1988). The Sky Motel retained the round pole, the reader board, the badge-shaped cabinet and the incandescent light bulbs outlining the cabinet. The Skyline lettering was removed and replaced. "SKY MOTEL" was spelled out in white channel western-style serif letters which were outlined in the interior by white neon tubing. Below "SKY MOTEL" were clear skeleton neon san serif letters which spelled out "NO VACANCY". The Skyline Hotel reclaimed the sign when it opened in 2017. The current sign has a rectangular support, although the original round pole might still be inside. The light box has been replaced by an electronic reader board. The "SKY MOTEL" channel letters have been replaced with light box "SKYLINE HOTEL" letters. The "NO VACANCY" letters from the Sky Motel have been retained.
Surveyor: Mitchell Cohen
Survey - date completed: 2017-09-18
Sign keywords: Neon; Steel; Plastic; Incandescent; Reader board; Pole sign; Light box

Digital ID

neo000131
Details

Citation

neo000131. Southern Nevada Neon Survey Records, 2002-2018. PH-00401. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada. http://n2t.net/ark:/62930/d12j68c0h

Rights

This material is made available to facilitate private study, scholarship, or research. It may be protected by copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity rights, or other interests not owned by UNLV. Users are responsible for determining whether permissions are necessary from rights owners for any intended use and for obtaining all required permissions. Acknowledgement of the UNLV University Libraries is requested. For more information, please see the UNLV Special Collections policies on reproduction and use (https://www.library.unlv.edu/speccol/research_and_services/reproductions) or contact us at special.collections@unlv.edu.

Standardized Rights Statement

Digital Provenance

Original archival records created digitally

Date Digitized

2017-03-14
2017-09-18

Language

English

Publisher

University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Libraries

Format

image/tiff
application/pdf