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Set of photographs including Beula Jones, Necia & Brother at Sarann's, and Jo Mackey Talent Show: image 013
Date
Archival Collection
Image
Photographs of Grand Canyon Experience signs, Las Vegas (Nev.), 2002
Date
Archival Collection
Description
Site address: 3791 S Las Vegas Blvd
Sign owner: M H & K Enterprises
Sign details: The Grand Canyon Experience is directly North of the MGM next to the GameWorks complex. Above the clear glass entrances to the outdoor scenic tour's facility is a large building front designed marquee design, as well as a smaller version over the entrance facing northwest.
Sign condition: Structure 5 Surface 3 Lighting 5
Sign form: Fascia
Sign-specific description: The marquee reads Grand Canyon in yellow channel letters outlined in yellow neon, the insides are orange with orange neon in the middle. Experience is spelled in a cursive style orange channel letters with orange neon and incandescent bulbs on the interior. The two texts are supported on a steel framework of interconnecting steel pipes. The shape looks as if it is a bow pointed toward the ground. Two steel poles run vertically approximately 16 feet from the edge of the support system. They run toward the ground against the wall and stop to square i18" tall 10 inch deep, yellow, message box with a black surface. The neon whit von inside of the red channel letters reads "Shop Grand Avenue" in an all caps Arial style text. Two halogen lamps project off of the top of the sign and illuminate a three-dimensional sculpted caricature of a hiker. The entire structure is supported on the West wall of the building. The logo itself spans seventy-eight and a half feet at it's widest and is approximately twenty-three feet tall. Below the NW entrance to the establishment, a smaller version of the giant marquee sign sits above the door. Aluminum channel letters spell " Grand Canyon," with orange argon on the interiors. Below that sits a three-tiered back lit message panel. It forms a shape reminiscent of an upside down step pyramid. The top section actually contains yellow argon in nine-inch cursive text spelling experience. The three stepped cabinet is of a polished aluminum. The text sits on sheet metal raceways.
Sign - type of display: Neon; Incandescent; Backlit
Sign - media: Steel; Fiberglass; Plastic
Sign - non-neon treatments: Paint
Sign animation: Chasing, flashing, oscillating
Notes: The text, which resides on the southern wall and reads "Casino," is filled with incandescent bulbs that all illuminate at the same time, and oscillate. They then shut off at the same time, and then repeat. The raceways of incandescent bulbs chase each other while the neon, which surrounds the back lit, plastic, screens on this wall flash on then off. The bottom two raceways sandwiching the reflective panel chase from left to right, while the remainder of the raceways surrounding the signs, run right to left. The incandescent bulbs on the pylon chase each other gracefully up the length of the pylon. The animation is patterned so as to appear as if a section of several bulbs are pulsing its way up the towers, hugging the edge of the bulbous tops. The raceways continue around the east face of the building. The umbrellas in the plaza behind the pylon, also are animated with incandescent bulbs chasing each other downward along the raceways.
Sign environment: The Grand Canyon Experience is a rather large sign but is dwarfed by the immense MGM pylon just to the south of it. It is accented by faux rock serving as door jambs for the actual entrances.
Sign manufacturer: Mikohn Lighting and Sign
Sign - date of installation: 2000- 08
Sign - thematic influences: The actual theme of the sign is correspondent to that of the business, which the sign advertises. The text does not appear to be associated with any particular theme, but hold a style complimentary to each other. An element of theming is still evident with the faux rock facade, and the sculpted figure on top of the sign.
Sign - artistic significance: If not significant for simply combining different elements to create a completely self-contained sign, it fits into the movement in Las Vegas's history, which is geared more toward the family. The cartoon-like representation of a hiker, the fake rocks, the bright colors, and location in a strip mall, which centered on such establishments as Gameworks and M&M World, all point to the conclusion that families are welcome.
Surveyor: Joshua Cannaday
Survey - date completed: 2002
Sign keywords: Fascia; Neon; Incandescent; Backlit; Steel; Fiberglass; Plastic; Paint
Mixed Content
Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem, 1947-
Bio taken from Wiki: "Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr.; April 16, 1947) is an American retired professional basketball player who played 20 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers. During his career as a center, Abdul-Jabbar was a record six-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP), a record 19-time NBA All-Star, a 15-time All-NBA selection, and an 11-time NBA All-Defensive Team member.
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Bass, Burt
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Mack, Judith "Judy", 1937-
udy Mack is a Las Vegas, Nevada philanthropist and a Holocaust survivor. Judy Mack was born Judith Szrut on December 11, 1937 in Warsaw, Poland. She left Germany in 1949 and went to San Francisco, California with her grandmother. She married Ronald Mack (originally Makovsky) in 1956 and moved to Reno, Nevada with him in 1959. In 1990 the couple moved to Las Vegas. Judy Mack is a major supporter of the Sperling Kronberg Mack Holocaust Resource Center in Las Vegas, which is named in part after her and her husband.
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Dwyer, Kay C.
Kay Dwyer was born August 30, 1934 to James and Eileen Crawford. Her father attained a job as an accountant with Basic Magnesium Incorporated in 1942. This moved the family to Henderson, Nevada, which was a brand new community in the early 1940s. In 1952, Dwyer graduated from Basic High School and then moved to Los Angeles, California to attend Pepperdine University for two years. She moved back to the Las Vegas, Nevada area and started a family with Stanly Hardy with whom she had three children.
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Gidel, Darwin, 1924-
Darwin Gidel was born in 1924 and grew up in Rockwell City, Iowa. After graduating from high school in June of 1942, Gidel immediately joined the military. His basic training took him from Minneapolis to Missouri, after which he was stationed in Nebraska, California, Florida and South Carolina for further training.
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Boyer, Harold Lester, 1916-2002
Born in 1916 in Hartman, Arkansas, Boyer attended a two-story school which went to eighth grade, fished in a nearby stream, and earned money from the age of six selling newspapers. Harold lived through the Great Depression and completing his high school and college education. He graduated from University of Oklahoma medical school. After serving in World War II and the Korean War, he settled in Las Vegas. He opened his own dermatology clinic before opening Las Vegas Skin and Cancer Clinic with Dr. Lucius Blanchard.
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Corbett, Stavan, 1974-
Stavan Corbett’s ancestral legacy is a criss-cross of Mexican roots through his mother’s side with Russian and Polish Jew on his father’s side. He was named Steven at birth, and later altered the spelling to Stavan as a recognition of the blending of his cultural backgrounds. Though he has a tanned Latino look, he did not learn Spanish until electing to study it in high school. His mother and his grandparents saw assimilation as a better path for their future and that of the next generations.
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