The El Portal Gift Shop sits at 310 Fremont Street inside the Fremont Street Experience. Information about the sign is available in the Southern Nevada Neon Survey Sheet.
Site address: 310 Fremont St
Sign owner: HS Family LP c/o J. Blut
Sign details: The building was constructed in 1928 (Assessor). The El Portal Theatre opened June 21, 1928 as the first building in Las Vegas to install air conditioning (Cinema Treasures). The theater closed in the 1970's and the site became El Portal Gifts and then a Native American arts and crafts store (Cinema Treasures). The current owner has received approval to turn the building into a food court and tavern (Lazara, 2017).
Sign condition: Condition is 5. The cabinet, paint and lighting are all in top condition. A few light bulbs are missing from the light boxes on either side of the sign.
Sign form: Blade
Sign-specific description: The metal "L" shaped cabinet points inward toward the building. The cabinet is painted turquoise. Two rows of white incandescent bulbs run along the spine of the cabinet. "El" is spelled out horizontally across the top of the sign in white cursive channel letters with the interior outlined in white neon. "PORTAL" runs vertically down the cabinet in sans serif white channel letters with the interiors filled with three rows of white neon. At the bottom of the sign is a white channel arrow which is filled in by three rows of turquoise neon. The sign is inserted between two rectangular light boxes which angle out from the building to the edge of the sign. The light boxes are outlined with clear incandescent light bulbs, have a red and turquoise Native American blanket style design on each end and state "INDIAN ARTS &CRAFTS" in serif Native American style lettering. The light boxes are made to appear as if they are supported by two totem poles painted in back, white, red and turquoise.
Sign - type of display: Neon and incandescent (with lightboxes adjacent)
Sign - media: Steel (and plastic in adjacent lightboxes)
Sign - non-neon treatments: Lightboxes adjacent to sign
Sign environment: In the Fremont Street Experience. Sounded by other storefronts and casinos.
Sign - thematic influences: The El Portal building is Spanish Colonial style. The light boxes are Native American style.
Survey - research locations: Recorder's office
Survey - research notes: Cinema Treasures. (n.d.). El Portal Theatre. Retrieved from http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/1888 Lazara, G. (2017 June 13). The old El Portal Theatre to become a tavern. Retrieved from http://www.ktnv.com/news/the-old- el-portal- theatre-to- become-a- tavern
Surveyor: Mitchell Cohen
Survey - date completed: 2017-08-11
Sign keywords: Blade; Neon; Incandescent; Steel; Light box; Plastic

'Compiled by S.L. Schoff and J.E. Moore.' 'Geology generalized from geologic maps of the Nevada Test Site by Special Projects Branch, U.S. Geological Survey; of Lincoln County by Tschanz and Pampeyan (1961); and of Clark County by Bowyer, Pampeyan, and Longwell (1958).' United States Department of the Interior, Geological Survey. Prepared in cooperation with the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.' 'TEI-838.' Scale 1:125,000 (W 116°00´--W 116°15´/N 37°15´--N 36°30´). Originally published as figure 1 in Chemistry and movement of ground water, Nevada Test Site / by Stuart L. Schoff and John E. Moore, published by the Geological Survey in 1964 as number 838 of the Trace elements investigations report.