Newsletter issued by the Las Vegas Rotary Club

Newsletter issued by the Las Vegas Rotary Club

Daytime and nighttime views of the Grand Canyon Experience signs on the Strip. Information about the sign is available in the Southern Nevada Neon Survey Data Sheet.
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

Sign animation: Chasing, flashing, oscillating
Notes: The text fascia sign just to the north of the giant glass display illuminates with a background of neon tubing which chases from right to left. The pattern of colors running across are a sequence banks of red, pink purple and blue vertical neon tubing, chase each other creating a pulsating movement of the individual banks of these colors. While they are animating, the channel letters, which spell "Riviera," are dark and proceed to light up one letter at a time. Once all lit they remain lit, until the background stops with all the bars illuminated. Once all the bars are lit, the interiors of the letters turn off one at a time starting on the far right. The giant mirrored section of the building, advertising for the Splash stage show. The sequence can be best described from its dramatic powering up. The entire sign comes alive with a rapid upward chasing pattern covering the surface of the tower. Once alive, small white bulbs grow out of the end of the space on the top and bottom of the end of the "Splash" text. Once all the previous elements are illuminated, the letters in the Splash logo shut off, illuminate one letter at a time in red neon, then the white neon figure of the seal balancing a ball on the end of it's nose, lights up. The neon bordered circular raceway, then animates with the bulbs in the center chasing each other in a clock-wise sequence. Once lit the vast array of white bulbs grown out of the end of the text begin to gently oscillate, as well as the sparse assortment of floating and attached incandescent bulbs on the wall of the tower. Once the bulbs animate for a few seconds, the entire wall chases downward, becoming black as night, except for the Slash logo text. Underneath the entire front side of the western face of the Riviera, the incandescent bulbs which cover the entire surface oscillate in a wildly, while the ringed entablature on the wall animates quietly in comparison. The multi-colored rings of neon tubing chase each other from left to right, chasing the distance then repeating. The sequence then changes direction and chase from left to right. Creating the tops and bottoms of the entablature are raceways lined with incandescent bulbs that chase each other from left to right. On the surface of the west wall incandescent bulbs chase each other along the raceways which run horizontally around the internally lit cabinets. The small vertical raceways which run inside the clear plastic boxes chase each other from top to bottom, but all the raceways are offset to each other by a few seconds. At the North end of the property the signage for the Riviera's, "Nickeltown" gambling attraction, dominates the corner. He animation on the large exploding sculptural fountain lights up the entire corner. The three rocketing pieces of steel are wrapped in repeating bands of their corresponding colors of blue, purple and yellow. All three simultaneously chase from bottom to top, until completely lit. Then they begin to animate in a chasing pattern from bottom to top. After a few moments of chasing, they chase from beginnig to top once more, leaving al the tubes dark in its path. Along the circular entablature, which runs the circumference of the top mass of the fountain, incandescent bulbs chase each other from right to left, but only on the side which faces the casino. The wall, which faces north, contains the multicolored banks of vertical neon bars that animate in a specific pattern. They chase each other from right to left, then only the purple neon tubing illuminates, they chase again, then only the blue neon tubing illuminates. They chase once again, and then only the gold bars illuminate. The bars chase yet one more time, then all of the tubing illuminates, thus ending the sequence. The main entrance to nickel town is adorned with neon text and images, but only the stars higher up on the wall itself animate. The incandescent bulbs elevated above the surface of the mirrored wall, animate in a soft oscillating pattern, adding the twinkling effect. The larger five pointed stars are animated on the interior by a center of oscillating incandescent bulbs, while concentric neon shapes echo outward in the yellow, purple and blue colors seen on the adjacent wall facing north. The smaller snow-flake esque star shapes are alive with oscillating incandescent bulbs. Looking upward along the north face of the closest tower, the giant vertical, Riviera channel letters animate one character at a time, oscillate then shuts off.