Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Sign - The Photo Everyone Takes
Photo: Christian David, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
A stop on Las Vegas Strip Walk, a free self-guided tour.
Welcome to the most photographed sign in the desert. Betty Willis, a designer at Western Neon, drew it in 1959, and Clark County paid $4,000 for it. Each letter of Welcome sits on a white circle meant to look like a silver dollar, and the starburst on top is pure 1950s atomic-age style.
Here's the twist: you are not actually in Las Vegas. The sign stands in the unincorporated town of Paradise, about 4 miles south of the city limits, and so does nearly all of the Strip. Willis never copyrighted her design, which is why it turns up on everything from mugs to fridge magnets.
Today the sign stands in the median of Las Vegas Boulevard with its own little parking lot, and the line for a photo can stretch down the island. While you wait, walk around to the back: it tells departing drivers to drive carefully and come back soon.
Getting here: Start at the sign in the median of Las Vegas Boulevard at the south end of the Strip. The Deuce bus stops nearby, and a small parking lot sits just south of it; use the marked crosswalks.
Did you know?: In 2010 the sign was briefly covered with a Camp Vegas banner - the only time its words have ever been changed.
Photo op: Stand on the median walkway facing the sign and frame it against the open sky; come early in the morning for a shorter line and softer light.
More on Wikipedia: Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign · Paradise, Nevada
Stops on this tour
- Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Sign - The Photo Everyone Takes
- Fountains of Bellagio - A Lake in the Desert
- Bellagio Conservatory - A Garden That Changes Its Clothes
- Paris Las Vegas - Half an Eiffel Tower
- Flamingo - Where the Mob Moved In
- High Roller - A Half-Hour Lap Above the Strip
- Forum Shops at Caesars - Shopping in Ancient Rome
- The Mirage Volcano Site - Where the Megaresorts Began
- The Venetian - Gondolas on the Strip
- Sphere - The Strip's Giant Glowing Ball
- Neon Museum - Where Old Signs Go to Rest
- Fremont Street Experience - Where Las Vegas Began