Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign

A neon diamond in a road median has its own parking lot and traffic light, built so visitors can be photographed beside it. The Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign stands in the median of Las Vegas Boulevard South, south of Mandalay Bay at 5100 Las Vegas Boulevard South, a diamond of neon 25 feet high and 15 feet wide. Betty Willis designed it in 1959 while working for Western Neon, and Clark County bought it for $4,000, according to PBS; the Associated Press gives its 1959 cost as $4,000. PBS says Willis was approached in 1952 by a local salesman who argued that Las Vegas had signs for everything except itself. The diamond shape sets it apart, and PBS notes that seven silver dollars sit behind the seven letters of “Welcome.” Young Electric Sign Company (YESCO) acquired Western Neon in 1964, and the Deseret News reported in 2023 that YESCO owns and maintains the sign, receiving lease payments and maintenance fees from Clark County, which stops the company moving it. When the sign was built it was beyond the city limits, with the nearest buildings at least a mile away, the Deseret News said. As visitors began crossing traffic to be photographed beside it, the sign was set on an island in the median and, per the Deseret News, a parking lot with 12 spaces was built in 2008. The lot gained 21 spaces in 2012 and 21 more plus two for tour buses in 2015, along with a traffic light for pedestrians. The sign was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. PBS says Willis never copyrighted the design, hoping it would be used freely; the Deseret News adds that YESCO has trademarked it, while the Las Vegas Sun says it was never trademarked. KNPR notes two replicas were made, one of them downtown and destroyed in 2016. In May 2024 Clark County and YESCO announced a photo contest for the sign's 65th anniversary, NewsNation reported.