Interestingly, the shoe you're referring to is a completely modern creation -- one of four specially made to adorn the Fremont East entertainment district and give it a "vintage Vegas" air.
It was back in 2006 that the city revealed plans to redevelop Fremont Street east of the Fremont Street Experience as an entertainment district. Detailed plans for the redevelopment were released early in 2007, including the 4 street-scape neon signs. Six months later the new $5.5 million streetscaping makeover debuted, overseen, naturally, by Mayor Oscar Goodman, who is celebrated by another sign that features a giant gin martini glass.
With new bars and clubs opening on a regular basis, and major makeovers either completed or underway at a number of hotel-casinos, we have high hopes of success at last for downtown Las Vegas, which really seems to be regaining an identity and coming into its own again.
However, the shoe that you're referring to is also now downtown, located on Las Vegas Blvd. as part of the so-called "Cultural Corridor" that debuted in 2009. On September 17 of that year, the completely refurbished Silver Slipper sign, which formerly sat atop that casino and then resided for some years in the Neon Boneyard, was installed in a median island south of Washington Avenue, as part of the $1.1 million Neon Sign Improvement Project. The other signs renovated and revived for the project were the historic Bow & Arrow Motel neon sign and one of the original Binion’s Horseshoe signs that used to be at Binion’s Horseshoe Casino on Fremont Street.
