Yes and no. "We have several pieces," says Neon Museum PR and Marketing Director Dawn Merritt. "We have one that is electrified. We have installed it and it’s plugged in," the switch having been thrown on July 29. You can see it at the bottom of the Neon Boneyard’s Flickr photo gallery. The sign previously graced the Riviera’s eastern porte-cochere. New bulbs and circuitry were donated by Young Electric Sign Co. "We have another 'Riviera' that is installed on a grid on our patio," Merritt adds, "and we have some stars as well that were on the wraparound" of the casino façade. The museum has no plans to re-electrify them, however, unless some benevolent outside party volunteers to do it.
At the time of the donation, Neon Museum Executive Director Danielle Kelly told the Las Vegas Sun that new owner of the Riviera, the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority "have been fantastic and clearly mindful of the significance of the property and caring for it." (One sign was donated by the outgoing owners, the other by the LVCVA.) There's a limit on how much signage the museum can take because, as Sun columnist John Katsilometes explained, "in just about every case [the signs] are far larger than they appeared on the building. Visitors are frequently stunned at how large such signs as the original Golden Nugget visage or the Treasure Island pirate head really are when placed on the ground."
"We’re currently working with the museum to see if we can donate more signs but we probably won’t know for a couple of months," says LVCVA spokeswoman Molly Castano. Of the front sign, with its big, cursive 'R,' Castano says, "There are probably some logistical issues of moving it and where to move it to." So the dispersal and preservation of the Riviera’s signage could be described as a work in progress.
There are so many stars (big and little), curlicues, and letters on the Riviera façade that, sadly, it will probably be impossible to preserve them in their glorious entirety. That silvery, serpentine façade – a legacy of the 1980s – will live on in spirit, at least, being the obvious inspiration of subsequent, hyperactive marquees and signs, like those of Planet Hollywood and the Rio.
All images appear courtesy of the Neon Museum.
