Documenting the forgotten stories behind Las Vegas's most iconic neon signs
A fine art photography series celebrating the artisans, entrepreneurs, and pioneers who created Vegas—before corporate consolidation erases their legacy.
About The Project
Between 1955 and 1990, Las Vegas built the most spectacular concentration of neon signage in human history. These weren't just advertisements—they were cultural artifacts created by immigrant craftsmen, designed by women pioneers, and commissioned by entrepreneurs who broke barriers of race, gender, and class.
THE AFTERGLOW VEGAS PROJECT documents nine iconic neon signs now preserved at The Neon Museum Las Vegas, revealing the human stories that commercial photography erased: Concentration camp survivor who became casino owner, the first Black-owned integrated casino in America, women designers who shaped Vegas's visual identity, and Mexican neon benders whose endangered craft faces extinction.
In 2016, French photographer Ludovic Cazeba has been photographing The Neon Museum's collection, creating fine art interpretations that honor both the signs' craftsmanship and the social impact stories behind them. This work continues the legacy of Denise Scott Brown's _Learning from Las Vegas_ (1972)—elevating vernacular commercial architecture as legitimate cultural artifact worthy of museum preservation.
Each photograph exists in two states: documentary (preserving historical detail) and transcendent (capturing the emotional experience of neon in darkness). Together, they ask: what do we lose when we only document objects, never honoring the dreams they represented?
Why These Signs Matter
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In 2011, YESCO (Young Electric Sign Company) employed 40 neon benders. By 2021, only 3 remain in Las Vegas. These signs preserve a dying art—hand-bent neon tubes heated over open flame, crafted without gloves, requiring 30+ years mastery. Once they're gone, so is 100 years of knowledge.
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Behind every neon sign: immigrants fleeing poverty, women breaking barriers, artisans perfecting vanishing crafts. The Moulin Rouge desegregated Vegas (1955). Ann Meyers became the first woman to own a casino (1976). Betty Willis designed the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign—unpaid, uncredited for decades. These stories deserve preservation.
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Denise Scott Brown's Learning from Las Vegas (1972) argued that commercial signage deserves study as seriously as European cathedrals. These neon signs represent post-war American visual culture—democratic design created for people, not elites. Corporate LED replacements erase this heritage. THE AFTERGLOW PROJECT documents it before it disappears.
BREAKING BARRIERS
The pioneers who shattered invisible walls
First Black casino owner — 41 years after desegregation
ANN MEYERS QUEEN OF HEARTS HOTEL
First woman to purchase a Vegas casino
IN LOVE * Restored letters from the Moulin Rouge
Where desegregation was signedFirst woman to purchase a Vegas casino
AMERICAN DREAMERS
From nothing to neon — immigrant entrepreneurs who built Vegas
THE JERRY’S (Day + Night Versions)
Greek immigrant family. 60 years. Still family-owned.
Milton Prell's "Jewel in the Desert." Beatles. Rat Pack. 59 years of history.
80 years on Fremont Street. The oldest casino in Vegas
VERNACULAR MASTERS
Commercial signs as American poetry
Denise Scott Brown's obsession. Grace Silver's atomic logotype.
MINIMART "FREE ASPIRIN & TENDER SYMPATHY"
Roadside compassion in a transactional city
Benny Binion — from Texas outlaw to downtown legend