Research Catalog
Neon Nevada
- Title
- Neon Nevada / Sheila Swan and Peter Laufer ; foreword by Lili Lakich.
- Author
- Swan, Sheila, 1942-
- Publication
- Reno : University of Nevada Press, [1994], ©1994.
Items in the Library & Off-site
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1 Item
| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text | Use in library | AK1127 Sw24 | Off-site |
Holdings
Details
- Additional Authors
- Laufer, Peter.
- Description
- xi, 93 pages : color illustrations; 25 cm
- Summary
- Each night, as twilight descends on cities and towns across Nevada, the desert night sky is lit with the glow of hundreds of neon signs. Whether the signs are a part of the shimmering onslaught of Las Vegas's Glitter Gulch, a lone cowboy beckoning travelers on Interstate 80, or a simple martini glass on a tavern sign, they are an element of Nevada's cultural heritage. After all, in the words of one veteran sign maker, "Neon and flashing lights mean Nevada.
- Without neon and flashing lights, you might as well be anywhere." In the early 1970s, Swan and Laufer set out to chronicle this cultural heritage in photographs as a means of preserving an art form that was at the time fast dying out. Neon Nevada combines these photographs, many of signs no longer in existence, with newer photos of signs installed during the recent renaissance in neon. It is a lighthearted, charming record of images from the generic to the unforgettable.
- The accompanying text provides a brief history of neon sign-making, from its beginnings in Paris to its spread across the United States, pointing out in particular how it found its perfect setting in Nevada. The text is also a captivating description of how Swan and Laufer came to fall in love with neon - a love that the reader will grow to share - and of their travels in search of signs to immortalize.
- Subject
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 93).
- Contents
- Ch. 1. Electric Jewels of the Nevada Desert -- Ch. 2. Few Neon Reflections Splash at the Lake -- Ch. 3. The Biggest Little City in the World -- Ch. 4. Rural County Casinos and Bars -- Ch. 5. Wendover Will and His Huge Friends -- Ch. 6. Light on the Loneliest Road in America -- Ch. 7. New Flare in the South -- Ch. 8. Las Vegas -- Ch. 9. The Tube-Bending Craft -- Epilogue: The Future for Neon in Nevada.
- ISBN
- 0874172454 (cloth) :
- 0874172462 (pbk.) :
- LCCN
- 93023653
- OCLC
- 29255727
- ocm29255727
- Owning Institutions
- Columbia University Libraries