Stardust Resort and Casino - Sign

Sign

The famed Stardust sign became a symbol of Las Vegas. Young Electric Sign Company was hired to fabricate the sign. Kermit Wayne's design was selected for both the façade and the roadside signs. Although Moe Dalitz, who took over from original developer Tony Cornero upon his death, said it was from his original plans, the sign was really part of Cornero's original concept.

The Stardust sign gave visitors a panoramic view of the solar system. At the sign's center sat a 16-foot (4.9 m) diameter plastic model of the Earth. Cosmic rays of neon and electric light bulbs beamed from behind the model earth in all direction. Three-dimensional acrylic glass planets spun alongside 20 scintillating neon starbursts. Across the universe was a jagged galaxy of electric lettering spelling out "Stardust". The sign utilized 7,100 ft (2,200 m) of neon tubing with over 11,000 bulbs along its 216 ft (66 m) front. The "S" alone contained 975 lamps. At night the neon constellation was reportedly visible 60 miles (97 km) away.

The roadside sign was freestanding with a circle constraining an amorphous cloud of cosmic dust circled by an orbit ring and covered in dancing stars. The hotel's name was nestled in a galactic cloud.

In 1967, the old circular sign was replaced by a new $500,000 roadside sign. The new sign's form was blurred by a scatter of star shapes, a shower of stardust. At night, incorporating neon and incandescent bulbs in the animation sequence, light fell from the stars, sprinkling from the top of the 188-foot (57 m) tall sign down over the Stardust name.

In 1991, the Stardust sign's Googie lettering was replaced with a subdued Futura typeface.