Look up at Vegas Vic, the 40-foot neon cowboy who has watched over Fremont Street since 1951. Vic was created by the Young Electric Sign Company for the Pioneer Club casino, and he is one of the oldest and best-preserved vintage neon figures in the world. His cigarette once glowed, his arm once waved, and a recorded voice used to repeat 'Howdy Pardner' to passersby every few minutes.
The waving arm was famously silenced in 1966 when actor Lee Marvin, staying in a hotel across the street while filming a movie in Las Vegas, complained that the mechanical arm was keeping him awake. The casino management, presumably delighted by the celebrity endorsement that came with the complaint, turned it off. It has never consistently waved again, though restoration efforts have periodically brought the arm back to life.
Vegas Vic represents an entire tradition of giant roadside figures that dominated American commercial culture from the 1940s through the 1970s — a tradition that celebrated the automobile, the open road, and the promise of what lay ahead. The giant figure was visible from far down the highway, drawing travelers off the road with the promise of hospitality and entertainment. Vegas Vic is both folk art and commercial architecture, and the fact that he has survived while almost everything around him has been demolished and rebuilt speaks to the power that certain images have to become irreplaceable.