Neon Nevada

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.