When you think of Las Vegas, Nevada culture and the arts aren't the first thing that come to mind. And it is true that Vegas no longer has the world class Guggenheim Hermitage Museum at the Venetian Hotel, but it was there for 7 years. During that time it was visited by 1.1 million people (including me) before closing its doors. UNLV still has the Marjorie Barrick Museum and Fremont Street is still home to the Southern Nevada Museum of Fine Art.
There is the Museum of Natural History and the Lied Discovery Children's Museum, such as you would expect to find in any metropolitan city. Also, there are many museums that are dedicated to the rich history of the area such as the Nevada State Museum or the Atomic Testing Museum. More of these are in the surrounding areas like the Lost City Museum of Archaeology in Overton and the Boulder City Hoover Dam Museum. There's an Aviation Museum in McCarran Airport and an automobile collection at the Imperial Palace. You can find Bruno's Indian Museum in Boulder City as well.
But Vegas plays host to a few venues that aren't your typical museum fare. The Neon Museum and the Las Vegas Sign Project focus on those wonderful old pieces of signage that make old Vegas immediately recognizable in old movies and TV shows. There's a Pinball Hall of Fame museum. The Clown Factory, Elvis-o-Rama and the Liberace Museum have sadly closed.
Aside from the family friendly locations above there are also a couple that pay homage to two of the oldest themes in history: sex and violence. We'll look at each of these separately.
In the "Sex" category we have the Erotic Heritage Museum on Industrial Road. Their webpage notes that it was created by a Preacher and a Pornographer. It has 17,000 square feet of space for exhibits. "The EHM is owned and managed by the Exodus Trust, a non-profit California Trust that has as its sole purpose to perform educational, scientific and literary functions relating to sexual, emotional, mental and physical health." Younger adults and old will find this a very unique experience. You'll be amazed at the history and evolution of some items still in use today. Despite knowing individuals who are involved in this enterprise, I moved away before getting a chance to visit.
The Las Vegas Mob Museum took quite a while to get the green light. It was not without its share of fight and controversy. Former Mayor Oscar Goodman was totally behind this project. Of course, his history as a defense attorney for a number of old-school mobsters might be a good part of that. He is not a man of small ego, that's for sure but overall a very likable man. He considered utilizing an old court house as the home for this museum a big part of his revitalization project for that area of town. It contains exhibits dedicated to both the mobsters and the law enforcement officers who took them down. You can see a section of a bullet hole ridden wall from the Valentine's Day Massacre and a barber chair where another wiseguy was gunned down. You will learn more than you ever wanted to know about mobsters like Al Capone, Whitey Bulger and Bugsy Siegel or the good guys like Eliot Ness and J. Edgar Hoover. It covers the full spectrum of mob life and how it lead to the creation of Las Vegas in the first place. And it only cost $42 million of mostly taxpayer money.
If you are planning a trip to Vegas, here's a link to a few places: http://www.a2zlasvegas.com/otherside/museums.html
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