Nashvegas
By Teresa Sims
27 Sep 2008
NASHVEGAS is a portion of a larger body of work entitled Neon Nite and Day which I started in 2000.
I have always been attracted to the nostalgic quality that vintage signs possess, however my attraction to neon seems to go back to my early childhood. Some of the older pulsing bulbs invoke childhood memories reminiscent to the pegs in a Lite Brite board.
My first trip to Vegas is where I hit a jackpot of eye candy driving down the "old strip". I made my way down Freemont Avenue lined with hotels and drive-thru marriage lots completely lit with colored bulbs they don't even make today! I indulged in the beating bulbs blinking their candy apple reds, aqua induced blues or cotton candy pinks.
In 2004, I made my first trip to Nashville and I felt just as lucky and awestruck driving down Broadway and getting a couple of classics such as Jack's Bar-B-Que and Dixieland Delights, but the Regal 27 has a classic neon retro design that reminds me of a flapper's tiara or a peacock tail. This place was the closest I'd come to my "virgin" trip to Vegas. I have gathered other trinkets from Maine to the Moulin Rouge and I haven't made it back to Las Vegas yet, but NASH Vegas is just a 4 hour drive away.
