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About StefaniDrivesVegas


During the 1960s my family often traveled from Northern California to stay in motels in Las Vegas while our father worked at the Nevada Test Site, and to motels in Reno during family vacations. These experiences drove a love of everything mid-century Nevada.
StefaniDrivesVegas combines Nevada mid-century motel postcards with photos taken on recent trips to Las Vegas and Reno in a Then and Now format.

Updates 2024


March 2024 Update - The Las Vegas Boulevard Improvement Project is completed. Refurbished and historic neon signs light up the night, creating a neon trail to The Neon Museum. On our recent trip to Las Vegas we photographed the installed signs. Images have been added to the website for Fun City Motel, Rummel Motel, and Lucky Cuss Motel. Images for three additional motels on E. Fremont St. are updated – Safari Motel, Sky Ranch Motel, and Towne & Country Motel. Safari and Sky Ranch have refurbished signs. Finally, downtown Vegas Vic is nearly fully-lit again. Vic looks marvelous! Looking forward to a complete refurbishment in the future.

How to Negotiate StefaniDrivesVegas


StefaniDrivesVegas comprises motels from Las Vegas/Boulder City and Reno/Sparks. Las Vegas and Reno each have an introductory page (accessible from the Header) with sections highlighting the different areas in the city where motels are concentrated. Each section has a link (button) to an associated Project Page. Each Project Page includes old motel postcard images along with photos from our various trips to Nevada. The location of each motel is shown in extracts from old roadmaps. The postcard images are dated to the best of my knowledge. Alternately you can go directly to the motel images by selecting a location from the pulldown list "Motels" found in the Header.

Autoplay is turned on which will cycle through the photos for a motel automatically. Hovering over any of the motel images will pause autoplay. Cycling will resume once the cursor is moved off of the image. You can also move between motel images by using the arrows provided on either side.

Sanborn Map Company


Sanborn maps are detailed maps of U.S. cities and towns in the 19th and 20th centuries. Originally published by The Sanborn Map Company, the maps were created to allow fire insurance companies to assess their total liability in urbanized areas of the United States.
We visited the Nevada State Museum a while back to review the 1962 version of the Sanborn fire insurance maps. In StefaniDrivesVegas we have linked a Sanborn motel rendering to many of the Las Vegas motel postcard images. Click the postcard image to check for a link to an associated Sanborn map.

1988 Las Vegas Motels Music Video


Recognizing the uniqueness of Las Vegas motels, we shot this great video in 1988. We didn't have expensive equipment back then, but we're glad we captured the beauty of these motels. Go to Peter Moruzzi's Mid-Century to see the video.

Tour the Survivors


It is fun to drive around Las Vegas and Reno and reminisce about the days of my youth. I love seeing the mid-century motels. Even in the face of large-scale transformations motels are able to survive if they retain a contemporary function within an area's tourism landscape. The next time you are in Las Vegas or Reno and looking for something fun to do, take a driving tour of the surviving motels. And if you are in Las Vegas be sure to enjoy a classic dining experience at the Golden Steer.

Updates 2023


March 2023 Update - We just returned from a great day-long Tour of the Nevada Test Site where my father worked periodically during his career at Lawrence Livermore Lab in Livermore, CA. I highly recommend the Tour.
Refurbished, historic neon signs are being installed as part of the continuing Las Vegas Boulevard Improvement Project. The signs are owned by the city of Las Vegas, The Neon Museum and Young Electric Sign Company (YESCO). Here are images of the Par-A-Dice and Rummel signs. Looking forward to when they will be officially lit.

Updates 2022


January 2022 Update - We just returned from a great driving tour of Nevada - from Reno to Tonopah, then on to Goldfield and Las Vegas. It was great to see new (old) things on Nevada's open road. I have updated the status of the Motels and added many new images. Thanks to Peter for taking fabulous dusk photos of many restored neon Motel signs on East Fremont Street in Las Vegas. I included those as well here (See Las Vegas - East Fremont Street entries for 1. Ambassador, 2. Fergusons, 3. Travelers, 4. Lucky, 5. Las Vegas, 6. Fremont, 7. Star View, 9. Las Gables, 9.5 Lucky Lady, and 22. Desert Hills.). I love this shot looking west up East Fremont Street.
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