LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Move over casinos and shows, there’s a new activity taking over Las Vegas. Museum attendance has skyrocketed in recent years, causing local museums to expand. Many popular niche museums like the Pinball Hall of Fame, the Neon Museum and National Atomic Testing Museum have announced expansions.
The Pinball Hall of Fame’s new location on South Las Vegas Boulevard would be three times the size of the current location and allow Arnold to bring even more of his 1,000 vintage games out of storage. The Neon Museum’s 32,000-square-foot addition doubles the size of the museum's presence on Las Vegas Boulevard. Most recently, the state approved a match of $1,000,000 for the National Atomic Testing Museum, which will relocate and revamp the museum in the next 10-20 years.
AROUND TOWN: Trip down memory lane at Pinball Hall of Fame
Part of the reason these museums are so successful is their uniqueness to Las Vegas, which Specialty Markets Manager for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitor Authority Jim McMichael says is great to bring visitors in.
“We’re not traditionally known as a museum capital with classic paintings framed and hanging in a museum, we’re actually that quirky museum where we take our history and curate it into an experience,” said McMichael.
For Director of Strategic Partnerships at the National Atomic Testing Museum’s Cree Zischke, highlighting these pieces of history is important for keeping museums on the map.
“I think it gives a dimension for I can have fun I can learn, but at the same time I can understand the great innovation that has happened in Las Vegas and how it has been spread around the world,” said Zischke.
