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1. Name:
Flamingo Hotel and Casino
2. Owner: Park
Place Entertainment
3. Address: 3555
LasVegas Blvd. 733-3111
3b. Additional Site
Details: The majority of the Flamingo
hotel and casino's neon signage encompasses the stretch of property
that faces the strip. Even though the original porte-cochere and
pylon sign are no longer in use, or in the original position, they
are still evident and very much present. The original pylon has
been moved around the corner onto Flamingo, actually closer to the
Barbary coast than the Flamingo. The famous sculpted bullnose design
is repeated several times throughout the property and the design
is repeated in visual reference on the towers of the hotel.. The
Flamingo was one of the first hotels to push its entrance out to
the street.
4. Condition:
Structure 5
Surface 5
Lighting 5
Notes: See
description
5. Form: plyon,
fasica, porte cochere
6. Specfic Description:
specific description: The Flamingo's
vast array of signage of various types and styles make the hotel
one of the more unique facades. Headed north just past the corner
entrance to the Barbary Coast, only a two-lane drive separates the
two properties. Across the drive, the original top of the old porte-cochere
creates the first of the several three-dimensional, sculpted, corner
sign you see. The well known swollen base and flexing body of this
trademark crowning figure spread out in a bouquet of pink and orange
steel feathers. Neon runs horizontally in a repeated pattern up
the lengths of the feathers, with the outlying edge portions painted
white and filled with incandescent bulbs, turning into single row
raceways at the waving ends of the very tips. This corner serves
as a pedestrian entrance now, and one of the main causeways between
the Barbary Coast and Flamingo. The fattened plumage is set up high
a top the corner of the building pointing to the southwest. The
broad corner is dominated by the expansive sculpture. Standing atop
of the plumage a channel letter logo sign faces outward spelling
"Flamingo" in the Flamingo cursive text. The text is appropriated
in a radius pattern, supported by a steel support structure making
the logo seem as if it is floating above the sculpture. The sign
is filled with incandescent bulbs. Two tubes of blue neon wrap the
bull nose molding just below the three-dimensional structure, creating
a space for the façade of the faceted pediment. Wrapping
the face of the corner is a large entablature of patterned squares
forming a grid like terrain with incandescent bulbs in the center
of each square. Each square is faceted into pyramid shapes with
bulbs at the center of each. Just above the pedestrian's head and
below the faceted entablature, a raceway sandwiched by two tubes
of pink neon creates a bottom line of the composition. The configuration
continues to the right of the entrance into a smaller representation
of the same effect. To the right of the old porte-cochere entrance,
a small wall sign for "mega-jackpot world" is displayed
with pink and Purple channel letters filled with neon on the section
of wall which faces to the west. The sign is also incorporated into
the famed pink and orange flame style, with the plumage emulated
in channel pans on either side of the text. They are complete with
horizontal neon bars and sections lined with incandescent bulbs
as well. The section of wall that the sign sits upon is in the style
of the faceted entablature spoken of previously. The two tubes of
blue neon are above the pediment and sign and the bottom is also
rounded out with the pink neon. Continuing east down the south face
of the building, a continuous glass entablature is first seen, at
the same height as the blue neon capped molding. The entablature
is a glass wall lined with glass faced, two, dimensional figures
of flamingos and shrubbery. Details such as wings, and other features
are denoted by pink colored glass. Standing several inches off of
the wall, the flamingos are lit from behind with red and pink neon
creating halos, which reflect off of the glass behind them. The
top edge of the pediment is lined with teal neon, while the bottom
is blue. The top edge of the building, above the pediment and along
other edges of the face, is a rolling design of hills lined pink
neon. This element continues down the south wall of the building
until it reaches the current porte- cochere. This structure is a
circular drive covered with a circular roof. The east and west edges
of the structure play host to large channel letter logo for the
Flamingo. The pink steel structure spells "Flamingo" in
their continuous cursive fashion, and filled with incandescent bulbs.
The ceiling of the porte-cochere is an ornate pattern of raceways
lined with incandescent bulbs. The pattern is reminiscent of a flower
and it's radiating petals. The mirrored pediment continues past
the porte-cochere on the wall of the building. Down the west face
of the building, being the front of the facility along the strip,
past the original porte-cochere, the glass pediment continues until
it stops at a small wing of the building denoting another entrance.
The entrance slightly radiuses out from the flat plane of the building,
and is crowned by another three dimensional swollen bouquet of steel
plumage spreading generously over the entrance, stretching it's
waving fingers a good degree out on either side. It is constructed
with the same color scheme and array of placement for incandescent
lighting and neon. While not quite as bulbous as the southwest corner
entrance, it breadth is the quality that beckons to the entrance.
On the entablature below, the Flamingo logo is spelled in channel
letters, and filled with pink neon. Teal neon lines the top of this
pediment as well as blue along the bottom. The glass pediment continues
on the wall north of the entrance until the face of the building
goes from a stucco finish into a section of the elevation created
by a wall of glass window panels. This section of the front is anchored
in the center by as giant Doric column crowned by a third set of
three dimensional sculpted array of pink and orange plumage. Like
the two previously mentioned elements of this nature, the swollen
base and stretching feathers take on a waving effect. This element
is smaller in width than the previous two, but it's feathers or
fingers curl forward in the center providing a support for a triangular
cabinet section, with the two visible faces pointed northwest and
southwest. The feathers continue in a smaller portion on top of
the cabinet, appearing as if they rise thorough the cabinet.. The
appearance of this set of plumage takes on different appearances
for two reasons. The first being it's position upon the top of a
column making appear as a torch. The plumage takes on the effect
of being flames instead of feathers. The second being the severity
of the curve of the center leaf or flame. From the side, coupled
with the outer wings, it takes on the persona of a perched bird.
The glass pediment continues past this section, stopping with another
rooftop set of plumage on the entrance to the building, facing northwest.
Above a backlit plastic advertisement cabinet, the fiery fingers
of the sculpted, swollen signage, stand as a solid marker to the
end of the property, or entrance to the pedestrian headed south.
The glass pediment picks up again along the north face of the building
headed east. On the East side of the Flamingo property, two fully
three-dimensional sculpted steel structures serve as a gateway to
the east side of the porte-cochere. Flanking either side of the
drive, two identical bud-like structures stand with the same influence
as the swollen elements of the front property. A short, faceted
column, supports a three tiered, three layered rosebud shape crafted
out of leaves more akin to palm fronds. Sagging leaves, pointed
toward the ground, create the section between bud shape and the
supporting column. They are folded down, representing the action
of the leaves being opened. Neon runs in short horizontal bars along
the outer surface leaves and all flat planes excluding the topsides
of the relaxed leaves. These two markers also take on the persona
an organic structure as a sapling palm tree, or rosebud, as well
as the image of a burning torch.
Building signage: Upon the western tower Flamingo is spelled in
channel letters designed with the Flamingo text, and filled with
pink neon. Upon the eastern face of the south tower, the half plumage
of neon, flaming upward, reside underneath the Flamingo text logo.
The same sign is repeated on the north edge of the west tower.Pylon:
The original pylon sign now located on the north side of Las Vegas
Blvd., in close proximity to the hotel, but actually between the
Bourbon Street and the Barbary Coast. The vertical pylon is a double-sided
pylon that faces east west. It has slightly modified over the years.
The internally lit message center has been scaled down to fit its
new environment. The pylon rises up in a square pole design, with
neon running vertically up the center, approximately fifteen feet
above the pedestrian's head, before being interrupted by the message
cabinet. The cabinet has a white plastic face with removable letters.
Gold polished raceways line the face of each of the sign, and incandescent
bulbs line the raceways. The sides of the cabinet slope inward,
round at the corners at the top, reaching toward the center that
rises at a peak. The neon continues upward past the highest peak
of the cabinet, and continues up to fan outward, created a giant
frond of vermilion and red. The giant fan shape at the top supports
channel letters, that spell "Flamingo' in white channel letters
that are outlined in blue neon and filled with incandescent bulbs.
The top fan shape is actually comprised of seven different levels,
appearing to be stacked on top of one another. The center, oblong
shaped panel, is the highest, with three sections on each side,
fanned out, stepping back into space. The furthest wings on the
edge are scrambled with bent and undulating tubes of pink neon.
The center two are red, and the center holds the pink members. The
waving tubes, which lose form and pattern as they spread toward
the edges, resemble veins of a leaf, or the elements, which make
up the feather. The sides of the pylon, including the internally
lit cabinet, are treated with a pink paint.
7. Type of Display:
neon, incandescent
8. Media: steel,
glass
9. Non-neon treatments:
paint
10. Animation:
chasing, flashing, oscillating
Notes: The
horizontal neon bars chase each other from bottom to top, and the
incandescent bulbs oscillate rapidly. The two, rosebud type figures
in the rear of the property also animate in the same fashion. The
incandescent bulbs in the logo text above the old porte-cochere
also oscillate. The bulbs in the faceted fascia below the old porte-cochere
oscillate rapidly. The two, logo/text signs on the new porte-cochere
are also filled with incandescent bulbs that oscillate also. The
crest item that sits on the southwest corner of the building is
lined with incandescent bulbs that chase downward, down raceways,
running the length of the building. The bulbs chase all the way
until the end of the tracks. The logo, above the bulbous plumage,
on the east face of the southernmost tower is also filled with oscillating
incandescent bulbs, while the neon bars and incandescent bulbs on
the plumage below the text chase upward from bottom to top.
11. Environment:
The Flamingo is in between
the Barbary Coast and O'Shea's on the east side of the street. The
establishment itself dominates the stretch of property, separating
the pedestrian from the sidewalk with various shrubbery and palm,
a phenomenon seen often on the strip. Exiting the Barbay Coast,
headed north, the passerby is seamlessly brought into the Flamingo,
bombarded by the vibrant pink and orange plumage, and continuous
atmosphere. O'Shea's lies on the north end of the Flamingo, adding
a bookend type effect along with the Barbary Coast. Even though
the Barbary Coast is a vibrant and active property, most of it's
action lies on the south side of the building, thus the Flamingo
signage is the most dominating within its length along the Strip.
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