Visit our friendly message board OPEN 24 HOURS!

P R E S E N T S

gallery | links | chat

Las Vegas Highlights of Mid-Century Modern Architecture, Rat Pack History, New and Historic Neon Signs, and Vintage Vacation Kitsch

Mondo Las Vegas:

Liberace Museum

702-798-5595
http://www.liberace.org
1775 East Tropicana Avenue, Las Vegas, NV 89119-6529
(On the East Side) Southwest corner of Spencer - About 2.5 miles east of the Strip

More about Liberace Museum:

The "Mr. Showmanship" Legend Lives on in Las Vegas at the Liberace Museum. Who else, but Liberace himself could transform a bank and mini-mall into a world of glitz and glamour! There are glamorous campy kitschy costumes, fabulous fur coats, jewelry, home furnishings, Moser crystal, rhinestones and memorabilia for days... Of course the façade is a giant undulating strip of an ebony and ivory keyboard topped by a 3 dimensional fluorescent pink neon piano with a candelabra. Classic cars and gilded pianos are in a second building on the property.

Liberace, born Wladziu Valentino Liberace, was once one of the highest paid performers on the Strip, now many young people don't even know his name. When he headlined the Riviera in 1955, he was reported to be making $50,000 a week! So after a visit to the museum you won't soon forget about the experience or Lee. His famous extravagant rhinestone and feathered costumes are so over the top, they put Elton John to shame. This place will teach you what bling bling really means.

Liberace once said of his outrageous costumes, "The reason I love so many clothes, is because, I guess, when I was a kid I had to wear my brother George's hand-me-downs. Now that I can afford to buy my own, I have them in about three sizes because I love to eat and my weight constantly fluctuates. So most of my suits come in three sizes: thin, fat and impossible!"

Don't miss the 200-pound, sable-trimmed Neptune costume worn for the 1984 World's Fair in New Orleans or the appropriately named "Lasagna" costume, which Liberace joked he wore while cooking because "it didn't show stains." You can also see the red-white-and-blue hot pants outfit Liberace wore for a bicentennial concert and even buy a standee (life sized standup cardboard cutout) of Liberace in that outfit in the gift shop! His famous trademark jeweled candelabra ring is on display with its platinum "candlesticks" and diamond "flames." And there is a white and yellow gold piano-shaped ring with 260 diamonds. I don't know how he played piano with those rings on? I can't even type on my computer with so much as one tiny ring.

Rhinestone are a boy's best friend! In addition to jewelry, you will see the largest rhinestone in the world, 115,000 carats from Austria, and a rhinestone covered piano and roadster. Yes. a whole rhinestone car.

If the "A Musical Tribute to Liberace with Wes Winters" is playing when you are there, by all means pay the extra bucks and see it. Wes Winters learned to play piano by listening to Liberace records and does impressions of the man himself. It's as good a Vegas experience as the Elvisorama tribute.

The Liberace Museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, and Sunday from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. A free shuttle from the Strip is available daily, with pick-up points at the Riviera, Fashion Show Mall, Mirage, Flamingo, Paris Las Vegas and the Tropicana. Call (702) 798-5595 for more information.

ALSO, look for $$ off discount coupons for the museum in several of the tourist magazines around town. OR if you are coming to the museum by taxi or bus, show your receipt or transfer ticket and receive $2.00 off the adult admission price. The gift shop is free of charge. But if you end up paying full price, don't regret it. A portion of all proceeds from the museum, gift shop and cafe go to fund the Liberace Foundation which has given out more than 5 million dollars in scholarships since it was formed in 1976.

Listed under:

Mondo Las Vegas:

Liberace Museum

More about Liberace Museum:

Listed under:

Related Links: