Young Electric Sign Company
Encyclopedia
Young Electric Sign Company (YESCO) is a privately owned manufacturer of electric signs based in Salt Lake City
. The company was founded by Thomas Young in 1920 and today has divisions and branches in 10 western states, as well as in Louisiana
, Mississippi
and Texas
. YESCO offers a comprehensive range of services for electronic signs
, including design, fabrication, installation and ongoing maintenance.
Many notable sign projects have been produced by YESCO. These include the NBC Experience globe in New York City
, the historic El Capitan Theatre
and Wax Museum
marquee
s in Hollywood, the most recent incarnation of the Reno Arch
and numerous icons in Las Vegas
, such as Vegas Vic
, the Fremont Street Experience
, the Astrolabe in The Venetian and the recent Wynn Las Vegas
resort sign.
just a decade earlier to immigrate with his family to Ogden, Utah. In the beginning, his shop specialized in coffin plates, gold leaf window lettering, lighted signs and painted advertisements. As the science of lighting and sign-making advanced, so did Tom Young’s signs.
In 1933, YESCO opened a branch office in the Apache Hotel in Las Vegas. The company erected the first neon sign in Las Vegas for the Boulder Club.
Young Electric Sign Company – which became known by its acronym “YESCO” – soon became recognized as a leader in the sign industry, tackling large and complex sign projects. For example, it erected the first neon spectacular sign in Las Vegas for the Boulder Club in the late ’30s, and in 1995 it completed the four-block-long Fremont Street Experience canopy in Las Vegas.
YESCO continues to design, build, install and maintain signs and interior displays in areas including the application of light-emitting diode (LED) technology to signs. In recent years, YESCO has built a substantial outdoor digital media (billboard) division of its business.
From the outside of the building, it looks like a brilliant illuminated globe. The 35’-diameter hemisphere is covered with thousands of full-color LEDs. Colorful video and special effects, along with animations provided by YESCO’s media services group, are displayed on the globe’s surface, telling the NBC story. When it was first turned on, it literally stopped traffic on West 49th Street.
, the massive eraser glides silently and smoothly up and down over the LED message center, appearing to change the graphics as it goes. The eraser weighs 62,000 pounds, and is counterbalanced by a 62,000-pound weight inside the sign.
The sign uses 4,377,600 LEDs and the eraser is powered by a 300 hp motor at its base that runs a gear and cable system. The firm of FTSI engineered the 62,000-pound eraser’s movement, which is capable of speeds up to 10 feet per second (3 m/s).
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More formally known as the Young Electric Sign Company's Neon Sign Graveyard, or also as the Neon Boneyard,
YESCO maintains a storage yard of retired signs in Las Vegas in a fenced lot behind its facility that is not open to the public. The lot is located at 899 Encanto Dr. Las Vegas, Nevada 89101. Many signs can be seen with online map viewing websites. The company has been instrumental in supporting the Neon Museum
, which is dedicated to preserving the neon signs and associated artifacts of Las Vegas. The Neon Museum has now moved many of the signs from YESCO's lot to a new storage facility at the future home of the Neon Museum in Downtown Las Vegas, where they are awaiting restoration.
Some of the retired signs in the boneyard include the sign for the Silver Slipper
casino and Aladdin's lamp from the first version of Aladdin Casino. In 2004 the Binions Horseshoe sign was relocated to the boneyard when Harrah's
bought the casino. They then sold the casino to MTR Gaming Group
that rebranded the casino as Binion's Gambling Hall and Hotel
.
.
Young married Elmina Carlisle in 1916. Four years later, in 1920, he founded his own sign company: Thomas Young Sign Company, which specialized in coffin plates, gold window lettering, lighted signs and painted advertisements.
In 1932 Young expanded his business to Las Vegas, and within two years purchased the Ogden Armory for $12,000 to expand production capacity. He also started a branch in Salt Lake City in that year.
Young was elected president of the National Sign Association in 1936, serving for two terms. A year later, in 1937, he moved his family and YESCO headquarters to Salt Lake City, Utah, and continued expanding the business.
In 1969 Young turned over the reins of company leadership to his son. Young died two years later.
designers have included:
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
. The company was founded by Thomas Young in 1920 and today has divisions and branches in 10 western states, as well as in Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
and Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. YESCO offers a comprehensive range of services for electronic signs
Electronic signage
Electronic signage, , are illuminant advertising media in signage industry. Major electronic signage include fluorescent signs, HID , incandescent signs, LED signs, and neon signs. Besides, LED signs and HID are so-called digital signage.-Status:Electronic signs may be used indoors or outdoors...
, including design, fabrication, installation and ongoing maintenance.
Many notable sign projects have been produced by YESCO. These include the NBC Experience globe in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, the historic El Capitan Theatre
El Capitan Theatre
El Capitan Theatre is a fully restored movie palace at 6838 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. It is owned by Pacific Theatres and operated by the Walt Disney Company. It serves as the venue for many of Walt Disney Pictures' movie premieres...
and Wax Museum
Wax museum
A wax museum or waxworks consists of a collection of wax sculptures representing famous people from history and contemporary personalities exhibited in lifelike poses....
marquee
Marquee (sign)
A marquee is most commonly a structure placed over the entrance to a hotel or theatre. It has signage stating either the name of the establishment or, in the case of theatres, the play or movie and the artist appearing at that venue...
s in Hollywood, the most recent incarnation of the Reno Arch
Reno Arch
The Reno Arch is an iconic landmark in Reno, Nevada spanning Virginia Street at the intersection with Commercial Row. The arch as visible today is the 3rd installed at this location. The original arch was built in 1926 to commemorate the completion of the Lincoln and Victory Highways. The current...
and numerous icons in Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
, such as Vegas Vic
Vegas Vic
Vegas Vic is the unofficial, yet most widely used name for the Las Vegas, Nevada neon sign that resembles a cowboy that was erected on the exterior of The Pioneer Club in Las Vegas in 1951. The sign was a departure in graphic design from typeface based neon signs, to a friendly and welcoming human...
, the Fremont Street Experience
Fremont Street Experience
The Fremont Street Experience is a pedestrian mall and attraction in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. The FSE occupies the westernmost 5 blocks of Fremont Street, including the area known for years as "Glitter Gulch," and portions of some other adjacent streets.The attraction is a barrel vault canopy,...
, the Astrolabe in The Venetian and the recent Wynn Las Vegas
Wynn Las Vegas
Wynn Las Vegas is a resort and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The US $2.7 billion resort is named after casino developer Steve Wynn and is the flagship property of Wynn Resorts Limited. The resort covers . It is located on Las Vegas Boulevard and Sands Avenue Wynn Las...
resort sign.
History
The company was created by Thomas Young on March 20, 1920. The young sign painter had left EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
just a decade earlier to immigrate with his family to Ogden, Utah. In the beginning, his shop specialized in coffin plates, gold leaf window lettering, lighted signs and painted advertisements. As the science of lighting and sign-making advanced, so did Tom Young’s signs.
In 1933, YESCO opened a branch office in the Apache Hotel in Las Vegas. The company erected the first neon sign in Las Vegas for the Boulder Club.
Young Electric Sign Company – which became known by its acronym “YESCO” – soon became recognized as a leader in the sign industry, tackling large and complex sign projects. For example, it erected the first neon spectacular sign in Las Vegas for the Boulder Club in the late ’30s, and in 1995 it completed the four-block-long Fremont Street Experience canopy in Las Vegas.
YESCO continues to design, build, install and maintain signs and interior displays in areas including the application of light-emitting diode (LED) technology to signs. In recent years, YESCO has built a substantial outdoor digital media (billboard) division of its business.
The Boneyard
Next to the Las Vegas branch, there is a lot of land in which any old, unused signs are put. YESCO's Las Vegas Boneyard has been used in numerous movies, television shows and music videos.The NBC Experience Store Globe
NBC ushered in the millennium with a new YESCO “message globe” in its NBC Experience store, located at Rockefeller Center in New York City. The electronic sign quickly became recognized as one of the most distinctive electronic displays in the world.From the outside of the building, it looks like a brilliant illuminated globe. The 35’-diameter hemisphere is covered with thousands of full-color LEDs. Colorful video and special effects, along with animations provided by YESCO’s media services group, are displayed on the globe’s surface, telling the NBC story. When it was first turned on, it literally stopped traffic on West 49th Street.
Vegas Vic
Perhaps the world’s most recognized electronic sign, Vegas Vic was designed by and built by YESCO. Upon its installation in 1951 over the Pioneer Club on historical Fremont Street, the 40'-tall electronic cowboy immediately became Las Vegas’s unofficial greeter.Wynn Las Vegas
The 135 feet (41.1 m) tall marquee features a 100 feet (30.5 m) high, 50 feet (15.2 m) wide, concave, double-faced LED message center with a first-of-its-kind “moving eraser.” Conceived by Steve WynnSteve Wynn (developer)
Stephen Alan "Steve" Wynn is an American business magnate who played a pivotal role in the 1990s resurgence and expansion of the Las Vegas Strip...
, the massive eraser glides silently and smoothly up and down over the LED message center, appearing to change the graphics as it goes. The eraser weighs 62,000 pounds, and is counterbalanced by a 62,000-pound weight inside the sign.
The sign uses 4,377,600 LEDs and the eraser is powered by a 300 hp motor at its base that runs a gear and cable system. The firm of FTSI engineered the 62,000-pound eraser’s movement, which is capable of speeds up to 10 feet per second (3 m/s).
YESCO's "Bone Yards"
YESCO maintains a storage yard of retired signs in Las Vegas in a fenced lot behind its facility that is not open to the public. The lot is located at 899 Encanto Dr. Las Vegas, Nevada 89101. Many signs can be seen with online map viewing websites. The company has been instrumental in supporting the Neon Museum
Neon Museum at the Fremont Street Experience
The Neon Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, features signs from old casinos and other businesses displayed outdoors on over . The museum is restoring the La Concha Motel lobby as its visitor center....
, which is dedicated to preserving the neon signs and associated artifacts of Las Vegas. The Neon Museum has now moved many of the signs from YESCO's lot to a new storage facility at the future home of the Neon Museum in Downtown Las Vegas, where they are awaiting restoration.
Some of the retired signs in the boneyard include the sign for the Silver Slipper
Silver Slipper
The Silver Slipper was a Las Vegas, Nevada casino that operated from September 1950 to November 29, 1988. The building was designed by architect Martin Stern, Jr....
casino and Aladdin's lamp from the first version of Aladdin Casino. In 2004 the Binions Horseshoe sign was relocated to the boneyard when Harrah's
Harrah's Entertainment
Caesars Entertainment Corporation is a private gaming corporation that owns and operates over 50 casinos, hotels, and seven golf courses under several brands. The company, based in Paradise, Nevada, is the largest gaming company in the world, with yearly revenues $8.9 billion...
bought the casino. They then sold the casino to MTR Gaming Group
MTR Gaming Group
MTR Gaming Group Inc. is a hospitality company based in Chester, West Virginia. The company holds, mostly through several subsidiaries, hotels, casinos and sports facilities...
that rebranded the casino as Binion's Gambling Hall and Hotel
Binion's Gambling Hall and Hotel
Binion's Gambling Hall & Hotel is a hotel and casino located in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada on the Fremont Street Experience. The casino is named for its founder, Benny Binion and has 366 rooms, two restaurants and a rooftop pool...
.
The Fremont Street Experience
YESCO installed the vaulted canopy arching 90 feet (27.4 m) above four blocks of Fremont StreetFremont Street
Fremont Street is a street in Las Vegas, Nevada, and is the second most famous street in the Las Vegas metropolitan area after the Las Vegas Strip...
.
Custom Signs
YESCO provides businesses of all sizes and types with custom signs and display systems. The company’s services in this area include design, fabrication, installation and ongoing maintenance.Resorts & Casinos
In 1932 YESCO expanded into the resort and casino industry – just a year after gaming was legalized in Las Vegas – and has played an important role in the resort and casino industry ever since, not only in Las Vegas but throughout regions of the United States and Canada where gaming is found. The company maintains separate manufacturing facilities for interior signs, exterior signs and digital electronics.Founder
Born in Sunderland, England, in 1895, Thomas Young was 15 years old when his family emigrated to Ogden, Utah. Hard-working and talented, the boy applied his passion to making signs, becoming a Master Sign Writer. He began by creating wall-lettering and gold-leaf window signs, working for the Electric Service Company and the Redfield-King Sign Company in Ogden.Young married Elmina Carlisle in 1916. Four years later, in 1920, he founded his own sign company: Thomas Young Sign Company, which specialized in coffin plates, gold window lettering, lighted signs and painted advertisements.
In 1932 Young expanded his business to Las Vegas, and within two years purchased the Ogden Armory for $12,000 to expand production capacity. He also started a branch in Salt Lake City in that year.
Young was elected president of the National Sign Association in 1936, serving for two terms. A year later, in 1937, he moved his family and YESCO headquarters to Salt Lake City, Utah, and continued expanding the business.
In 1969 Young turned over the reins of company leadership to his son. Young died two years later.
Designers
Some of YESCO's most prominent signageSignage
Signage is any kind of visual graphics created to display information to a particular audience. This is typically manifested in the form of wayfinding information in places such as streets or inside/outside of buildings.-History:...
designers have included:
- Charles Barnard - designer of Vegas Vickie
- Rudy Christomo - designer of the Rio'sRio All Suite Hotel and CasinoThe Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino is located off the Las Vegas Strip in the unincorporated area of Paradise, Nevada, USA. It is better known as The Rio and is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment Inc. The Rio was the first all suite resort in the Las Vegas area...
column - Dan Edwards - designer of Lucky the Clown of Circus CircusCircus Circus- Casinos :* Circus Circus Las Vegas** Circus Circus Heliport* Circus Circus Reno* Circus Circus Enterprises, a casino operator* Circus Circus Tunica, a former name of the Gold Strike Resort and Casino in Tunica, Mississippi- Music :...
- Jack Larsen Sr - designer of the Silver SlipperSilver SlipperThe Silver Slipper was a Las Vegas, Nevada casino that operated from September 1950 to November 29, 1988. The building was designed by architect Martin Stern, Jr....
- Kermit Wayne - designer of the StardustStardust Resort & CasinoThe Stardust Resort & Casino was a casino resort located on along the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada.The Stardust opened in 1958, although most of the modern casino complex was built in 1991. At its March 13, 2007 demolition it was the youngest undamaged high-rise building to ever be...
- Pat DennerPat DennerPat Denner is the designer of Vegas Vic. In 1951, the Young Electric Sign Company in Salt Lake City commissioned Mr. Denner to design an illustration for the manufacturing of the neon sign...
- designer of the Vegas VicVegas VicVegas Vic is the unofficial, yet most widely used name for the Las Vegas, Nevada neon sign that resembles a cowboy that was erected on the exterior of The Pioneer Club in Las Vegas in 1951. The sign was a departure in graphic design from typeface based neon signs, to a friendly and welcoming human...
and Wendover WillWendover WillWendover Will is a sign created for the Stateline Casino in West Wendover, Nevada in 1952. It is now a landmark for the town of West Wendover.-History:...