09/06/2026
💙 The Blue Angel: A Survivor of Old Las Vegas
Standing above Fremont Street since 1957, the Blue Angel was once the dazzling roadside symbol of the Blue Angel Motel, a classic Las Vegas motor court at 2110 Fremont Street. She was designed by legendary Las Vegas sign artist Betty Willis, the same woman who later created the famous Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign.
At roughly 15 feet tall, she towered over the motel on a 32-foot rotating pole, her blue dress, white wings and wand turning in the desert breeze. For decades, she became a landmark for locals and a beacon for travelers entering Las Vegas from the east.
But Old Vegas disappeared around her.
The motel closed in 2011 and was demolished in 2015. Amazingly, the Blue Angel was left standing alone above the rubble for another two years. In 2017, she was finally taken down and donated to the City of Las Vegas.
After restoration, she returned to the neighborhood in March 2020, only about 700 feet from her original home, at the intersection of Fremont, Charleston and Eastern.
The motel is gone. The neighborhood has changed. But the Blue Angel is still there.
She isn’t just an old motel sign anymore. She’s one of the rare survivors of the mid-century Las Vegas that existed before the mega-resorts, before Fremont became a pedestrian mall, and before so much of the old city disappeared.
