The establishment’s reputation as a hangout for mobsters earned it a mention in the movie “Casino” as the thinly veiled Leaning Tower Restaurant. The business was originally located near the intersection of Harmon and Las Vegas Boulevard, where City Center is today. The tilted neon sign was designed by Ben Mitchem in 1964. This Italian eatery impressed both Hollywood and the Ivy League. Tower of Pizza, Las Vegas Strip, May, 1979, Toon Michiels, American Neon Signs by Day & Night Today, the site is the location of the Downtown Container Park. Sadly, the motel is best remembered for a tragic explosion on the morning of January 7, 1967, when an Army deserter killed himself and five others by shooting a pistol into a stack of dynamite.Įxplosion at Orbit Inn, 1967, Nevada State MuseumĮxplosion at Orbit Inn, 1967, Ken Jones, Las Vegas Sunįormer Sheriff Ralph Lamb noted, “That was a big thing when they blowed that Orbit Inn up, you know.” District Attorney George Franklin dryly observed, “A man doesn’t accidentally take 50 sticks of dynamite up to a motel room with him.” Sometime during the 1970s, the original sign was zapped by a flying saucer, which hovered over the property until the 1980s. The rocket portion of the sign was replaced by a more functional “Motel” element in the 1960s. Author Tom Wolfe cited it as an example of Las Vegas’s unrestrained “Late American Rich” style. The first featured a rocket and a globe encircled by orbit trails. It was the home of not one but two Space Age signs. The Orbit Inn launched on Fremont and 7th Streets in 1963. They take us back to the 1960s and 1970s, a time when even modest businesses used over-the-top advertisements. In part three of the Lost Signs of Las Vegas, we take a look at signs from smaller properties that longtime locals and frequent visitors might remember.
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