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.

They take us back to the 1960s and 1970s, a time when even modest businesses used over-the-top advertisements. 

Orbit Inn

_{Orbit Inn, 1964, Charles Phoenix}

The Orbit Inn launched on Fremont and 7th Streets in 1963. It was the home of not one but two Space Age signs. The first featured a rocket and a globe encircled by orbit trails. Author Tom Wolfe cited it as an example of Las Vegas’s unrestrained “Late American Rich” style. The rocket portion of the sign was replaced by a more functional “Motel” element in the 1960s.  

_{Orbit Inn, early 1970s, VintageLasVegas.com} 

Sometime during the 1970s, the original sign was zapped by a flying saucer, which hovered over the property until the 1980s.    

_{Orbit Inn, 1979, Craig Gustafson}

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. 

_{Explosion at Orbit Inn, 1967, Nevada State Museum}

_{Explosion at Orbit Inn, 1967, Ken Jones, Las Vegas Sun}

Former 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.” 

Explosion at Orbit Inn, 1967, Ken Jones, Las Vegas Sun

The Orbit Inn closed in 1987. Today, the site is the location of the Downtown Container Park.

Tower of Pizza

_{Tower of Pizza, Las Vegas Strip, May, 1979, Toon Michiels, American Neon Signs by Day & Night}

This Italian eatery impressed both Hollywood and the Ivy League. The tilted neon sign was designed by Ben Mitchem in 1964. The business was originally located near the intersection of Harmon and Las Vegas Boulevard, where City Center is today. The establishment’s reputation as a hangout for mobsters earned it a mention in the movie “Casino” as the thinly veiled Leaning Tower Restaurant.  Yale professors Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown had their own slant on the sign, featuring a photograph of it in their groundbreaking architectural study, “Learning from Las Vegas.”   

_{Tower of Pizza, Las Vegas Strip, 1968, Las Vegas Studio: Images from the Archives of Robert Venturi & Denise Scott Brown} 

The restaurant moved to Henderson, Nevada in 1984. The sign was damaged and later scrapped in 1987. 

_{Tower of Pizza, Boulder Highway, Henderson, 1986, UNLV Digital Collections}

 Steak Corral

The winking Steak Corral chef stood at the intersection of Charleston and Las Vegas Boulevards from 1966 until the mid-1970s.

_{Steak Corral, opening day, April 28, 1966.  Las Vegas Review-Journal (April 28, 1966), p. 14}

The site had been the location of Sill’s Drive-In Restaurant in the 1940s and 1950s (“Good food need not be expensive”) and then Tip Top before becoming Steak Corral.

_{Steak Corral, intersection of Charleston and Las Vegas Boulevards, July 1967.  The Gateway Motel and sign seen in the foreground remain at this location, VintageLasVegas.com}

When it opened, the restaurant touted self-service, no tipping and a steak sandwich platter complete with baked potato, a “slab of Texas Toast,” and a green salad for $1.09. The location is currently a 7-Eleven convenience store. 

_{Steak Corral, July 1968, VintageLasVegas.com}

Only one of the sign’s eyes was lit at night, transforming the friendly chef into a knife-wielding cyclops.

_{Steak Corral, home movie, 1967, 8mm film by Thomas Byrne’s dad, VintageLasVegas.com} 

Do you remember visiting the Orbit Inn, Tower of Pizza or Steak Corral? Share your memories with us on Facebook or Instagram.