Blue Angel Motel, Las Vegas, Version 1, Triblend Tee

Venue History

The Blue Angel Motel was one of the most recognizable roadside motels in vintage Las Vegas, remembered especially for the enormous blue-and-white angel that watched over East Fremont Street for more than half a century. Located at 2110 East Fremont Street, the motel was developed during the late 1950s, when Fremont Street still served as a major automobile route connecting downtown Las Vegas with Boulder Highway and travelers arriving from the southeast. Groundbreaking took place in September 1957, with the motel and its famous signage completed around late 1957 or early 1958. The property was a classic two-story motor court, offering inexpensive accommodations with exterior room entrances and convenient parking. Yet its rooms were never what made the Blue Angel famous. That distinction belonged to its extraordinary roadside signage, designed by celebrated Las Vegas sign artist Betty Willis, who later created the iconic “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign. Standing approximately 15 feet tall, the Blue Angel figure wore a flowing blue gown and originally revolved atop a pedestal, completing a rotation in about ten seconds. She held a wand in one hand, while huge illuminated “MOTEL” and “BLUE ANGEL” lettering surrounded the property. The figure and sign became an unmistakable landmark for motorists entering Las Vegas and a textbook example of the exuberant Googie and neon design associated with the city’s mid-century roadside architecture. As tourism increasingly shifted toward the Strip and newer highway routes bypassed East Fremont, the surrounding motel district gradually declined. The Blue Angel nevertheless survived for decades, eventually becoming more closely associated with long-term and budget lodging than traditional vacation tourism. The motel ultimately closed, and the buildings were demolished in 2015. Remarkably, the angel and portions of the historic signage survived. The City of Las Vegas acquired them, and the angel was removed for restoration in 2017. After being returned to her original 1958 appearance, she was permanently reinstalled in 2020 near Fremont Street, Charleston Boulevard, and Eastern Avenue, close to the neighborhood she had watched over for generations. Today, the Blue Angel remains one of Las Vegas’s most beloved surviving pieces of roadside history, a graceful neon-era symbol of the motels, motorists, and exuberant signage that once defined East Fremont Street.