This week in Vegas Seven, I also consider the Mob Museum’s first year:
But the Mob Museum—together with the 2012 openings of The Smith Center and the Neon Museum—signaled a new era for Las Vegas’ cultural institutions, and a commitment to Downtown. These institutions have deeper local roots, and it seems more likely that they’ll have staying power.That being said, was the Mob Museum a box-office hit in its first year?
As you may or may not know, I show up at a few places in the museum–not as a subject, but as someone putting the history into context via video and, this never ceases to amaze me, a slot machine. But I didn’t have much to do with the actual design of the exhibits, so I pretty much was watching from the outside like everyone else.
That being said, I think they’ve done a good job of taking the difficult subject and presenting it well. I got to tour the museum again with Jonathan Ullman last week, and am still impressed–lots of material to read for those who want to, and I think it does a good job of presenting the story, particularly with the Vegas material.