A Star for Elvis

Elvis Presley in the Las Vegas Walk of Stars Timeline

This is a ten-year roller coaster story.

February 2008 - The Viva Las Vegas Club signs on to sponsor Elvis Presley into the Las Vegas Walk of Stars. Every star in the walk is required to be funded by a sponsor. The required total is $15,000 to create and install the star.  The campaign is launched to collect donations.
August 2008 – Friends, fans, and clubs step up and donate. The fundraising goal is met and the campaign is ended.
September 2008 - The Elvis Presley star has its induction ceremony and is installed in front of the Riviera on Las Vegas Blvd.

February 2015 – The Riviera property is sold to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The convention center is expanding.  The yearlong plan is for the hotel/casino to be torn down and turned into a parking lot.  The LVCVA requests the Walk of Stars to remove any stars from the property. (Elvis Presley, Liberace, Sammy Davis Jr, Frank Marino)
March 2015 – The stars are removed; three are kept for future re-installation. The Elvis Presley star is deemed too damaged to be re-used.  The star is given to its sponsor, the Viva Las Vegas Club.
August 2015 – The Viva club donates the “old” star to the Neon Museum, which happily accepts it into their collection of Las Vegas history. The star is put into storage for future usage. 
(Side note) December 2015 – The Riviera hotel has been demolished and the parking lot constructed.  Riviera Blvd is formally renamed Elvis Presley Blvd.  The street name signs are swapped.  The Westgate, formerly the Hilton, legally requested the street name change. The request was agreed to by the LVCVA and received unanimous approval from the Clark County Planning Commission.

February 2016 – The “new” Elvis Presley star is installed in front of the Paris, joining the three stars saved from the Riviera.

October 2017 – The Clark County commissioners approve safety bollards to be installed the length of the Las Vegas “Strip.” As per legal agreement, the Las Vegas Walk of Stars is notified and requested to remove over 30 stars to save them from destruction since the stars occupy the space where the bollards will be built.
November 2017 – The LVWOS does not have the funding to save the 30 plus stars as a group and leaves the stars to their fate.
December 2017 – Almost all of the stars lining Las Vegas Blvd in front of the Paris are destroyed and removed from the sidewalk.  The safety bollards are installed.  The “new” Elvis Presley star is gone.

January 2018 – The “old” Elvis Presley star is resurrected by the Neon Museum. It is installed as a focal point for its new Electronic Promenade, a walkway made up of inscribed and dedicated paver stones.
February 2018 – A couple of members of the Viva Las Vegas club visit the Paris hotel and discover that the “new” Elvis star is gone.  The club president researches the story behind its disappearance. She learns that the walk of stars organization will install replacement stars when a new safe location is chosen and the large funding amount is obtained.
May 2018 – By accident, the Viva Las Vegas club president finds out that the “old” star has reappeared.  She helps the Neon Museum learn of the details behind the 2015 donation and works with the museum to ensure that a dedication paver for the club is placed next to the star. 

March 2019 -- The replacement star is installed in front of the Paris.  Elvis is near his friend, Bobby Darin. Elvis Presley now has two stars (old and new) to keep his memory alive in a town he helped make famous.

2020 - Wayne Newton asks to have his replacement star installed next to Elvis. And it is!

2022 - ELVIS movie director Baz Luhrmann visits the Neon Museum with Interview Magazine and poses with the star! (scroll down to see)
https://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/baz-luhrmann-is-back-and-omer-fedi-is-taking-notes

The Viva Las Vegas club has been taking care of Elvis Presley in Las Vegas in its own way since 2004. Its members are proud to have been able to maintain this goal in part in connection with the Las Vegas Walk of Stars, the MakeOverGroup stone masons, and the Neon Museum, and are immensely grateful for their support.

For more information and to contact:  www.VivaLasVegasClub.com

To get more information, please visit the Questions tab above.

Feb 6, 2016 -  Some Viva club members pose with the star at the Paris in celebration!

Unfortunately, this marker was destroyed in late 2017.  Replaced March 2019.

Below, the original star saved from the Riviera is now at the Neon Museum.

ELVIS movie director Baz Luhrmann poses with the star at the Neon Museum June 2022