![]() The sign was one of the first to exploit the three dimensional sweep of neon on Fremont Street. Boernge and Wayne took the sign design from there. Recalled Harris Sharp, "They said they wanted an unusual sign that could be seen all up and down Fremont Street." (interview with Alan Hess) so working with his partner, Walter Zick, they came up with the pylon sign with the curving tail. Zick and Sharp were postwar graduates of USC's School of Architecture where their classmates included Eldon Davis and Louise Armet, the primary proponents of the Goggie style architecture that was popular at the time. According to Alan Hess, the Yesco designers worked with the local architects, Walter Zick and Harris Sharp, on the design of the Mint. The white stripe of lights that raced across the front of the sign and then upward to the heavens to light the starburst at the top made the Mint one of the most photographed icons on Fremont Street. The famed signage was designed by neon sign designers extraordinare Kermit Wayne and Hermon Boernge of Young Electric Sign Company, From the beginning, iit was an eye-catcher. Lore has it that Prell's wife came up with the name for the new casino/hotel. It was owned, in part, by Milton Prell, who also owned the Sahara Hotel and the Tally Ho on the Strip. The Mint sat on the north side of Fremont Street between First and Second Street.
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