The Liberace Museum: Mr. Showmanship's Shrine

Liberace called himself Mr. Showmanship, and the museum he opened in nineteen seventy-nine made the case. Filling a shopping complex on Tropicana Avenue just east of the Strip, it displayed the rhinestone-encrusted capes, the mirrored grand pianos, the candelabras, and the custom cars that defined his act.

Liberace had created a foundation for his collection in nineteen seventy-six, and the museum became a beloved Las Vegas institution, drawing tourists who wanted to see excess taken to its logical extreme. It closed in twenty ten when operating costs outpaced a shrinking visitor base. The collection survived, scattered to several Las Vegas venues including the Hollywood Cars Museum on Dean Martin Drive.

A man whose costumes ran to ostrich feathers, mink, and capes would not have been surprised that his things outlasted the building that housed them.