Willis was a graphic designer from Vegas who trained in Los Angeles but moved back to her hometown and began doing design work for Western Neon, one of the main companies that did the neon signs for casinos around town. In May of 1959 she was asked to design the now famous sign and it was erected shortly thereafter (the official date is unknown but it is believed to have been around July of that year). Willis never copyrighted the design of the sign, preferring it to be public domain as her gift to the city. As a result, its shape and basic design have been copied extensively through the years on everything from advertising to souvenirs and it is instantly recognizeable even without the words.

The sign stands at 25 feet tall with the south facing side reading "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" and the north facing side reading "Drive Carefully" and "Come Back Soon." It is currently owned by the Young Electric Sign Company, which leases it to the county.

It is located in the median of Las Vegas Boulevard South, about a mile south of Mandalay Bay and near the entrance of Bali Hai Golf Club. There is no official address but if you need something to plug into your GPS, use 5200 Las Vegas Boulevard South and that will get you close enough to almost touch it.

For most of its more than 50 years in existence, getting near the sign was a dangerous endeavor. Located in the median of busy Las Vegas Boulevard, there were no parking spaces and no crosswalks near it that allowed easy access. What most people would do is park in the lot of a nearby business or residential development and then dash across the street trying to avoid traffic.

In 2008 the county opened a small parking lot just to the south of the sign. It has ten regular spaces plus a couple of handicappped spots and oversized areas for buses and limousines. It is important to note that it is only accessible from the southbound lanes so if you are traveling northbound, you'll need to go past the sign a few hundred feet to the entrance of the Bali Hai Golf Club and turn around.

It is free to visit and photograph the sign and the lot is open 24 hours a day.

Although, as mentioned, souvenirs shaped like the sign are ubiquitous, if you want to own an actual piece of the sign you can do that too. OfficialLasVegasLight.com takes replaced bulbs from the sign and packages them as commemorative souvenirs, with a portion of the proceeds going to charity.