Why this mural no longer graces downtown Las Vegas
A Downtown Las Vegas mural painted for the 2014 Life is Beautiful music festival is no more.
The Horned Lizard mural, which adorned a building at 301 N. Sixth St., was painted over by workers this week on behalf of the team at El Cortez Hotel and Casino, which owns the building.
A spokesperson for the owners said, “After 43 years, the building needed to be painted on the inside and out. There is no plan to add additional murals at this time.”
The mural, which was painted by Belgian street artist ROA, is listed as a tourist attraction on Google, with six 5-star reviews from the last two years. Comments include “Unique” and “Very Cool.”
ROA is known for putting his monochromatic work — often animals — on buildings across the world.
The downtown building is the central plant or energy building for El Cortez.
Contact Sean Hemmersmeier at shemmersmeier@reviewjournal.com. Follow @seanhemmers34 on X.