So, what exactly is the state of licensed prostitution in Nevada, these days?
Extract of referenced article:
Final Structure of Old Mustang Ranch Brothel Airlifted to New Location Near Reno
RENO, Nev. Sept. 12, 2004 ? The final section of the infamous Mustang Ranch brothel the parlor in which the working girls lined up for customers was airlifted four miles to the east on Sunday to the new location of the ranch at the Wild Horse Adult Resort & Spa.
The buildings that housed the girls' chambers, the kitchen and other rooms were moved to the new location by truck, but the 63-foot wide parlor was too big to travel by highway.
It almost was too big for the double-rotored helicopter brought in by Columbia Helicopters Inc., out of Aurora, Ore.
Its crew estimated that the chopper could lift 11 tons and Wild Horse owner Lance Gilman estimated the weight of the stripped parlor at 500 pounds less than that.
But when the pilot hooked up the wood and steel skeleton of the building, he estimated the weight at 12.5 tons and too heavy to safely fly from the Mustang Ranch location to the new brothel. Crews cut out about 3,000 pounds of 12-inch wooden braces to allow the move.
"They just felt they couldn't have controlled it," Gilman said.
About a dozen girls cheered and champagne flowed as the chopper gently lowered the skeleton of the parlor into place and workers secured it to a concrete pad.
Gilman, a Reno-based developer, opened the Wild Horse on a limited basis in 2002, then expanded it to its current 30,000 square foot size over the next year.
He immediately had his eye on the Mustang Ranch, which the government seized in 1999 after its owners were convicted of racketeering.
After prevailing in a series of court suits and environmental challenges, Gilman simply bought the property and its name on eBay from the U.S. Bureau and Land Management for $145,000. He estimates he has spent $1.5 million since then on site preparation and the move of the dozen sections of the pink stucco-clad buildings.
"This is a 4 1/2-year effort to achieve all this," he said.
The girls' cubicles and other rooms branch out like spokes from the hexagonally shaped parlor. Two of the spokes can't fit on the site in front of the Wild Horse and will become a museum filled with Mustang Ranch memorabilia.
They include the garish parlor where Mustang Ranch owner Joe Conforte lived before fleeing to Brazil to escape an income tax conviction.
Gilman said he had been contacted by scores of people who want to donate items to the museum, including Conforte.
Susan Austin, the Wild Horse madam, supervised everything from the African hunting trophies in the parlor to the paint schemes in the private suites in the new brothel. She said the renovated Mustang Ranch would not include the flocked red wallpaper and chintzy furnishings of the original.
"That just wouldn't be me," she said.
The 22-foot domed ceiling will have a skylike glow and the decor will be tasteful.
It will, however, again be a lineup brothel. At the Wild Horse, men enter a bar where they socialize with the women. A lineup is available if they request it.
The Wild Horse has about 35 women working 12-hour shifts. Austin said about 50 more would be working when refurbishing of the new buildings is finished in about 3 months.
"The Mustang girls are back," one worker said.
Posted by thinkum at September 13, 2004 06:23 PM