The Las Vegas Courtesan

I was so curious about taking this trip and I am glad I got the time and opportunity to do it, finally. I learned a lot and it really made me see the differences in every city’s or county’s (sometimes ridiculous) laws, how the quality of the houses vary immensely, and how the one state in America where brothels are legal – Nevada – handles legalized prostitution overall. In some ways I was pleased by the businesses and the way they were run and in other ways I was disappointed by the quality of some brothels, their rules, and even their sometimes-remote locations. Information about the brothels on the web is spotty, as far as which ones are currently open versus closed down or switched owners, so I thought actually visiting each place would be the only way to verify which are currently open for business.

First of all, Nevada is a HUGE state. I have taken many a road trip before and have had many people tell me, “You know Nevada is a lot bigger than you think it is,” and I believed them, but the sparse population is what really blew me away. So few people live outside of Clark County (the county Las Vegas is in.) If my little calculations are correct, only 8% of the state’s 2.6 million-person population lives outside of Clark and Washoe counties (Washoe County is where Reno is located.) That’s crazy when you consider the tremendous amount of space in Nevada outside those two counties. It’s also sad that in both of these counties prostitution is disallowed due to the population size being over 400,000, which is written into the state law governing the control of the state’s brothels. The law leaves the other oftentimes-remote counties to decide whether they want or do not want to allow brothels. Surprisingly, Douglas County to the north of Clark County disallows brothels, and it isn’t until Ely (250 miles to the north in White Pine County and pronounced “Ee-lee”) that you find the first brothel in that direction. In fact, the route that I am going to travel is virtually counter clockwise, starting in Ely and ending in Pahrump.

The one thing that really became noticeable as I started visiting these houses is their location. Most all of the brothels are located in a tucked away corner, almost always on the other side of the railroad tracks (and I mean that literally) in these small towns. I got a real shunned vibe from their locations, as if they were banished to that part of town, hidden away for no one to see their sin and shame. Also, I rarely saw roadside advertising, except for along I-80 for the Mustang Ranch and one on the property of Wild West Ranch in Winnemucca (which had a view from the I-80 freeway.) Mind you, these towns are not thriving metropolises, but small towns that have an average population of 5,000 people. I understand the locals not wanting their property value going down due to a brothel in their neighborhood, but as one brothel madam told me, the only reason why you would be going to that side of town is to go to the brothels. So if someone saw you going to that side of town they knew where you were going, and of course, people in small towns notice these things. Most of the brothels had few, if any, signs pointing to its location. You had to be almost to the house for there to be a sign at all and usually you are on your own. Google Maps saved me many times and, if it weren’t for that, I might still be lost driving around the great State of Nevada trying to find my way. Some addresses I had were just plain wrong, and I found plenty of confusing directions, which I hope to clear up completely with each review and brothel profile. In fact, I used a GPS app to get the exact coordinates for the ones that are particularly confusing, and I will be updating that information into my Nevada brothels map.

In conclusion, after seeing every brothel that is in operation in Nevada, I’m glad that, on the one hand, in one corner of America there are legal brothels, but on the other – in a way – I’m sad to see so many of them so hidden away and so scrutinized and controlled by local government that they don’t seem so free and liberated after all. I had hoped to see more of America’s freedom in the Wild West poking through, but even in these very rural, remote towns, they were usually isolated and quarantined.

So over the next few weeks I will post a review and photos on each brothel as I virtually travel around the state to all 26 of the open houses. Yes… I said 26!

Really? Does the county really have that much time and spare tax dollars to deal with cracking down on this?

This has been going on for a while now in the news first with an article back in April and now with another man who has been denied a license to operate – literally next to the the Green Door – is suing the county for damages of $75,000. He states the county rejected his license over the 45 day approval period and that they are enforcing their codes with discrimination since there are obviously other businesses in the same complex operating with similar licenses.

With the first story I was glad that the manager of the Power Exchange is trying to fight the legislation that says that these clubs are a public nuisance. The man involved in the second story unfortunately I think has quite a fight against the county. First of all,  he could have waited to start his improvements to the aging building  until after his license was approved, but also at the same time there shouldn’t have been an issue since this unit originally housed the Green Door and was using the same licenses as other clubs in the area. Secondly, I think there is discrimination all the time with the county and how they enforce their codes and giving one business favor against another and then claiming the reason why the Green Door is still in business is because they haven’t caught them “in the act”. Really? Either way I don’t think that these clubs should be harassed so much, and see no issue with the businesses being in operation since they generally promote safe sex practices and provide a safe way for people to explore their sexuality (each room usually had a monitor of some sort to make sure no one is being forced or uninvited into a sexual act.)

In the end what makes me really mad is the statement of the law saying that sex clubs are a “public nuisance.”  I could think of a lot more things in this city that are a public nuisance than these clubs. If you go to the East Sahara Commercial Center that is mentioned, and where a lot of the clubs are located, you will never see people outside causing a problem nor will you hear loud music or noise coming from the clubs. People aren’t running around outside wearing leather and chains, screaming, and having sex either (though that sounds kind of fun!)  So really what defines these places as being so bothersome?? I have also never seen the cops called out to these places or acts of vandalism occurring outside, but where I have seen a lot of these problems are at the “spa clubs” and parlors that I talked about in this entry I wrote. I know of a a few agencies not too far from these clubs and the cops are called out several times a night due to clients being angry and violent, pulling out guns, or these places being robbed. I have also witnessed damage to the building/windows of these places due to drive-by brick or stone throwing most likely caused by clients or other rival clubs. These places definitely ARE a public nuisance and only make my job as a sex worker in Las Vegas more difficult. I constantly have to prove myself to the men who are ripped off by these joints that I am different and will provide a service, not a hand and ear massage.

Like a reader said in one of the comments on the Las Vegas Sun, Sin City is turning into the place where tourists come to get ripped off and giving our town a bad name. The county commission is once again trying to make Las Vegas into a kind of Disneyland, just like Vegas tried in the early 90’s – an attempt that failed miserably. I think the commission should do their job and find the real public nuisances of our town – the places that are ripping tourists off – not crack down on the sex clubs which are clearly not ripping anyone off or forcing anyone to do something against their own will. Those patrons are all 100% consenting adults exploring the sexuality, which, like it or not Clark County Commission, is one huge reason people come to Las Vegas. Give Las Vegas the sin it deserves and is known for or there is no reason for the tourists to keep coming back. It definitely makes my job a lot harder if no one comes here.

Believe it or not, I didn’t come up with the phrase of “hooker grapevine”. It happened to be a cop that was helping me out after an incident unrelated to my profession downtown and worked the desk on his off nights for incident reports. He was going on about how he used to work for vice and thought “those girls that work are only giving people what they want and not really doing wrong”. Wish more cops thought that way…

Anyway I am going to have a few entries sporadically when I hear about some of the silly stuff from girls that they consider big “news” and is almost all bullsh*t they heard through some girl who heard it from another girl. Some girls are smart but for the most part a lot of them don’t think rationally when they hear the gossip about the latest hooker news. Here are some examples:

1) Clark County has no “incrimination” laws:
I constantly hear girls and especially *customers* who are absolutely convinced that if they ask a person “Are you a cop?” they must answer truthfully if they are or not. First of all… the word incrimination is misused. The real “incrimination law” is more in context with our US Constitution with “pleading the fifth”, and not in this terrible use of the word when dealing with identifying local law enforcement. I roll my eyes every time someone asks me if I am a cop and how you are legally supposed to answer it truthfully if you *were* a cop. This idiotic logic makes my head spin.

2) No More releases of detainees on their own recognizance when arrested by Vice
I’ve heard this “news” from two different girls. One was back in August and more recently a girl who was arrested last week on purely trespassing but was done by vice. I don’t get this discrimination of on department of law enforcement to another. How would the vice department have more special rules than say, you being arrested for a DUI or burglary? It makes no sense at all and sounds like a bunch of crap the officers told them. I hope it’s not true, that’s for sure!

3) Craigslist busts during the daytime
If this little story is true then they have been trying new things out at the police dept. I know Craigslist has long been notoriously high with busts off and on for years and now with the “erotic services” being in the news so much lately because of the new regulations (which I think violates Internet free speech) I am not surprised if the story ended up to be true.

So there’s my three little news stories for today. I’m trying to work right now and waiting for my phone to ring but so far it’s a bunch of people wanting to play jokes. Sad

After everyone left town for the holiday plus the other holiday of 7/7/07 (I couldn’t believe the number of people trying to get married… and who are now suing because it wasn’t what they hoped it would be). Things fell a bit quiet the last few nights. I have worked and not quit to make an amount I am trying to aim to be at least my minimum (I wish it was higher than my minimum, of course) but thankfully I am getting that. Of course I am still hearing girls moaning and complaining about how slow slow slow it is, but I am still praising the poker players here for WSOP. Thanks guys! You save me at 7am when I think there is no one left in town looking for some fun!

Night before last I was at the Luxor Hotel going to a call for a guy who called off of my Eros ad. Of course I was extra careful since I don’t like the Clark County Detention Center and he quickly passed my safe customer check list. He tips me decently and I leave the room and stop off at the gift shop for a drink before I walk out the front doors to my car parked in the front. As I am walking by the hotel registration, I look up to the third floor (the hotel floors above are open to the space of the pyramid inside which is pretty awesome looking from the top) and I see about 12 girls lined up and the first half a millisecond I thought “why would a bachelorette party be lined up… ohhh damn”. About that time I look to see if their hands are behind their backs, then notice the security guard in the front and two guys behind the girls. A vice bust! I get a good look at the undercover officers the best I can from the ground floor and don’t recognize either one of them and make mental note of their faces/hair styles. This bust and tip I heard later on that night of a girl who recognized a vice officer at a Caesar’s bar, further proves what I have been suspicious of before. When it gets a little slower around town, vice takes the opportunity to round up girls. They know that some girls are desperate for money and do or say things they won’t normally do just because they need to make it work that bad. That’s what happened to me the last time I was busted… it was slow and I tried to do whatever I could to advertise and make cash since the services were dead. Now I know better and keep my ears perked.