The Las Vegas Courtesan

Carlin is the next stop along the Interstate-80 trail of small towns lining the highway that each seem to have a brothel or two located in or around them. I was very unsure when embarking on this trip that both brothels, Sharon’s Bar & Brothel and The Dovetail Ranch, were open. At the time I was looking for information, The Dovetail had no website and Sharon’s website doesn’t seem to be updated that often (also the directions on their site were so confusing I just hoped that Google maps wouldn’t let me down in the middle of the desert.) Carlin is a small 2,000 person town 23 miles east of Elko, and both brothels are located on a highway-to-nowhere on the eastern outer edge of town. I was glad to see that my venture paid off as both brothels are open for business, though I ran into the same common problem on the trip: my Christmas season timing made the selection of girls to be little to none.

 At least in Carlin I wasn’t met with the same strange “you can’t wait in the bar area” regulations like in Elko, though both are in the same county. Then again both places were small enough I don’t think they could have fit in a parlor. I am still perplexed as to how these two places seem to make money since you cannot see them from the freeway, and the small rolling hills make it hard for you to see them even when you are on the small two-laned highway out of town.

Sharon’s Brothel is the first house you get to on Highway 278 heading south away from the small town of Carlin. It’s a large trailer that has a bar and seating area, but has no VIP rooms in the back— only the rooms that the girls live and work out of. Since it was quite small there wasn’t much of a tour to be had, but I did learn one new thing about regulations and testing that I had never heard before. Apparently since there are new tests for HPV and other STD’s, the girls have the option in Nevada to have an anal exam to clear them of any STD’s so that they may also perform anal sex. The girl at Sharon’s informed me that she had the proper testing to be cleared to perform anal sex if the customer desired to do so. I had always wondered about the legal restrictions on anal sex since I had read long ago in the book about the original Mustang Ranch that anal sex was prohibited. I personally would never perform anal sex with any client even if I was cleared to do so, but it’s good to know there are specific tests and requirements for the girls to pass in order to keep them clean and safe.

   I struck up a conversation with the owner (who might have been Sharon herself) while she chain smoked away sitting at the bar by the door. She’s a chatty older woman who seems like she’s seen it all in the brothel industry. I would have loved to pick her brain, but we all know how much I love cigarette smoke and had to leave quickly. I had mentioned wanting to visit the brothels in Nevada since I had moved here (well, even before I had lived here), and she had encouraged writing a book about them instead of writing about them online. I know there have been plenty of small books written over the years and tried to explain that I wouldn’t get rich very quickly by selling a $10 paperback book. Ah well, I guess I’ll stick to my night job!

 The Dovetail has been closed for an undisclosed period, but had recently reopened in September of 2010 when it was bought out by new owners. The girls in that were helping out with keeping the brothel open during the holidays were super nice, but only had one girl on and a couple more on their way from southern Nevada. I unfortunately didn’t get a tour since it seemed like I had come at an inopportune time of day and caught them all off guard. They had a full bar that looked nice, and was all situated in a cute and quaint log cabin. Nice change to the run down looking trailer/manufactured homes. If I were to chose between the two brothels to visit and be entertained, I would have picked the Dovetail Ranch. The cozy and clean feel to the place plus the nice staff won me over between the two options. I hope the new owners do well and keep the place open, just wish it was a little closer to town and the Interstate.

Elko and Wells both reside in Elko county, but are spaced 50 miles from each other along I-80. The actual city is a decent size and is the largest city between the Utah border and Reno along the Interstate. So if you need to grab anything along the way on your trip besides services from a girl, Elko is the place to go to shop for basic needs. The brothels are all quite centrally located in town not too far off of the main street through town, but reside on a street that dead ends at the railroad tracks and around some smaller homes. Elko has four brothels: Inez’s D&D, Mona’s Ranch, Sue’s Fantasy Club, and #1 Geisha, all on one block so that you can walk pretty much from one to the other without hopping back into your car.

In my general thoughts on local regulations I would have expected that Elko had some of the same rules as Wells’ brothels since they are in the same county, but I was apparently very wrong. The regulations regarding girls as clients are odd and really had silly explanations when I asked “why?” Apparently women can not sit at the bar, and can only sit in the parlor area or must go straight to the back if there is no parlor area like at Inez’s D&D. The reason for this rule is in the event that the brothel is raided by local authorities they wouldn’t be able to differentiate between the female clients and girls who are working illegally with no license on file with the county. This is absurd to think of since these are legally owned and operated brothels. Why would they have to constantly worry about being raided or harassed by local authorities if this was all legal? I am sure any other normal business wouldn’t have this constant fear looming over their heads like the brothel madams and owners seemed like when I walked in. It was as if they thought I had a SWAT team following up behind me as soon as I walked in the door and stood in the bar area for more than ten seconds. 

Elko was also the first and only place, that I can recall, where I noticed some brothels had house determined rates based on time and the negotiating was cut out. This seems like it breaks some sort of law as far as the girls being independent contractors by not being able to negotiate some of their own prices. All in all, Elko gave me a weird vibe as far as their service and how they treated females. I am sure this would differ if I had walked in and was a man, of course. Further in my trip I met one prostitute that wanted to go have some fun and ended up in Elko (either at Mona’s or Sue’s, I can’t recall). She claimed she had a great time even though their rules were a little odd. That gave me hope that I just had an odd experience due to the time of day/time of year of my visit.