Heidi's Sound and Fury Signifies...?
08:12 AM PT, Nov 17 2005
A few months ago I was driving to Nye County to stay at the Chicken Ranch for a story. Having printed directions from the Ranch's website I found myself led along a bizarrely circuitous path. Later I learned the reason for the scenic route was to get the traffic from Las Vegas to by-pass a strip club and huge billboard that another brothel owner, Joe Richards, had put right on the main thoroughfare between Las Vegas and the two major brothels in Pahrump: Chicken Ranch and Sheri's Ranch. Those two brothels are only about 50 miles from Vegas while Richards' Cherry Patch Ranch brothel is about 80 miles away in Crystal, Nevada. The billboards and strip club caused outrage in Pahrump and have resulted in Richards not being well regarded by many in the brothel industry there. Richards aside, no stunts or envelope pushing or attention is how the brothels here in Southern Nevada like to operate. There is a huge difference in brothel culture between Northern and Southern Nevada. In the North the brothels, particularly the Bunny Ranch, run by Dennis Hof, have courted the press furiously to the point of HBO shows and porn star appearances. Here near Las Vegas though things are very different. Plenty of customers come from the casinos without press and the brothels are forbidden by County regulations to advertise in any way. After two years of effort, I was the first reporter ever allowed to live at a brothel in the South.
Another major difference is that upstate the working girls get to go home after a shift, and down here the brothels practice lock down (where the prostitutes may not leave the brothel premises except for brief forays once a week that include a mandatory doctor visit). Lock downs are not required by Nye County; it is the way the brothels choose to operate here. There are a few reasons for lock down (a practice I am opposed to, by the way) but one of the big ones is so that it spares the people of Pahrump hookers wandering about the small town calling attention to the brothels.
The reason for the difference between North and South is primarily demographic. The area around Reno up North isn't bursting with new residents like down here. Prostitution is only as legal here as the Nye County Commission says it is; and the population of Nye right now is exploding (as Las Vegas overflows its borders). Of course, many of the new residents aren't convinced that raising their kids in a community that allows brothels is a good thing. Therefore the brothels near Pahrump like to stay invisible to those who don't wish to use their services. That works here, because Las Vegas is nearby to provide a steady flow of customers on the lowdown. Enter Richards with his latest move which has attracted huge and unwanted publicity: his announcement of plans to offer male prostitutes to female customers and hire Heidi Fleiss to run the show. Let me tell Movable Buffet readers that this is a publicity stunt and I am convinced will never, never happen. As an article in the Review-Journal this morning makes clear the county ordinance that governs brothel code in Nye County uses "her" throughout to refer to legal prostitutes. Another requirement is offering weekly cervical specimens and just how will aspiring male prostitutes pull that trick off? As for the idea that the convicted felon, Fleiss (who has been trying to push her way into a legal brothel in Nevada for the past year) could be working here the ordinance states: "No person shall be employed...who has ever been convicted of a felony involving moral turpitude." There seems no way the former Hollywood Madam's crimes would escape that regulation. Of course, the Nye County Commission can change its code and regulations with a single vote to allow this, or, as the other brothel owners fear, the controversy may push them toward banning brothel prostitution in Nye County altogether. Regardless, I would not bet on male prostitutes or Heidi Fleiss being employed in Nevada brothels anytime in the foreseeable future.
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I agree that it could be a publicity stunt. I was watching Live and Direct on MSNBC when Fleiss announced her "Stud Farm" would be opening in about four weeks.
Posted by: KJ | November 17, 2005 at 10:10 AM
I hope Heidi Open's her brothol. You go girl I'm a Canadain Escort & you were my insperation to make what I do into a real thriving bussiness. I think opening a male brothol would be good for Neveda it would be the 1st & I agree very profitable.
Posted by: Medoe | November 18, 2005 at 07:20 PM
safe prostitution sounds good stay with it. Always been the answer to a healthy society better than war.
Posted by: alan enstoss | November 18, 2005 at 08:29 PM
Heidi, I saw you on TV when they did a piece on the Chicken Ranch in Carson City NV. I think you are finally doing what a lot of women have wanted for a very long time. I knew Joe Conforte quite well in the 1970's and early 1980's. At that time I tried to get him to open a Ranch for Women. He thought the idea was silly. I think it's great! I wish I could be a part of it somehow! You go girl!
Best of everything.
Lori
Posted by: Lori E. Smith | November 27, 2005 at 03:05 PM
First of all, Heidi Fleiss isn't making any friends in Southern Nevada. Joe Richards HAS no friends. He is putting the industry in jeopardy even more so than Dennis Hof.
Fleiss made the comment that she was the "Smartest and best" Madam in the business. If that is so, why did she get caught? The simple answer is that she is best at running off at the mouth...Even more so than Jo Richards and Hof.
Richards is on the short list for getting his license in Nye County revoked. If not his brothel it will be his "Gentlemen's Kingdom" strip club.
Fleiss's attitude needs a serious adjustment, but I think it's already too late for that.
Another point I'd like to make is that I have serious doubts about the success of the proposed "Stud Farm." Just about any woman living in or visiting Southern Nevada would have no problem getting lucky as long as she is at least a 4-1/2 to a 5 in the looks department on a 1 to 10 scale. So, why spend money and travel 160 miles round trip when you can get all you can handle for free? Nextly, If you check out the guys who hit a place like Sheris, you're not going to see a bunch of Brad Pitts and Tom Cruises. Once in a while the girls get a guy they'd "do for free," but not very frequently. Also, the girls don't have to "prepare" for a romp on the mattress....All they have to do is fake a personality and an orgasm. Guys can't do that even with a couple Viagra's working on it. Nor, do I know a single guy who would do it for 250.00 realizing he had to hand over 50% of the take to Ms. Fleiss. I doubt a guy would give a ride to a 60 year old 230 pound grandma for even 1,000.00. I'm afraid there would be a lot of "technical" problems to overcome before such an operation could succeed.
At any rate, I think the commissioners will take a pass on licensing Heidi Fleiss, and I also think pigs will fly before Joe Richards is allowed to keep his liquor license at his "Brothel Diversion Division" known as "Gentlemen's Kingdom."
Mike -
The guy who "Knows his Whorehouses" according to the "Las Vegas City Life."
Posted by: Mike | November 27, 2005 at 10:04 PM
when does it open
Posted by: jim gould | May 16, 2006 at 05:50 PM
i believe that prostitution shouldnt be something illegal at all first of all because its a womans body and she should be allowed to do whatever she wants with it. however, the government is the ones who push these girls because you cannot live off 9 to 5 jobs you just cant. and not all woman that are prostitutes do drugs, or are on welfare. all i have to say is make it legal everywhere!
heidi all i have to say is..do what you do and YOU GO GIRL!
Posted by: jess | October 11, 2007 at 10:16 AM