Randy Cassingham's Blog

Posted by Dustin L., California on October 10, 2008:

Looking at the picture of the "bike" parking, I'm pretty sure it's for motorbikes - not bicycles. There's no place to lock up a bicycle right there.

I also like that the Kit Kat is open 25 hours. I assume that's eight days a week.

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One would hope! Yes, I'm sure motorcycles could park in the "BIKE" parking spots, but bicycles are what came to mind when I saw it, so I went with my first impression. -rc

Posted by Russ, California on October 10, 2008:

As the "Russ" mentioned in this story, I'd like to point out that I was driving to this area strictly for historical purposes to visit the marker less than 1/3 mile from "the ranch" that notes the ridge above the ranch was part of the famous Pony Express route from Hall's Station to Carson City. I was simply being a good friend to drive Randy et al to the ranch.

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Uh huh. I noticed you didn't want to wait in the car! -rc

Posted by David, Canada on October 10, 2008:

Shall we start calling you "Holden Caulfield" then, Randy? :)

(And, as a side note, as a cyclist, I'm with Dustin on the hypothesis of the "bikes" parking - another reason would be because unless they live in town, it looks like a long way to ride a bicycle from anywhere.)

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While I Catch your Wry reference, I'll demur since I'm not a fictional character. -rc

Posted by Beth, Denver, CO on October 10, 2008:

Thank you for posting this, Randy. It was quite an interesting read. I was surprised to read that they are checked weekly, but I'm pleased to learn that women that are working in that particular industry are taken care of in that manner.

Are there any brothels with male workers, either exclusively or co-ed? Is male prostitution legal, or only female?

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Glad you found it interesting. The "Hollywood Madam" Heidi Fleiss announced plans for a brothel stocked with men in 2005. I've never heard whether it ever got (cough) up and running or not, though. -rc

Posted by Tom in California on October 10, 2008:

I recall seeing a 60 Minutes interview with the owner of the Mustang Ranch (I believe it has since declared bankruptcy) who stated that she would love to have male prostitutes working there. The only catch - she couldn't find any men who could work an 8-hour shift.

Posted by Jeremy, Tigard Oregon on October 11, 2008:

Randy, you rock!

My wife and I, and her best friend, got a tour of the Bunny Ranch a few years ago - we stopped in for t-shirts but were offered a tour while we were there. While we primarily dealt with the one woman, conversations with the other ladies showed them all to be quite well-read and intelligent. Definitely the highlight of our trip to Nevada!

(yes, it was a little weird for me to tour a cathouse with two ladies 'on my arm' and one of them my wife; our tour guide had a little verbal fun with me on that account)

What I remember most - aside from the impressive business savvy of our tour guide - was the 'wet room' and the hobby horse, just in case you hit the same rooms on your tour that we did...

Posted by Mark - Melbourne, Australia on October 11, 2008:

Interesting. Reminds me of a friend who briefly worked in a similar institution when I was at Uni. She did it for the spending money, and had been first approached by another of her friends who worked there are a receptionist! Her main comment was that many of her clients seemed to be lonely - she had one regular client who paid for her time simply to talk.

Not certain if the establishment was legal or not, but remember her saying that regular check ups were the norm. I might add that this was before HIV/AIDS was well known - still widely thought of as an exclusively gay & intravenous drug user problem.

Posted by Lynn, Melbourne, Australia on October 11, 2008:

Here in Melbourne (and most of Australia) we have legal brothels, escort services, etc. While there isn't a brothel staffed exclusively by males, a woman CAN, through an Escort Agency, get a male, who will take her out for a fun time, as well as "private services". There are only a few Male Escorts for females (the rest are homosexual) so they are quite expensive, thorough & very much appreciated, so I hear (I drive escorts, but these males have their own cars).

Here, I think, they carry out a very necessary function, not just for the lonely, but helping the safety of innocent women [& men - believe it or not] on the streets (& yes, if necessary, escorts can legally file rape & assault charges, but it happens very rarely & there has only been one murder in the past 10 years - not escort related).

Posted by John in Lexington, SC on October 11, 2008:

I'm wondering if you had considered posting this blog in blue, but you might have thought that was trite...

Excellent reportage, Randy, it seems you did an (cough, cough) in depth study, and with your wife along. We'll have to call you Racy Randy, or maybe just Randy Randy.

Posted by Merlin, Kansas on October 11, 2008:

Thanks for an interesting blog! I'm surprised that the girls are checked weekly; I'd thought I heard that the interval was monthly. It sounds like they are treated very well, and well paid for their "services".

I've long thought that the US (and the states) should have really tried to learn the lesson of Prohibition - morality can't be legislated. At least if (like Nevada) you legalize everything, you can regulate it and provide for safety and quality control. Not just prostitution, but drugs and other "moral" choices, too.