Thursday, March 27, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Ex-madams
try to save
old brothel
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RENO -- Sharnel Silvey remembers the money she and other prostitutes earned at the Mustang Ranch. Now, the ex-madam thinks the state's first legal bordello could be a gold mine for Nevada.
Upset over a federal plan to demolish Nevada's best-known brothel, a group of women who worked there before it closed wants to convert it into a museum and tourist attraction.
The women shared the plan at a meeting held Tuesday to gather ideas for long-term management of the riverfront property.
The Bureau of Land Management obtained title to the property 15 miles east of Reno last month and announced plans to demolish the pink stucco main building and a smaller unit.
"I really think it would be a big tourist draw if they turned it into a museum. It's world-famous," said Silvey, who worked at Mustang Ranch from 1986 to 1999.
"People still drive by to see it, and they would pay to go inside. They could put memorabilia inside and show people what Mustang was like in its heyday," she said.
BLM officials said they want to demolish the brothel this summer because the buildings are in a flood plain and violate safety codes. But they said they would consider proposals to disassemble and move the parlor where the women used to line up for customers.
"If they can come up with the money, we're open," said John Singlaub, manager of the BLM's Carson City district. "It would be too expensive to move the entire building."
Silvey said her group is hoping to drum up support for opening a museum on the present site. If that fails, she'll try to secure backing to move the parlor and a suite of the main building to nearby Virginia City.
"It would still be a major tourist draw in Virginia City," she said, and make money for the county.
The legal house of prostitution has been closed since the IRS seized it in 1999 after the conviction of the bordello's manager and its parent companies in a fraud and racketeering case. The women who worked there were evicted and the brothel padlocked.
