Main Page Southern NV Crystal & Amargosa Valley area brothels

Directions to Crystal & Amargosa Valley Brothels:

Crystal (Nye County), NV area:
To get to the Dennis Hof's Crystal properties from Las Vegas, take U.S. 95 NORTH out of town toward Tonopah. Around 56.47 miles northwest from I-15 on highway 95 you will reach the Clark - Nye county line. About 13.79 miles past that border, turn left (south) onto NV 160 EAST (toward Pahrump). If approaching from the northwest, on southbound U.S. 95, turn right (south) onto eastbound 160. Once on highway 160, proceed approximately 6.14 miles, keeping a sharp eye for a very small white-on-brown "Wildlife Viewing Area" sign. This is immediately followed by a standard, black-on-yellow diamond "side road right" warning sign (W2-2R) - with a rectangular white-on-green "Crystal, NV" sign immediately below it - informing you of the subsequent intersection (which comes up VERY quickly), on which you should turn. This will be the unsigned "Ranch Road", the now fully paved path leading west to Crystal.

From downtown Pahrump, take Nevada S.R. 160 WEST (which here actually runs mostly to the north) for about 20.78 miles (from the stoplight at S.R. 372). Please note that the first advance warning sign identifying the Ranch Rd intersection in this direction is a small one that reads "Wildlife Viewing Area" with a left arrow, located a few hundred feet south of the turnoff. As of summer 2011, a "side road left" warning sign (W2-2L) has been added by NDOT just prior to the intersection (and similar in configuration to the one for the other approach direction mentioned above). There are still also a trio of small, non-standard signs located a few feet off of the highway right-of-way (and visible from both directions on NV 160) that advertise the town and its various businesses, including the brothel.

From either approach, it's about 2.84 more miles from highway 160 to Appaloosa Lane on Ranch Road. There will be a large hill on your left just before reaching the side road left intersection at Appaloosa Lane (which comes up quite quickly because of the topography here). At the southwest corner of this intersection is the site of the original, long closed Cherry Patch I building (to be reborn someday as Dennis Hof's Cathouse and Mabel's Bar & Grille or some other name). Turn left onto Appaloosa Lane before passing by that building's parking lot. There is an official street sign at this intersection, as well as a new private sign which reads "Love Ranch" (replacing the former "Cherry Patch" and "Mabel's" placards). Once on Appaloosa, proceed another 0.65 mile south to the Love Ranch Vegas. Appaloosa Lane has been full repaved, the previously reported "numerous deep potholes" are now thankfully long gone. But still, watch your speed here, as the recently erected "Speed Limit 69" sign is actually a parody (the fine print on it does say, "Just Kidding - Really 35". Also watch out for bunnies (seriously, the small animal kind, not the courtesan variety) and other critters darting across the road through here too.

Dennis Hof's Area 51 Alien Travel Center, which includes his Daddy D's Rocket Diner and Alien Cathouse brothel, is located on the north side of U.S. Highway 95 at postmile "NY 30" in Amargosa Valley (also called Lathrop Wells), just a tick under a quarter of a mile east of the northern terminus of Nevada S.R. 373 (or about 16.36 miles west-northwest of the U.S. 95 junction with Nevada S.R. 160 - the road going south to Pahrump). From downtown Las Vegas (I-15 at I-515/U.S. 93/U.S. 95) it is about 86.62 miles on northbound U.S. 95 (or 69.91 from the CR-215 Beltway in northwestren Las Vegas). From Tonopah, it's about 122.95 miles south on U.S. 95 (or, on that same road, approximately 29.625 miles south from Beatty). From the center of Pahrump (NV 160 at NV 372), it is around 42.97 miles via westbound State Route 160 (which runs mostly to the north here) then northbound U.S. 95 (which runs predominently to the west in this area). From Crystal, take Ranch Rd east to its terminus at S.R. 160 (2.84 miles from Appaloosa Ln), turn left on highway 160 and proceed 6.14 miles to its terminus at U.S. 95, then turn left again. About 16.36 miles later, the Area 51 Alien Travel Center and Cathouse will be on your right.

Crystal (Nye County), NV brothels:
Dennis Hof's Love Ranch Vegas
Most recently known as the Love Ranch South
Also sometimes called: Love Ranch Cathouse - Crystal, NV, Love Ranch Crystal, Love Ranch Southern NV, or previously as the Love Ranch/Cherry Patch
(Under prior ownership, known as: Mabel's Whorehouse and also once variously known as: The Cherry Patch I and/or Madame Butterfly's Bathhouse & Brothel Art Museum)
300 Appaloosa Lane
Pahrump^*, NV  89060
    ^*  = For USPS purposes only - the ranch is actually at the southeastern end of Crystal, NV, about 21 miles NNW of downtown Pahrump
Websites:
    www.loveranch.net - Note: common site for both Love Ranch Vegas & Love Ranch North
    www.bunnyranch.com - Note: site of common message board for all of Dennis Hof's brothels
Phone Numbers:
    (775) 372-5251
GPS Information:
    Coordinates: 36° 28' 59.9"N -- 116° 09' 25.0"W note1
    Elevation: 2433' note1
As of August 31, 2010, new owner Dennis Hof had changed the name of this establishment – to the Love Ranch Cathouse, Crystal, Nevada – to distinguish it, both as the newest part of his brothel empire, and to distance it from it's somewhat controversial past as Mabel's Whorehouse (a "classy name", as he sarcasticly described it). He initially planed on appending the suffix "and Cherry Patch Bar", once current renovations to the facilities were completed, but that was later dropped. By early 2011, this house was usually referred to by most, including its management, as the Love Ranch South. But after a management change in mid-2013, the house was rechristened as the Love Ranch Vegas. Located near the near-ghost town known as Crystal, in Nye County about 21 miles north-northwest of Pahrump, this particular settlement is not shown on many maps (it is not the Crystal found just off exit 75 of I-15 in northeastern Clark County).

History - Recent
At an August 17, 2010 meeting of the Nye County Liquor and Licensing Board, Moonlite BunnyRanch owner Dennis Hof was unanimously approved to take over the brothel licenses for Mabel's Whorehouse and the (defunct) Cherry Patch I located near Crystal. This vote paved the way for Mr. Hof to complete the purchase of the brothels from controversial local owner Joe Richards, which took place on Monday, August 30, 2010. After taking control of the properties the next morning, he began immediate work to improve the physical facilities and operation of the open house, initially known as the Love Ranch/Cherry Patch.

Throuought the first year of Hof's ownership, progress on the complete remodeling of the brothel and bar facilities has been steady. Old management and policies were quickly and totally replaced, and the ladies now working there are regularly participating on the Internet. A new website, seperate from that of the Moonlite BunnyRanch, has been established for both Love Ranch properties, this one and its sister operation 400 miles to the north outside of Carson City. However, the common message board for all of Hof's brothels remains located at the BunnyRanch domain, but the new Love Ranch site contains a direct link to it.

Thankfully now gone are the windowless rooms where the ladies working at this house during Richards' reign couldn't even see the sun. The new bar area is cozy and comfortable, just down the hallway (which sports the obligatory souvineer display cases found in all of Mr. Hof's establishments) from the spacious parlor, which resembles a small-scale ski lodge and comes complete with a fireplace. The transformation of this property from a virtual "pussy prison" to a comfortable and even luxurious cathouse is now complete, with the 2012 completion of the one (unoccupied) wing of rooms that was still awaiting renovation as of mid-October 2011. A temporary pool has been installed out back, pending construction of a permanent facility for the ladies and their guests.

History - The Joe Richards era
Before Hof took over in 2010, Joe Richards marketed the Crystal property as Mabel's Whorehouse. That brothel was also known as the Cherry Patch I (after Richards' original house using that name just down the street was closed) and as Madame Butterfly's Bathhouse and Brothel Art Museum. For many years, Richards had large billboards just to the southeast of Pahrump along highway 160 advertising his "brothel art museum" in Crystal, to the bane of most local citizens and politicos. Also for many years he had tried to sway both Nye County and Pahrump officials into granting him the right to open a new brothel (under the old CP1 license he controlled) on undeveloped property he owned on the west side of Homestead Road just south of Silver Street (directly across from the Chicken Ranch and Sheri's) in exchange for removing these unpopular billboards, but to no avail. While many reports in the not-too-distant past spoke of allegedly dank working conditions for the ladies and possible mis-treatment at the hands of this brothel's management, a few more recent accounts had been somewhat less negative. At least that was until the Spring of 2006, when Richards faced Federal prosecution.

Maynard Joseph "Joe" Richards had been arrested by FBI agents in early March 2006 on felony bribery charges. On March 17, 2009, under a deal with federal prosecutors, Richards pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to one count of wire fraud/honest services fraud for offering $5000 to a Nye County Commissioner in exchange for a promise to consider changing local zoning laws which were preventing him from developing a new brothel on property he owned on the south side of Pahrump. The commissioner, who had testified she received the funds in the form of a check from Richards, was working as an informant for the FBI and was wearing a "wire". As a result of this guilty plea, Richards was later sentenced to serve a one year stint in a halfway house, to pay a fine of $250,000, and to be placed on probation for five years.

After this long, drawn-out legal fight Richards received what many considered to be a relatively "light" sentence. Due to legal ambiguities in the wording of Nye County regulations on bordellos, it was subsequently determined by local officials that Richards could not be compeled to forfeit his three local brothel licenses - that in spite of the fact he was now a convicted felon. However, it was deemed that he could be denied renewals of those licenses when the time came for such.

Unable to require him to vacate his brothel licenses, county officials nonetheless kept up the pressure on Richards to divest himself of his bordellos. Finally, on August 17, 2010, Dennis Hof, propriator of the Moonlite BunnyRanch and The Love Ranch in Mound House, received approval to obtain two of the three Nye County brothel licenses held by Richards and the subsequent sale of the two Crystal properties to Hof was completed on August 30, 2010. Taking possesion the next morning, Hof then immediately begin extensive renovations and management changes at the Mabel's site. He also stated at the time that he plans on using both brothel licenses, so a revival at the Cherry Patch I site under the name Dennis Hof's Cathouse (or some other moniker) is possible at some point in the future. Stay tuned for more informaton if and when it becomes available.

This left Richards with only one license and active brothel, the Cherry Patch II in Amargosa Valley. It was not known at that time if any potential buyers were in line for that property, though by the summer of 2011 rumors had Mr. Hof close to buying it as well, but it was obvious that the county was letting Richards remain in the brothel business until he could find a buyer for the CP2. Another 14 months would pass before that brothel - as well as its its adjoining gas station, restaurant, and convienence store - were sold. The buyer once again turned out to be Dennis Hof, who renamed the operation as the Area 51 Alien Travel Center and Cathouse.

Dennis Hof's Cathouse and Mabel's Bar & Grille - Licensed, but not yet open for business - name tentative
(Formerly known as: The Cherry Patch I)
SW corner of Ranch Rd & Appaloosa Lane
Pahrump^*, NV  89060
    ^*  = For USPS purposes only - the building is actually at the eastern end of Crystal, NV, about 21 miles NNW of downtown Pahrump
Website:
    No website known
Phone Numbers:
    None Currently Available
GPS Information:
    Coordinates: 36° 29' 33.0"N -- 116° 09' 18.8"W note2
    Elevation: unknown
The long-closed Cherry Patch I site, located on the southwest corner of Ranch Rd and Appaloosa Lane near Crystal, may someday become the site for Dennis Hof's Cathouse, his second legal brothel in this Nye County town and his third in southern Nevada. More information will be added here if and when it becomes available.

History
What used to be called Mabel's and this Cherry Patch I are actually separate buildings, located about a three fifths of a mile apart. They were originally both licensed and operated as separate brothels. However, this particular Cherry Patch location (the other, the Cherry Patch II, being found in Amargosa Valley) has been closed for many years now, with its name (but not its license, which former owner Joe Richards had hoped to use for a new house in Pahrump) having been effectively transferred to Mabel's about 5/8 a mile to the south down the (then) dirt road. Madame Butterfly's Bathhouse was housed in the same building as Mabel's, and shared the same working ladies, so for all intents and purposes, after this CP1 was closed all three monikers just became different names for the same adult business under Richards' reign in Crystal.

The so-called "brothel art museum" was in an adjoining building from Mabel's (demolished in late 2010 by new owner Hof), connected by a short, covered walkway. It contained hundreds of old newspaper articles relating to the topic of legalized prostitution in Nevada (LPIN), but served mainly as a vehicle for Richards to get around the Nevada law that once prohibited legal brothels from actually advertising. According to a reliable source, Richards stated that he intended to move this museum's artifacts to his Cherry Patch II property in Amargosa Valley once Dennis Hof completed his purchase of the Crystal properties, and it is believed that is what he actually did. However, with Hof's subsequent acquisition of the CP2 in late October of 2011, the fate of Richards' collection is now unknown.

Return to the top
Return to the Southern Nevada index
Return to directions index

Amargosa Valley, NV brothels:
Dennis Hof's Area 51 Alien Cathouse
(Formerly known as: The Cherry Patch II)
2703 E. U.S. Highway 95
Amargosa Valley, NV  89020
Website:
    www.aliencathouse.com - Note: Recently changed URL from ".net" to ".com".
    www.bunnyranch.com - Note: site of common message board for all of Dennis Hof's brothels
      Facebook page:
      Click here to go to the Alien Cathouse's page on Facebook
Phone Numbers:
    (775) 372-5678
GPS Information:
    Coordinates: 36° 38' 37.9"N -- 116° 23' 44.7"W note1
    Elevation: 2704' note1
Dennis Hof's Area 51 Alien Cathouse (formerly known as the Cherry Patch II) is tucked away bwtween and behind the main buildings of his Area 51 Alien Travel Center (f/k/a Nevada Joe's Truck Stop) on U.S. 95 in Amargosa Valley, near postmile "NY 30". The brothel itself is barely visible from the highway, between and behind two other buildings, but is now painted a bright pink (the other buildings being "alien green"). This oasis in the desert – a combination gas station, convienence store, bar and restaurant (now named Daddy D's Rocket Diner) – serves mainly truckers coming up north from Las Vegas or southern California (NV 373, whose northern terminus is about a quarter mile to the west, becomes CA 127 at the state line, about 16 miles south of the U.S. 95 junction) and tourists heading to or from nearby Death Valley.

On or about September 20, 2012, the Alien Cathouse made its debut as Dennis Hof's fourth legel brothel in the state of Nevada, his second in the southern portion of the state. The lovely and very popular Sonja, formerly of the Dovetail Ranch in Carlin, has been named the house madame (and it has been reported that she will still be available for occassional parties herself). The Area 51 Alien Cathouse is reportedly the first "themed" brothel in North America.

One other important note - this particular portion of Amargosa Valley, around the immediate area where U.S. Highway 95 and State Route 373 intersect, is often referred to (especially by locals) by its former and historical name: Lathrop Wells. Most of the actual "town" part of Amargosa Valley is located a few miles to the south-southwest, off S.R. 373. However, the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) has signed this area on highway 95 only as Amargosa Valley and the small roadside park (rest area) at the SE corner of highways 95 & 373 also bears that name.

History
Until October 31, 2011, this brothel remained under the ownership of controversial Nye County figure Joe Richards (who had also owned the adjoining truck stop - as if you couldn't tell by its former name). On that date, Dennis Hof closed on the purchase of this house and the adjoining service station, convenience store, and restaurant (he bought Richards' two other brothel properties in nearby Crystal in August 2010). Mr. Hof immediately implemented an extraterrestrial theme with these properties to capitalize on the notoriety of the legendary "Area 51", which is located about 55 miles to the northeast across the Nevada National Security Site (f/k/a the Nevada Test Site - where numerous above and below ground nuclear bomb tests were once conducted) and the Nellis Air Force Base Range. As of December 2011, the brothel portion of this operation was closed for a complete renovation; however, the adjoining travel center remained open for business. According to Liz, then manager of the nearby Love Ranch Vegas in Crystal, Hof's plans for the rebuilt Area 51 Alien Cathouse called for "...seven suites with private bathrooms and three VIP suites, for those special parties" to be constructed. After ten months of this total reconstruction, the brothel is now once again open for business.

Both Richards' former operations at this site and his former brothel in nearby Crystal (Mabel's Whorehouse a/k/a the Cherry Patch I or Madame Butterfly's Bathhouse) had earned a very poor reputation over the years. Mr. Hof did a spectacular tranformation of the former Richards house in Crystal, and the much same is expcted at this house. For some reason during the Richards' era, this establishment usually had significantly fewer working ladies than its then-sister operation, in spite of the fact it remains much easier to get to (being right off a major highway rather than being sited in a near-ghost town off of two remote, formerly dirt roads). After Hof acquired the Crystal properties in August 2010, it was assumed that the Cherry Patch II was also up for sale, but Richards remained as the active licensee for over a year. Nye County seemed very reluctant to revoke that remaining brothel license, in spite of the fact Richards was a convicted fellon (for attempting to bribe a former commissioner of that very county, no less). It also was been reported that Richards had moved his "brothel art museum" collection to this location (a large bilboard at the site proclaimed that), but now that Mr. Hof has taken possession of this property as well the fate of those artifacts is unclear.

Return to the top
Return to the Southern Nevada index
Return to directions index

GPS coordinates & elevation data obtained from various sources:
   Note 1: Information courtesy of Bashful.
   Note 2: Information was estimated from various sources.

Many thanks to Sportsman, Dennis Hof, Pasha Love, Little Richard, Old Fat Man, Liz LRS Manager & Sonja for providing some of the information for these brothels.