Cottontail Ranch was a legal, licensed
brothel
A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub par ...
in
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
that opened in October 1967. Located near the intersection of
U.S. Route 95
US Route 95 (US 95) is a major north–south US Highway in the western United States. It travels through the states of Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Idaho, staying inland from the Pacific Coast. US 95 begins in San Luis, ...
and
State Route 266 known as
Lida Junction, in
Esmeralda County, Nevada. It was also known as the Cottontail Ranch Club.
History
In 1967,
Howard Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...
allegedly made several visits to the Cottontail Ranch for entertainment while he was living in
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
.
In the 1970s, then madam Beverly Harrell battled with the
United States Bureau of Land Management which was attempting to have the brothel removed from federal land. Harrell also was a candidate for the
Nevada Assembly in 1974. She published a book about the Ranch, ''An Orderly House'', in 1975 ().
A record, ''Coming My Way'', was released in 1976 and was a collection of stories by the employees of the brothel.
['']Las Vegas Review-Journal
The ''Las Vegas Review-Journal'' is a daily subscription newspaper published in Las Vegas, Nevada, since 1909. It is the largest circulating daily newspaper in Nevada and one of two daily newspapers in the Las Vegas area.
The ''Review-Journal'' ...
'', January 20, 2007, Page B1
Howard Harrell operated the brothel before selling the Cottontail.
The Cottontail Ranch was closed in 2004 when the madam retired. All the real estate was purchased by real estate investor Lanny D. Love; Miss Love also purchased a luxury ranch called Lida Ranch a few miles from the brothel. And an additional in a ghost town called Lida.
A Fire destroyed what was left of the Cottontail Ranch in Esmeralda County on Sept. 5, 2022.
The land remains for sale.
See also
*
List of brothels in Nevada
This is a historical list of the legal brothels in Nevada. They are arranged by name within location (the nearest town or named place) within each county that licenses such establishments. Defunct establishments are retained for completeness. No ...
*
Prostitution in Nevada
Nevada is the only U.S. state where prostitution is legally permitted in some form. Prostitution is legal in all but 7 of Nevada's 17 counties, although only six allow it in every municipality. Seven counties have at least one active brothel, wh ...
References
External links
Cottontail Ranch(archived at
Wayback Machine
The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...
, March 25, 2004)
a brief history of the Cottontail Ranch
{{Prostitution in the United States, state=collapsed
Brothels in Nevada
Buildings and structures in Esmeralda County, Nevada
1967 establishments in Nevada