Angel’s Ladies
Highway 95
Beatty
NV 89003
Tel 775 553-9986
800 270-3793
GPS Coordinates
36°56’29.5″N
116°43’36.65″W
Directions
South from Tonopah 90.9 miles on US 95
North from Beatty 2.60 miles on US 95
118 miles north of Las Vegas
(2 hours 27 minutes)
On a recent visit to several of Nevada’s ranches Angel’s Ladies was my favorite. This husband and wife team is by far the forerunners of the business. Not by anyway as classy an interior as Shady Lady Ranch up the US95 but far more relaxed. Angel’s is a place where you’ll feel at home and perhaps even get invited to a meal. Drinks are free and prices although not posted like at Shady Lady are similar.
Mac and Angel are some of the sweetest people you’ll meet visiting brothels in Nevada. While almost all the other ranches are strictly business you’ll be welcome to rest your bones and sit back for a while here. Should one of the ladies get your attention and take you on a tour there is a good chance that you’ll get the party you want at a price you won’t find elsewhere.
Not only will you find the typical rooms where your party will take place but the premises are located next to a hot spring. Truckers are welcome with great rig access and parking.
Look for the sign on the left as you depart Beatty going north on the US95. You can’t miss the downed aircraft along the highway which marks the entrance. If you need to stay overnight there are several inexpensive hotels a few miles away in Beatty.
Angel’s Ladies
Still the “Friendliest Brothel in Nevada”
Angel’s Ladies is still one of Nevada’s best brothels. Although it doesn’t have the largest or most attractive lineup, it’s the service and value that keep the customers coming back. The ladies charge according to time, not activities, and most tend to be flexible with prices.
Owners Mac and Angel have gone out of their way to build the business with the customer in mind. How many brothel owners are going to invite you to stay for lunch or dinner, even if you don’t party?
As I’ve said, the lineup typically does not feature the eye candy of some of the larger houses. Still, I once found a very attractive lady who gave me the best party I ever had in Nevada and at a very good price. So, never rule this place out. When you least expect it, you just may find someone who’ll entice you to drop a little cash as well as your pants.
Angel’s Ladies is located on a 77-acre parcel of land, complete with aircraft landing strip and mineral hot spring. Several rooms are located in the main structure, and there’s a VIP room with jacuzzi in the structure next door. There’s also plenty of parking, an area for 18-wheelers to turn around, and a bathroom with shower (which they’ll let you use). The town of Beatty is only a few miles away and offers several dining and lodging options.
If you’re tired of the ultra-high prices in Pahrump or the poor business practices of the Crystal Springs/Amargosa Valley ranches, then Angel’s Ladies will seem like a breath of fresh air. Check it out.
Hours: 24/7
Drink prices: technically a strict parlor house, although ladies may offer you a complimentary bottled water or soft drink
Credit cards accepted (no surcharge)
Minimum age to party: 21
Nevada brothels still going strong outside major cities
PAHRUMP, Nev. (AP) — In Beatty, the Angel’s Ladies brothel throws a big barbecue every year for the whole town. Just down the road, in Crystal, the owner of the three houses of prostitution bought the town an ambulance. Across the state in Ely,0when a city councilman tried to shut down the only brothel, he was voted out ofoffice.
Although it’s banned in Las Vegas and Reno — and 49 states — prostitution is legal in 10 of Nevada’s 17 counties. A remnant of the old West, it is not only tolerated, but often embraced.
The state Health Division estimates 365,000 sex acts — 1,000 a day — are performed in Nevada’s 27 brothels each year.
“I don’t think anybody really gets stirred up about it. That’s just how it is,” sums up Stacy Fisk, a secretary at the Mineral County sheriff’s office.
But supporters of Nevada’s little advertised and very rural prostitution business fear such low-key acceptance could be threatened with the plan envisioned here in Pahrump.
Chuck Lee, a retired cop and car dealer from Las Vegas, wants to turn Sheri’s Ranch, the lesser known of two brothels in Pahrump, into a big-time resort.
Already he’s renamed it: The Resort at Sheri’s Ranch.
But his plan could forever change the friendly relationship brothels have with their hometowns, and some fear, might even threaten their existence.
“He cannot supermarket the brothel business without it eventually being made illegal in that county,” says George Flint, who, as the lobbyist for the Nevada Brothel Association, is prostitution’s main public advocate.
“The brothels survive by not being too visible. Just because it’s legal doesn’t mean it’s going to always be legal.”
Mack Moore, owner of the Angel’s Ladies brothel in a town north of Pahrump, had a similar reaction. “I’m kind of a little scared. The brothels are not supposed to be out in front. They’re supposed to be good for the community, but they’re not just supposed to shove it in everybody’s face.”
Also leery is Nye County Commission Chairman Jeff Taguchi, whose county is home to Beatty and Pahrump and the most brothels of anycounty.
“It’s a different approach to the oldest profession that may cause some difficulty with the public,” he said. “Pahrump could possibly be known as a brothel mecca as opposed to a familysuburb.”
Sixty miles northwest of Las Vegas, down dusty Homestead Road on the edge of Pahrump, Sheri’s Ranch has just one neighbor, its competitor, the Chicken Ranch. Otherwise, it’s surrounded by acres of desert leading to mountains.
Lee, a laid-back man in his 60s who smokes skinny Capri cigarettes, envisions a glitzy resort with an 18-hole golf course, casino and steakhouse. He points to the 310 acres of emptiness and muses about palm trees, horseback-riding, tennis courts and a beauty salon for the prostitutes.
“We’ll probably be the only gentlemen’s club in the state with an 18-hole golf course,” the silver-haired host says.
“It’s going to change the whole face of the business,” says a giddy prostitute named “Destyny,” who has been working in Nevada brothels for 13 years.
Lee and a partner bought Sheri’s Ranch in January and immediately began renovating the sports bar and adding offices. A pool and new wing should be completed by the end of the year. Construction on the golf course is scheduled for next year; a casino is in the early stages of planning.
“It’s going to be very nice,” Lee says.
Though the idea of legalized brothels may seem repugnant to outsiders, these age-old businesses have been a part of many rural communities in Nevada for years.
Brothels in Nevada can be traced to the early 1860s when women made their way to mining camps. In other states, law enforcement shut them down, says Nevada historian Guy Rocha, who works as state archivist. That didn’t happen in Nevada.
In much the same way that Nevada was the first in the nation to legalize gambling, the state was now pioneering something else.
In 1971, Storey County in northern Nevada legalized prostitution at the Mustang Ranch. Other rural counties followed, but not LasVegas.
Today, they are generally viewed as good neighbors — members of the Chamber of Commerce and donors to charity. They operate mostly in the shadows of small-town life, often tucked away in trailer houses off highways or on the outskirts of towns.
The clients are mostly truckers, businessmen from conventions in Las Vegas and some local regulars.
Most owners prefer to keep to themselves, quietly paying county licensing fees and making sure the prostitutes are tested each week for sexually transmitted diseases, as required by state healthofficials.
Rita Germany, secretary of the Beatty Chamber of Commerce who sells maps to all the state’s brothels, notes that Angel’s Ladies has been a longtime member of the chamber.
“Each year they give the townspeople a big barbecue.”
Even Taguchi, pastor of the nondenominational Beatty Community Church, doesn’t mind the brothels.
“People look at this state as a mecca for places where you can participate in things you can’t in other states,” he says. “For people who grow up here, it’s part of the lifestyle here. It’s a matter of choice whether you participate in it.”
And that easygoing attitude usually means that threats to the money-making sex industry are not welcome.
Just ask Stuart Tracy, a city councilman who tried in 1999 to shut down the brothel in his town.
Normally, City Council meetings in Ely, an isolated town 245 miles north of Las Vegas, hardly draw a crowd. But the day Tracy tried to close the Stardust Ranch, residents filled the meetingroom to save it.
Tracy believed the brothel was immoral and figured everyone else in the town of 5,800 did, too.
“There were people who called up and said I had no right to do what I was doing,” he said. “The threats were even in the newspaper telling me to get out of town.”
Instead, he was painted as a hypocrite. At the council meeting, a former prostitute dropped a basket of stones in front of him, an obvious reference to the Bible verse about whoever is “without sin” casting the first stone.
The City Council voted to close the brothel. But the mayor, who gets campaign contributions from the Stardust, as well as an occasional drink, vetoed the bill.
The brothel stayed, and the town cheered.
Tracy lost his bid for re-election last month.
A similar effort took place last year in Pahrump. A group of residents tried their luck at banning prostitution, but couldn’t get enough people to sign a petition.
Proponents argue that brothels bring money to financially distressed communities and offer safe sex to lonely men.
In Nye County, home to Pahrump and Beatty, the seven brothels pay registration and licensing fees that pour about $168,000 into the county’s ambulance and health fund each year.
If not for the brothels, the ambulance operation would be in “financial peril,” says Gene Etcheverry, the county’s budget andfiscal director.
Other counties depend less on brothels. Playmates Ranch pays only $400 a year to Mineral County for licensing.
The counties also receive a small amount of money from the fees the prostitutes are charged for their required weekly tests for sexually transmitted diseases.
Since testing by the state Health Division began in 1986, there has never been an HIV-positive case, says Donald Cowne, a disease control specialist. Last year there was one case of gonorrhea and 13 cases of chlamydia.
“You can’t control sex,” says Moore, the 72-year-old owner of Angel’s Ladies. “If it’s legal, then that is the best way.”
Angel’s Ladies brothel goes out of business
There are 47 comments on the Pahrump Valley Times story from Oct 17, 2007, titled Angel’s Ladies brothel goes out of business. In it, Pahrump Valley Times reports that:
“When we explained to him he had to go through all the procedures again, with an audited financial statement, he thought about it for a while but then submitted a letter withdrawing his application”
There will be one less set of blinking red lights to greet motorists on Highway 95. via Pahrump Valley Times
Angel’s Ladies Brothel, which billed itself as the “friendliest brothel in Nevada,” closed at the end of September. The new owner doesn’t have plans to reopen it as a brothel, said Assistant Sheriff Johanna Cody.
County planners and law enforcement officials aren’t sure what the new owner intends to do with the property.
The brothel had been owned by Jonathan King, who let the quarterly license expire Sept. 30, Cody said.
Former owner Mack Moore, who sold the property in September 2005, had talked about reacquiring the brothel, Cody said.
“When we explained to him he had to go through all the procedures again, with an audited financial statement, he thought about it for a while but then submitted a letter withdrawing his application,” Cody said.
King had a partner at one time, Joshua Gottesman, Cody said.
It’s the second, small, rural brothel to close along Highway 95 within the last five years. The Cottontail Ranch at Lida Junction in Esmeralda County, closed about four years ago and hasn’t reopened. Before that, Bobby’s Buckeye Bar in Tonopah closed in the early 1990s, then couldn’t reopen due to zoning regulations.
Blinking red lights from the brothels were a fixture along Highway 95 at one time and were about the only businesses on the highway between Beatty and Goldfield. The closure of Angel’s Ladies means there won’t be any operating brothels on Highway 95 between Lathrop Wells and Mina, in Mineral County.
“In a way I hate to see it happen, because the money they did generate went into county health and welfare. But if you can’t make payroll there’s no sense in staying open,” Cody said.
Angel’s Ladies submitted the standard $1,875 quarterly payment, Cody said.
The brothel didn’t have a bar, which could have affected business, Cody said, but it could also create problems for a brothel.
Bobbi Davis, manager of the Shady Lady Ranch, 20 miles north, said business tightened up when the price of gas went up. But customers have started coming in when the brothels were allowed to start advertising last summer, she said.
Davis was a plaintiff in the case requesting the right to advertise, citing the numerous escort services that already hand out fliers and advertise in Las Vegas.
“It’s a tough business. I think it’s going to be easier now we’re getting a few more people who didn’t know we were here,” Davis said. “It’s not going to be a panacea for everything, but it’s going to help.
“The small ones are slowly dying out. We’re doing okay (but) the only ones that are doing all right are the big houses. I managed to hang on for 15 years. I think I could manage to hang on a little longer.”
Angels Ladies Brothel, with 48 acres, was put up for sale for $1.8 million in 2004. The brothel had boasted a warm spring in the back at a constant 84 degrees. Moore had suggested the property would be ideal for a truck stop with over 400 feet of frontage on Highway 95.
Moore, now 79 and living in Las Vegas, was unavailable for comment.
Angels Ladies Brothel is on the Nye County Agenda for licensing on Oct. 20th, 2009.
All paper work is in order and the fees have been paid.
Licensed working ladies may be lining up as soon as Oct. 21st, 2009. After they open, go to Angels Ladies in Beatty, NV for fun and pleasure!
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