One month after Las Vegas lost the Tropicana, another institution was demolished that locals and tourists didn’t talk about as much. Denis Hof’s Love Ranch — located 80 miles outside Sin City in Nevada’s Nye County, where prostitution is legal — was knocked down last week. There was no fireworks or drone show.
Prostitution is legal in 10 of Nevada’s 17 counties — though not the ones that house Las Vegas or Reno — and then only in state-licensed brothels.
Money Could Buy Him Love
In 2010, Hof — already America’s best known brothel owner thanks to HBO’s “Cathouse” series, filmed at his Moonlite Bunny Ranch near Reno — purchased the brothel that he named his Love Ranch. It had been owned by Maynard “Joe” Richards, who also owned the Pahrump Valley Times newspaper at the time.
Located on 15 acres in the desert town of Crystal, the Love Ranch consisted of a series of doublewide trailers connected to become 15 one-bedroom suites, all painted pink. There was also a bar, two kitchens and a VIP room.
The Love Ranch offered a menu of service options 24 hours a day. These included “oil wrestling,” “the girlfriend experience” and “Viagra and vibrators.”
As in all legal Nevada brothels, the prostitutes — who worked as licensed independent contractors — split their income evenly with the house, which is responsible for paying a 9% state tax.
State records show that licensed brothels generate around $75 million in revenue a year.
Some Publicity is Bad Publicity
The Love Ranch’s VIP room is where former NBA star Lamar Odom overdosed on cocaine and herbal Viagra in October 2015.
For what it’s worth, Odom denied taking any drugs. He claimed that Hof tried to kill him. If indeed that was true, despite no charges ever being brought, then Hof nearly succeeded. While recuperating at Las Vegas’ Sunrise Hospital, Odom suffered 12 strokes and six heart attacks.
At the time, Odom was married to Khloe Kardashian, thus ensuring that the scandal, and the Love Ranch name, got plastered on tabloid covers for months.
County officials shut the brothel down in February 2018 for unapproved structural changes, fire code violations and late license renewal payments. It reopened six months later, following a court ruling by Judge Richard Boulware.
On October 16, 2018, after a night of celebrating his 72nd birthday, Hof was found dead in the same bedroom where Odom had overdosed. His body was discovered by former porn star Ron Jeremy. Hof was determined to have died of natural causes.
Strangely, being dead didn’t stop Hof from winning a seat in the Nevada Assembly a few weeks later.
It was his second campaign — he lost the first one — and he won it in a landslide, having branded himself the “Trump from Pahrump.” (Commissioners from Nye, Lincoln and Clark counties voted to elect Gregory Halen II as Hof’s replacement.)
Love Lost
The Love Ranch was permanently closed soon after Hof’s death, since he was the lone operator listed on its license. In June 2019, it was listed for sale for $1.2 million. It was purchased for an undisclosed amount in late 2022, by Dallas resident Jan Jensen, which explains why it was knocked down instead of reopened as another brothel.
Jensen is an outspoken opponent of the brothel industry. She founded the Jensen Project, a nonprofit dedicated to ending sexual violence and helping its survivors.
“She wanted it all crushed because she didn’t want anyone to have any knowledge that it was ever here,” the Love Ranch’s former shift manager told the Pahrump Valley Times.
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