Mustang Ranch to unbridle its whorses

The new owner of Nevada’s world-famous Mustang Ranch expects to re-open the brothel this year.

“It’s reopening as the Mustang, fully operating under the original trademarks and names,” said Lance Gilman, who bought the Mustang building off eBay last year.

Gilman has moved the building closer to his other brothel, the Wild Horse Canyon Ranch, which is less than five miles away from the Mustang’s old site. He plans to separate the living quarters of the previous owners, Joe and Sally Conforte, from the rest of the buildings and turning them into a “world-class brothel museum.”

Gilman couldn’t give a date for the re-opening.

“It should have been a 90-day project, but we’ve had delay after delay,” he said. “I hope to be moved by July 25, that’s the best estimate I can give, and after that it just depends on how long it will take to rebuild it.”

Gilman said he wanted to keep using the Mustang name and trademarks because they’re already so widely known.

“Mustang has so much energy and history attached to it that it makes sense to keep it attached to its name,” he said. “It’s amazing how many people have been touched by the Mustang.”

While there is controversy surrounding Nevada’s legalized prostitution, Gilman still says most Nevada voters are for it.

“In all other states in the nation, prostitution flourishes,” he said. “It’s just forced underground into the hands of predators.”

Storey County Commissioner Robert Kershaw agreed.

“I guess I would rather see it that way than on the streets. It’s not going to go away,” Kershaw said. He also agreed that keeping the brothel open as the Mustang “saves a piece of history.”