Crystal’s historic Love Ranch Brothel demolished
The once bustling Love Ranch Brothel in Crystal, Nevada was reduced to large piles of rubble after being demolished over the weekend.
The business was owned and operated by late owner and politician Dennis Hof, who died at the Love Ranch on Oct. 16, 2018.
The brothel’s former shift manager, who chose to remain anonymous, told the Pahrump Valley Times that she lamented the demolition while noting she was quite saddened by the loss of the historic site.
“I was a bartender, shift manager and I did the accounting,” the former employee said. “I essentially paid the bills and wrote the checks.”
The employee also said the property, just north of Pahrump, was purchased by Texas resident Jan Jensen, who has been a years-long outspoken opponent of the brothel industry.
“The Jan Jensen Project was created to stop sex trafficking, prostitution and everything that,” she said. “She bought properties solely to sit on them so that they never reopened again. She has the group ‘Hookers for Jesus.’ She paid about $1.3 million cash for it and she has other companies under her belt.”
The employee also said that after the property was closed for business following Hof’s death, it remained empty, with no upkeep or maintenance.
As a resident of Crystal, she described the site as veritable maze of dilapidated double-wide trailers sitting in the same state since the business closed down years ago.
“I’ve watched this property just kind of self-degrade into the ground,” she said. “It hasn’t had any love or care and it was completely rat-infested.”
Additionally, the woman said that all of the furniture, souvenirs and memorabilia worth thousands of dollars at the property is also destined for the landfill, including bed linens, mattresses, mirrors, a pool table and a commercial kitchen.
“Everything just went, including stainless steel stoves and refrigerators,” she said. “She didn’t even think about donating the items to churches, food pantries or the NyE Communities Coalition. She wanted it all crushed because she didn’t want anyone to have any knowledge that it was ever here. It was a complete surprise. They put no monetary value on anything when they want something done.”
Further, the former employee noted that the same fate happened to the Old Cottontail Brothel not far from the Love Ranch site.
“They completely mowed that place down so you’d never know that a piece of amazing history ever existed there because they grounded it all down and threw it all away.”
The employee also spoke about the demolition effort as being a big spectacle in the small town of Crystal.
“The BLM allowed her to have a temporary permit to set up a media tent the size of a circus tent,” she noted. “There’s a convention group that’s been hired out of Las Vegas to set up tables and chairs, and she’s used this as a huge media event to propel herself into some type of twisted superstar that she single-handedly brought down the Love Ranch and Dennis’ reign here in Nye County, which was her sole purpose.”
Nye County officials shut the brothel down in 2018 for unapproved structural changes, fire safety violations and late payments for licensing fees just prior to Hof’s death.
Efforts to contact Texas resident Jan Jensen for comments about the Love Ranch Brothel’s demolition were unsuccessful.
Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com, or on X, formerly Twitter: @pvtimes
