What is Donna’s Ranch? – Girls, girls, girls for 152 years!
Donna’s is the oldest continuously operating legal brothel in the State of Nevada. Started by the railroads in 1869 it has a colorful history and has enjoyed over 550,000 parties!
For an interesting and more complete picture of the process, you might want to read the FAQ’s for the Ladies section. It has a great deal of information which will help make sense of everything.
Where is Donna’s Ranch? – How do I get there?
Donna’s is the most northeastern legal brothel in Nevada at 679 8th Street, Wells, NV 89835. (775) 752-9959
It is near the intersection of Interstate 80 and Highway 93, the Canada to Mexico NAFTA highway. Exit 352 off of I-80, north on Highway 93 at the 4-Way stop, immediately over the railroad overpass, first left at the bottom of the overpass, drive west paralleling the railroad track for about a half mile. The road turns north and ends up between Donna’s and Bella’s, park in front or continue to Donna’s 6 acres of turn-around truck parking to the north of Donna’s.
From Highway 93 you can also turn west on 10th Street, go straight west 3/4 mile to where the road turns south into the Donna’s parking lot.
Speaking of Bella’s, Donna’s and Bella’s are right next to each other. Bella’s shares their road with Donna’s and Donna’s shares our 6 acre parking lot with Bella’s. We are good for each other like a Burger King and McDonald’s across the street from one another, and we increase the selection and availability of legal courtesans for all you guys. Our policy with respect to walking back and forth across the parking lot is “Shop ‘till you drop!”
Airlines? Private Aircraft?
The closest airline service is through Elko, 50 miles west. For the airlines it would almost be easier and cheaper to fly into Salt Lake City (SLC) and take the Salt Lake Express shuttle bus at 4:45 pm to arrive in Wells 3 hours later for $47. Check the FAQ’s for the Ladies and the Salt Lake Express website for schedule changes and how to get back. For the most part, the airlines are not a very good option for getting to and from Wells. Private aircraft however, are a great option.
If you fly your own light aircraft, small private jet or helicopter, you can fly into Wells Municipal / Harriet Field (LWL) which is about 1 mile east of Donna’s up 10th street. LWL has one paved, lighted 5,508 foot east / west runway at an elevation of 5,769 ft, runway 8 / 26. LWL is about 135 nautical miles west of SLC and about 3 miles , 107 degree radial from the Wells VOR. You can call us in advance for free pickup and return.
By Auto or Truck
By car or truck along I-80 and Highway 93 we are 2.5 hours west of Salt Lake City, 1.75 hours south of Twin Falls, Id, 50 minutes east of Elko, 3.75 hours south of Boise, 5.5 hours east of Reno, and 6 hours north of Las Vegas. It makes total sense to round trip Donna’s from Salt Lake, Park City, all of the Wasatch Front, Twin Falls and the Magic Valley, Burley, Rupert, Buhl, Hagerman, Shoshone, Ketchum, Hailey, Sun Valley, Mountain Home, Boise and the Treasure Valley, Meridian, Kuna, Nampa, Caldwell, Eagle, Middleton, Star, Emmett, Idaho City, Pocatello and Idaho Falls.
Are there motels in Wells?
Yes, there are lots of motels in Wells: Super 8, Motel 6, Chinatown, Sharon’s, and a new Hampton Inn and Suites for starters. The Wells economy is that of a big truck stop with Love’s, Flying J, and Petro major truck stops. There are smaller convenience stores and gas stations as well. Restaurants include McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, Bella’s Restaurant, the truck stops and Betaso’s Mexican Restaurant.
What is on the Menu at Donna’s?
In General:
- Friendly Conversation
- Hanging out in the Bar
- Barbeques
- Bachelor Parties
- Home Run Derby with the Ladies – You will be the winner!
- Outdates
- Overnight Parties
- Girlfriend Experience – “GFE”
- Fantasy Parties
- VIP Room Parties
- Hot Tub Parties
- Couples, Birthdays, Anniversaries and Presents
- Fetish Parties or BDSM
- Movies
- Sex Toys
- Boudoir Photography
- Bed and Breakfast
- Specialty Events
More specifically:
- Sensuous Massage
- Hand jobs
- Blow jobs
- Half and half
- Straight lays
- Fetish / BDSM
Please see the FAQ for the Ladies section for additional explanations and interesting information.
Is it legal?
Yes, as part of the Nevada Legal Brothel Model, and in accordance with the City of Wells Brothel Ordinance, inside Donna’s and with certain restrictions on Outdates, sexual activity is legal. You won’t get in trouble with the law or get busted for sexual activity. This is as it should be.
Is it confidential?
Yes, although there are security cameras in the public areas of Donna’s, there are no cameras or listening devices inside the girls’ rooms. Also, after a sexual relationship at Donna’s, there are no complications or problems typically associated with sexual relations out in the “real world” which sometimes are fraught with peril!
How old must I be?
For both the bar and brothel and Donna’s you have to be older than your 21st birthday.
What are Donna’s hours of operation?
24 hours per day, 7 days per week since May of 1869
The most active hours are 8 pm to 2 am, so the ladies are often up late. Sometimes the parties go on into the night to the extent that in some cases the bar is still active when the sun rises. So that means the ladies also have a tendency to sleep in. In the morning, say around 9 am, almost everyone is asleep. The ladies may get up late, around noon, and they are supposed to be showered, dressed and “ready for the floor” by about 2 pm.
On most nights things will start slowing down after midnight, and at 2 am we are supposed to “go on the look book.” The look book is a photo album with the girls’ pictures in it. Unless it’s still busy on a Friday or Saturday mostly, the girls will be able to go to sleep around 2 am, and afterwards the guys will choose who they might want to “talk to” out of the look book. Sometimes the photo album has been a tablet, and now the photos will also be on the website. Appointment software on the website will also change this routine to some degree.
Are Rooms Available without a girl?
Yes, although this generally isn’t common. Most truckers have their sleepers, and they are welcome to park their truck without charge overnight in our 6 acre parking lot. In 24 years we have never had a problem with vandalism in our parking lot. There have been some times when we’ve allowed a customer who has had too much to drink to sleep it off in one of the rooms. This is up to the bartender or madam.
Sometimes a fantasy party for couples, birthdays or anniversaries are booked with or without a girl. If it’s with a girl, the party is simply an upgraded, fancier, more expensive party than the more typical party with the girl in her room. Fantasy room parties often may add the Barbeque, Movies, a Massage or a Soak in the Hot Tub. Sometimes couples might want to stay in a Famous Old West brothel as an activity on their “to do list” or boxing fans might want to stay in the “Jack Dempsey Suite” where Jack Dempsey stayed when Donna’s was owned by Maxine Cates, Jack Dempsey’s first wife. Jack Dempsey was a bouncer at the Bull’s Head Saloon across the tracks in Wells. The Bull’s Head was destroyed by a 6.2 magnitude earthquake a few years ago. Couples might want to spice up their sex life with a fantasy room stay because “variety is the spice of life!”
Do you have an ATM Machine?
Yes, we have an ATM machine which dispenses $50 bills. The ATM transaction charge is $3.
Do you take credit cards?
Yes, we take credit cards, MasterCard, VISA and the usual. American Express doesn’t like brothels. We are trying to renegotiate the exorbitant merchant charges applied to brothels.
Are Condoms Required?
Yes condoms are required by Nevada State Law. This is the primary protection for the girl. The weekly medical tests and clearances are the primary protection for the guy. Are the condoms required to be latex condoms? No, but about 99.5% of the time they are latex condoms. Rarely, people with allergies to latex can use “natural membrane condoms” or “lambskin condoms” but it is not common.
For girl on girl parties a “dental dam” is required. Girl on girl parties are also pretty rare. Lesbians don’t seem to commonly frequent brothels. For example, we have a “VIP Card” which is similar to a “buy ten get one free” Subway sandwich card. In our case it’s “party 10 times and get $100 off the next party.” A full VIP card turns in to a $100 bill and is dropped just like cash. Before restarting for the Covid shutdown, we used to have about 6,000 VIP cards stored at the bar. Out of those 6,000 VIP cards, two were for women. Do the ladies have to do women or activities they are not comfortable with? Working girls still have the right to do or not do what they will or won’t do. Still working girls are usually very creative, professional and experienced. If you can dream it, they can probably dream up something even wilder. Still, when you are negotiating parties, please communicate clearly and make sure the details are fully understood in advance. If the lady you choose can’t or doesn’t want to participate in the activity you are proposing, often she can introduce you to a lady who specializes in that activity.
Ladies generally prefer to use their own condoms. If you bring your own for some reason (such as being unusually large, for example) the ladies reserve the right to refuse any condom which they believe to be out of their control, so please make sure that unopened packages have not been tampered with.
As a result of a pronouncement from the State a few years ago, probably related to the difficulty of doing additional medical testing, at Donna’s there is no “back door” on the menu, anal is not allowed.
The Nevada Legal Brothel Model — Everything is Designed for Safety!
There are six essential components to the Nevada Legal Brothel Model:
- The Legal Working Girls
- The Doctors and State-approved Testing Labs
- The Nevada State Legislature and State Health Department
- The City / County Licensing Bodies and their Police Departments or Sheriff’s Department
- The Owner and the House
- The Customers, the Guys
The working girls are essential, without them there is nothing! They have medical exams every week.
State-approved Doctors examine all of the legal working girls in the industry every week for STD’s. The medical testing labs turn around test results usually in one day.
The State Legislature originally passed the laws legalizing prostitution under this model on a County Option basis in about 1976. Occasionally they update the laws as needed such as when they updated the laws to allow for “Working Guys” for the Shady Lady several years ago. It turned out that women can get action whenever they want it in any bar, and therefore there wasn’t much of a market for the “working guys.” It is important that the legislators realize that no one is hurt under the Nevada Legal Brothel Model, that legal and regulated is always better than illegal and unregulated, and that this is a great system which should be implemented on a more widespread basis. Occasionally the legal brothels are attacked by religious or politically correct activists, and the legislators are important for protecting our system. (“Trafficking” of women is impossible within the legal brothel system.) Also with respect to the State, Nevada does not allow a single person to hold both a brothel license and a gaming license. Therefore there are no slot machines or table games at Donna’s.
City Councilmen and County Commissioners write their local brothel ordinances, gather test results and through their municipal staffs issue licenses to working girls, bartenders and owners. The Police and Sheriff’s Deputies do the background checks and check work cards and medical clearances on a weekly basis to make sure the rules are followed and that working girls can’t “work the floor” unless they are cleared medically on a continuous basis.
Because brothel licenses are restricted and privileged, they are expensive, only available from a previous owner and require an extensive background check before the prospective owner is approved and licensed by the municipal body based upon the recommendation of law enforcement. Because the brothel owner has so much invested in his brothel license, owners are very careful to follow the rules and to keep illegal drugs and activities out of their houses. The houses maintain the medical boxes which prove the working girls are “clear” and they look out for the working girls.
The Guys are also essential because without their generous funding, nothing would happen. I’ve often said that “There is no love sold in brothel…” but many of the girls eventually retire and run off with someone they’ve met at the brothel. I’ve also said “There’s no one hurt in a brothel, except for the guy’s wallet…” however, in the end, it’s a fair exchange negotiated between the girls and the guys. The guys usually leave both satisfied and happy!
If you think about it, in can be debated that “all sex is transactional.”
Legal vs Illegal
Many times our legal industry is criticized because it is painted with the illegal brush. In reality, the difference between legal and illegal brothel activity is as different as night and day. Illegal activities have none of the safeguards and are immersed in the illegal world of pimps and drugs. The legal brothels operate in a controlled and legal environment which eliminates the problems associated with the illegal world. Legal girls are tested regularly and continuously. Illegal girls are not tested at all. Law enforcement visits brothels every week to check the medical clearances and work cards. Trafficking exists in the illegal world, but it is impossible for a legal working girl to be in a brothel against her will when she goes to the Sheriff’s Department and City for her work card and has to visit an independent medical doctor every week. Illegal sex exists often within the illegal world of gangs and drugs, but legal owners work hard to follow laws and regulations in order to protect their privileged licenses.
Why do working girls come to work at a legal brothel? — For the Money $$
For the most part, it’s an easy answer: For the Money. Not many ladies come in who have not had any related experience. Most courtesans have a lot of experience in strip clubs, swingers’ clubs, escorting and various types of illegal sex work. Many come in to the legal brothels to avoid police harassment and being busted. Quite a few have or had pimps, and some want to get away from the pimps and the big cities. Some women are curious and are looking for more sex and variety.
What to Expect When You Come In
More and more the guys are connecting with the girls in advance over the Internet, then later by phone or appointment, however if you stop by Donna’s in the traditional way, you would expect something like the following:
After pushing the doorbell at the front door, you enter the bar. The bartender, who is really an acting madam, will greet you and ask you if you would “like to meet the ladies?” You will say “yes” or “no.” You might rather just relax a bit in the bar, have a beer or watch what goes on. Coffee, iced tea and water are free, and there is no obligation to “party.” If you don’t want to immediately “meet the ladies” then they are free to come to the bar and “mingle.” You of course are allowed to choose a lady from the mingle after you get to know her a bit if you would like.
If you ask the bartender to “meet the ladies” then you will get a “line-up.” For the line-up the ladies meet in the parlor off the bar, and when they are ready, they come into the bar and line up in front of you, stop, and introduce themselves. They aren’t allowed to say anything else or to make any gestures which would draw extra attention to themselves. The bartender will tell you, “You can choose one of the ladies and she will take you on a tour of the house.” You choose a girl, and she will take you by the hand to tell you some of the history of the house, show you a fantasy room, the hot tub room and the patio, and you will end up in her room. You will then discuss what you might be thinking which she will mentally translate into time and effort. The two of you can then discuss costs and particulars, and hopefully you can come to an agreement. If you can’t come to an agreement related to activities or prices, then she should introduce you to another lady who she knows specializes in that service, and you should know that you are more than welcome to talk to another lady.
If you come to an agreement, before you get together, the lady will check out your equipment in a quasi-medical examination sort of way known as a “d.c.” Then, you may or may not hit the shower before the “party.” Showers are free in our double-headed “power shower.” Also, before the party, she will “book the party” meaning do some paperwork and drop a payment. This is usually cash (often from our ATM machine) or via credit card.
When the party starts, a timer is set at the booking station. When the time is up, the bartender will knock on the girls’ door. If additional time is needed, you can book some more time, however in most cases the party is completed early, and the customer is a happy camper.
Many times customers may book multiple parties depending upon age and capacity, however Donna’s has always maintained a “no pressure” policy. It’s also true that customers often develop a liking for a particular girl and become a “regular.” As Donna’s is a “Country Brothel” with frequent repeat customers, and not a “Convention Brothel” with infrequent convention goers as customers, we cater to the regulars and generally have lower prices.
Country Brothels vs. Convention Brothels
This has to do with the markets and customers. Convention Brothels are the brothels outside of Las Vegas, Reno and to some degree Carson City. For these brothels, their customers are dependent upon the cities and often large conventions. Reno has Hot August Nights for the cars, Rolling Thunder for the motorcycles and the Reno Air Races for the airplanes. Reno and these conventions historically made Joe Conforte’s Mustang Ranch the number one brothel. Conforte was shut down by the IRS for not reporting income. Much later, the Mustang was purchased from the IRS by Lance Gilman and moved down the Truckee River from Exit 7 to Exit 14 where it was collocated with his beautiful Wildhorse. Lance is a good guy with a classy operation.
Las Vegas has numerous very large conventions, by far the largest in the State. After Mustang was shut down by the IRS, Chicken Ranch in Pahrump, 45 miles outside of Las Vegas, took over as the leading brothel. Sometime later, Sheri’s Ranch built a beautiful facility right next to Chicken Ranch and arguably took over the number one spot. Then Dennis Hof through creative and dynamic promotion of the Moonlight Bunny Ranch bought Kitties, Kit Kat, Sagebrush and 3 smaller brothels outside of Pahrump on the way to Beatty, including what is now the Alien Cathouse.
At these “convention brothels” the customers are primarily businessmen from the conventions or visitors to the big cities who come out to the brothels infrequently to party. Although their trips are more infrequent, they generally have more money to spend.
The “Country Brothels” are those brothels stretched along the lonely roads of Nevada, along I-80 for Wells, Elko, Carlin, Battle Mountain and Winnemucca, or Highway 93 for Ely, and to some degree along Highway 95 between Reno and Las Vegas. Customers for the “Country Brothels” are mostly blue collar workers including truckers, miners, railroad workers, construction workers, farmers, ranchers and other travelers. These customers generally don’t have as much money to spend as the convention goers. This difference in typical customers leads to a typical difference in brothel lineups. Typically the “convention brothels” will have a younger, skinnier, center-fold quality girl in their lineups. When the girls are a little older and heavier, and when they have trouble standing in the larger lineups, they will migrate to the smaller “country brothels.” Then this difference in the typical girl in line up leads to a pricing difference. We’re not supposed to talk about pricing, online but it would be fair to talk about some historical facts, and roughly ten years ago, say 2011, the girls in the country brothels would price themselves out at roughly $300 per hour, while the girls in the convention brothels were trying to get $900. You can factor this historical data up somewhat for inflation to get an idea of current pricing. Shorter times will have a higher hourly rate, while for longer times the average hourly rate would be lower, i.e. you’ll get a better deal as the time gets longer.
Independent Contractors vs. Employees
Working girls are independent contractors, not employees. This is due to some complications with respect to Workers’ Compensation Insurance, whereby even in the assigned risk pool for the State, the underwriters at the insurance companies will not write workers’ compensation insurance on working girls. The IRS accepts this, and the issue has gone up the flagpole twice a long time ago. As a result, all of the major brothels issue 1099’s to their working girls. Only a couple of the smaller brothels don’t comply with this IRS mandate, and those who don’t are at some risk of being beat up by the IRS. As independent contractors, the working girls are responsible for the expenses and activities necessary to operate their businesses. That includes supplies such as condoms, lube, baby wipes, sexy clothes, shoes, makeup, Dr’s visits, travel, phone and so forth. Because working girls are independent contractors, they are not covered by workers’ comp or Nevada unemployment. They are also not covered by some of the employee benefits which are sometimes associated with employees. Once again, this all flows from history with the Nevada State Industrial Insurance Program, the individual Workers’ Comp insurance company underwriters and the IRS. Because working girls are “independent” they set their own prices.
Pricing Structure: Experimenting with the “Australian Model” – Better for the Working Girls
Life goes on, and things always change. It happens that when a cute working girl hijacked our old website (which she had created) and forced us to start over, that we stumbled upon a sophisticated and brilliant web guy who has relevant experience, thinks outside the box and may succeed at bringing us out of the dark ages of cowboys and steam trains. Craig started pitching for some way to sweeten the pot for the working girls. (Notice that’s “for the working girls” not “of the working girls!) His researching how it’s done around the world led us to want to try out the Australian Pricing Model in which we simply charge the working girls by the hour for renting a room. What they do in the room and what they charge for their service is their business, and therefore, they keep amounts in excess of the standard room rental charges. This could result in a substantial increase in the split retained by working girls over the traditional and nearly universal Nevada brothel pricing model, especially for high-end or specialty parties.
Again, we’re not supposed to discuss specific prices either over the phone or the Internet, only generalities, however, this explanation should be sufficient.
The traditional brothel pricing model has always been a 50/50 split with the girl. Often the girls and sometimes various books have taken the position that this was excessive. The word was “OMG! The rotten house takes half the girls’ money!” This position was naïve and shortsighted at best. The biggest issue is that a brothel license is a restricted license, similar to a liquor license. Liquor licenses around where I’m located go for about $200,000. Brothel licenses in Nevada sold over the last twenty years or so have ranged between about $300,000 for some of the smaller houses and about $5,000,000 for one of the big houses outside of Las Vegas. Because prospective brothel buyers have to buy an existing license, the payments for the brothel purchase are a major expense. Brothel licenses are not cheap. Then there are all the other expenses which the house has to pay in order to give the working girls a clean, safe, legal place to work: 24 hour wages, managers, payroll taxes, property taxes, sales tax (on the bar,) liability insurance, fire insurance, workers’ comp insurance, food, booze, furniture, tools, phone, internet, website, water, sewer, electricity, food, repairs, advertising, signage, promotional items, computer systems, software, license fees, auto, travel and working girl assistance and support. Over the years I paid over $106,000 just in bad debts from bailing working girls out of problems and saving them from their emergencies and crises. People who criticize owners simply don’t understand or appreciate their commitment and efforts to help the working girls chase their dreams. There is more on this in the Men’s section on the Nevada Brothel Model. The legal brothel model is good for everyone, and it works, but it requires a significant input from the brothel owner.
As mentioned earlier, the old “Country Brothel” prices were roughly $300 per hour. Now, some 10 years later, they are probably somewhere around $500 per hour. The old house minimum was $100. Now the house minimum is $200. We are going to experiment with the “Australian Pricing Model” which will work around a billing rate of about $400 per hour for a party with a working girl. The girl pays for room rent, in this case $200 of the $400 or 50/50. If the girl booked $500 for that hour party, her split would be $300 to the girl and $200 to the house, or 60/40. If the girl booked a two hour party with a “golden shower” for $5,000, then the split would be 400 x 2 hours = 800 / 2 = 400 for the house and $4,600 to the girl, or a 92 / 8 split, which is phenomenally in the girl’s favor.
In this “Australian Model” where we are just charging the girl room rent, we are no longer a brothel. Instead, we are a “boarding house” or “rooming house.” Therefore we are hoping to get a normal credit card processor with normal (and not excessive) credit card processing fees. We are not sure that’s possible, and there may be some adjustments necessary to this process as we try it out.
Under this “Australian Model” the relationship between the working girl and the house is a room rental arrangement. The relationship with the customer is between the customer and the working girl. What happens in the room stays in the room, and the extra amount over the basic hourly room charge accrues to the benefit of the working girl.
Picnics, Barbeques and Bachelor Parties
Over the years we have hosted giant barbeques for the Senior Pro Rodeo, golf tournaments and special events like construction crews and mining crews. We have also had some fun bachelor parties out of Salt Lake. Our patio is large enough to accommodate a surprisingly big crowd. If you are working on a highway or ranch in the Wells area or if you want to bring in your crew for hamburgers, hot dogs, salad and apple pie let us plan it in advance. In some cases the parties have included the hot tub which is in the hot tub room right off the patio. One time the Bull Riders from the Senior Pro Rodeo had too much to drink and all got into the hot tub with their clothes on. The Australian pro bull rider, Chris Meade borrowed a frilly red dress from one of the girls, and he entered the bull riding competition the next day as Christine Meade. It was fun! Where was ESPN?
Freebies
We’ve always given free showers, coffee, iced tea and “friendly conversation with no obligation.” Sometimes for the truckers, we’ve had free home-made chili and cornbread.
Titty Bar
We have one of the only real “titty bars” in the US. The top of our bar is covered with non-stop beautiful knockers of all shapes and sizes! Come on in and enjoy it!
MGTOW — “It’s cheaper than being married!”
One of the dynamic areas of market growth for Donna’s and other legal brothels is the area of MGTOW or “Men Going Their Own Way.” These are guys who have left the traditional dating market. Over the years and with the growth of political correctness, empowerment of women and problems in the Family Court system, men in general have found that the system is stacked against them. A high percentage of first marriages end in divorce, and a very high percentage of second marriages end in divorce, and when the guys go to divorce court, they nearly always lose. After losing a couple of times, they’re simply done. They’re not done with women necessarily, but they’re done with traditional marriage and dating. Among the group of modern, young men, this group is a very high percentage. They also have a saying:
“If it flys, floats or f………functions like a woman, ………….Rent It!”