Brothels of Nevada: Candid Views of America's Legal Sex Industry - Softcover

Hursley, Timothy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1568984189 ISBN 13: 9781568984186

Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press, 2003

Synopsis

The state of Nevada is known as a place for quick money, 24-hour marriages, and easy divorces. But it's also the only place in the United States with a legal sex industry. About 300 women today work in Nevada brothels, all regulated by the state government. Often shunned from serious condsideration, little is known about the prostitutes or the environments in which they work.
In Brothels of Nevada, photographer Timothy Hursley offers a view of this unknown side of America. He exposes the sites in all their variety and complexity, from neon signs on double-wide trailers, to red-toned bars where workers and customers meet, to bedrooms lined with velvet and lace. Far from risque, the images are poignant reminders of how little brothels differ from many American settings. Hursley photographs twenty-five houses, roughly the entire sex industry, in views from the mid-1980s to today. Brothels of Nevada includes large well-known places like the Chicken Ranch and Mustang Ranch as well as tiny houses off the beaten track, like Angel's Ladies and Bobbie's Buckeye Bar. Alexa Albert addresses how the design of the brothels affects the work they house.

About this title

About the Author:

Alexa Albert is author of Brothel: Mustang Ranch and Its Women. She lives in Seattle, WA.

Timothy Hursley is an architectural photographer whose most recent book, Rural Studio: An Architecture of Decency has received major review attention. Hursley lives in Little Rock, AR.

Review:

...from oversize trailer homes to shag-carpeted bedrooms where blow-up dolls peek out from closets panelled in faux wood. -- New Yorker

A startling, sometimes somber but almost always poignant meditation on the currency of sex and fleeting standards of seduction. -- Creative Loafing

Expertly treading the borderline of potential exploitation, Hursley’s photos make a stunning series without resorting to prurience. -- LA Weekly

Hursley brings a cool objectivity to these scenes...compassionate portraits of the invisible women who inhabit them. -- Architecture Boston, Nov 2005

Hursley's intelligent eye and sensitivity to color convey the daily drama of these places where the "erotic" swiftly turns ordinary. -- Library Journal

These rudimentary and unsophisticated buildings have evolved a remarkably powerful aesthetic. -- Wallpaper

About this edition

• Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1568984189
• ISBN 13: 9781568984186
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192