Chicken Ranch Bordello Goes on the Block

That’s what’s been happening at the Chicken Ranch for the last 22 years, and now the owner wants out.

Ken Green told XBiz on Monday that he's listing the brothel, near the town of Pahrump, Nev., about 60 miles west of Las Vegas, on the market for $7 million.

But there’s more.

Green says the buyer will not only get the “turn key” operation, but its trademarks, copyrights, royalties and Internet sites as well.

The Chicken Ranch may be one of the most famous brothels in the world and, Green says, most know what’s going on behind the 40-acre compound’s gates. "We're not raising poultry out there," he said.

Green, a real estate agent, said he bought the Chicken Ranch for $1.25 million in 1982 from now-deceased Walter Plankinton, who named it after the Texas establishment that closed in the 1970s and was made famous on stage and screen as "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas." Plankinton died in 1984.

Green said the brothel is the closest whorehouse to Las Vegas and is located on 40 acres. The property contains a living room, kitchen and “working girls” bedrooms, as well as an attached bar, pool and three bungalows with “Wild West,” jungle and Victorian themes.

Washoe and Clark counties are the only ones in Nevada where brothel prostitution is prohibited by state law.

Several local governments do have ordinances against it, however. Carson City and Douglas County have outlawed it; Lincoln County voters sided against prostitution because of a substantial Mormon population.

One of Green’s frustrations is that state law prohibits brothel advertising in counties where prostitution is illegal. And Las Vegas is in Clark County, effectively cutting off direct advertising to tourists who are potential customers.

Despite never-ending amounts of smut leafleting on the streets of Las Vegas by escort companies and the like, Green was unable to get the word out legally of his Chicken Ranch.

"You can't restrict advertising of the illegal guys but you can restrict advertising for the legal people," Green told KLAS-TV last year.

Green later apparently broke a law limiting advertising in the barred counties by taking out ads in two Las Vegas weeklies. He was never prosecuted.

Despite the advertising limits, Green thinks the Chicken Ranch is still profitable.

“This is an excellent business and investment opportunity,” he said.