Outside Las Vegas

♪ upbeat jazz ♪
PETER: Good morning, guys.
Here we are on the strip in Las Vegas
but today’s video is not about the Strip
or Las Vegas.
It’s about the periphery.
Radius of 80 miles outside of the city.
There is so much here in the Mojave Desert.
We have everything from a ski resort
in a mountain town
to potential ghost town.
We’ll see how ghostly it is.
Dusty towns that I have
no idea what to expect there.
So we’re gonna get out there today
and do a little exploration.
All right, let’s do this.
♪ mellow jazz ♪
[woman laughing]
WOMAN: This used to be the best,
like, kept secret in the world.
It’s not anymore.
A lot of people know about this place now.
MAN: It’s the best thing
for 45 minutes out of Vegas. [laughs]
WOMAN: Like I used to work valet
where I had to work
from 6:00 PM to 2:00 in the morning.
I could ride all day, go home,
take a shower, and still go to to work.
PETER: Whoa, whoa,
so you’re valet on the Strip?
-Not anymore, now I’m a bartender
but back in the day
I used to be a f*cking valet, yeah, yeah.
PETER: It’s like living in two universes?
Two different universes.
-Honestly.
You got this gambling,
you got the party life,
you got the 24 hour life,
you got the amazing restaurants.
Literally got every aspect
of every life that I need
but on top of that
45 minutes in any direction,
what’s your outdoor sport?
Do you like to rock climb?
Do you like to hike?
Do you like to snowboard?
Do you like to surf?
-Wake surf.
-Do you like to wake surf?
PETER: Surf?
WOMAN: Like literally in any direction…
..you go from Las Vegas…
-Yeah.
-..45 minutes away, less than that,
you can do any of those things.
[ambient music and chattering]
♪ modern bluegrass ♪
PETER: Are many people clearing this?
MAN: No, nobody.
-Most are dumping in? Nobody?
-Nobody.
PETER: How was it?
WOMAN: F*cking freezing but great.
[Peter laughing]
WOMAN: I wasn’t even gonna go for this one
and then they were telling me to.
I was like, “Sh*t, I gotta. I gotta.”
PETER: You gonna do round two?
Gonna go again?
-Hell yeah.
PETER: He’s going for it.
ANNOUNCER: He’s got the lean.
PETER: Whoa.
ANNOUNCER: And out, successfully out.
PETER: He made it.
MAN: Stan the man, same costume every time.
Still running it.
Massive traffic control.
Pond skimming is great,
I used to do that in Squaw Valley.
End of the season, massive pond,
massive crowd,
sometimes you’d go over all the way,
others time
slash at the end, splash the crowed.
WOMAN: Three, two, one… Woo! Yeah!
I love it.
PETER: Are you an OG up here,
you’ve been here many years?
WOMAN: Oh, yeah.
-Since 1973.
PETER: Whoa.
MAN: You can go to other mountains
that might be considered,
like, better mountains
but it’s just, like, people come here
and it’s just, like it’s…
-And the community that’s been built here
is kind of a little unmatched
in anywhere I’ve ever been.
-It is.
-Like I’ve been to big mountains.
MAN: Route 91.
WOMAN: 91 was it? Okay.
-I was there.
Route 91, I was there too.
I just can’t remember if it was 91 or…
-What, the mass shooting?
-That shooting was literally
a week before the Golden Knights home game.
So that really helped them out a lot.
-And Golden Knights
for those that don’t know
is the second best
hockey team in the country.
-Excuse you. Excuse you.
-Florida Panthers,
we’ll see you in the Cup.
-[with authority] We’re the number one
hockey team in the league!
We may not have won because of politics.
[all laughing]
-I’m with you guys until the cup,
then I’m against you.
The night of that concert
we had a preseason game,
and my husband and I,
10 minutes before that shooting
my husband and I
were sitting on that corner.
‘Cause we were on Las Vegas Boulevard.
-Oh, wow.
Did that really…
-It was weird.
I woke up the next morning,
my husband at the TV, I didn’t know why.
-I was right on Las Vegas Boulevard.
Like facing…
My back was facing Mandalay Bay
where the shots were coming from.
-I was working the actual festival.
Like, I was the middle bar.
-Were you really?
-Yeah, but the moment that
everything happened I was at the vendors
thankfully but it’s just wild.
PETER: Did that really
shake up the town for a while?
-Oh, for a while. It really…
It brought a sense of community
to this town that
didn’t exist before honestly.
-Interesting.
-I honestly don’t think it existed before.
-So it was like a September 11th
type moment for Vegas?
-Huge September 11th vibe. Yes, yes, yes.
Maybe not to that extent obviously but…
-How many people died.
-58.
No one thought
at a country f*cking music concert.
Of all the things,
a country f*cking music concert, no way.
And then the worst part for me,
earlier that day, like when
we had just finished setting up the bar,
it was slow, it was mellow.
There was, like, two dozen of us
just hanging out.
Like, working, waiting for it to get busy.
-Yep.
-I literally remember
saying out loud, like,
“There’s a lot more kids today
then there has been the last two days.”
It was such a family vibe that day.
-Ah.
-That’s the part that I think
really, really hurts the most
is that I remember saying that.
“There’s way more kids today.”
♪ somber country ♪
PETER: Coming up on a small town up here.
From my experience
this is usually show up with a camera
and get the hell out vibe or super open.
But these little towns in the middle
of nowhere are really fascinating.
People choose to live out here.
The older I get, I actually see the draw
of just being away from everything.
Don’t think I could do it but I respect it.
[music continues]
It looks like we have a bar.
Nobody’s there though.
This guy’s got all the school busses.
[truck door closes]
PETER: “No minors.”
“Short Branch Saloon.”
Looks like they’re redoing it
or no, looks like a fire.
Fire took down
the top of the structure there.
[door opens]
♪ “Come Monday” by Jimmy Buffett ♪
Some Jimmy Buffett going.
“Be kind to the staff
that showed up to work.”
[door opens]
Nobody’s here.
[door closes]
There’s a trailer back there, check it out.
KATHY: I’ve been here for 26 years.
PETER: Okay.
-And we’re known
for the Bordello run right there.
-Bordello Run?
-Bordello Run, 15 years.
You know what a bordello is?
-I don’t, sorry.
-It’s a brothel.
-[Peter surprised] Oh.
-But we call it a bordello.
Sounds better.
-So you have a brothel run?
You go on the motorcycles
to different brothels?
-We don’t even care, anything.
You can have an airplane, train.
It’s gonna start
at The Leatherneck Headquarters.
-Okay.
-Which is in Vegas.
Going to do the Area 51 brothel,
and the end stop is here.
-There’s a brothel in Area 51?
-Right there on 95.
-Wow, so this is Nye County
which means it’s legal?
-Correct.
It’s part of the economy?
-It makes Nye County a lot of money.
-Make Nye…
-It pays all their emergency services
like ambulance,
helicopter, which people don’t know.
-Okay.
Really, the money goes that far here?
-A lot of money.
Brothels make a lot of money.
-So the brothels have to be taxed
and they have to be run legally, right?
-Correct.
-So no one can just start a brothel,
you need the licensing and all that.
-Nope.
-Okay.
-And you have to be squeaky clean,
really to have a brothel.
-Okay.
I don’t want to interrupt the game.
-No, you’re fine.
-I don’t want to interrupt…
-We finished, we can do this.
She may not have…
PETER: The fire?
-Of what burned down…
-Can I turn the camera towards you or no?
-No.
-No, okay.
<I’m, sorry.
-Don’t worry about it.
Don’t sorry, I came in here, that’s fine.
I won’t put it on.
KATHY: Your voice is in the background.
-Yeah.
-But we should go look at the bar.
-So let’s look at the fire.
PETER: How did the fire start?
-It was a methane gas fire
in the men’s room.
Somebody threw a cigarette
into the trash can and it smoldered.
When you’re on septic
you cannot have a spark.
-Okay, wow. I’m sorry.
That’s brutal.
-Went from the men’s room…
Went from the men’s room
straight up into the attic
and because the attic started there
it went up to the top…
..and so all I need is trusses.
-Oh.
You’re gonna build this back?
It’s not a rebuild, it’s a remodel.
We have a good top plate on the front.
-Uh-huh.
-And we have a good top plate.
All you need is one good top plate
and it’s remodel.
-Do you have a bordello here or no?
No.
My mother thinks we do.
We’re rebuilding this off of
my mom died during COVID.
-Oh, I’m sorry.
-And so I got…
I’m using her money to put the brothel back
but it is not a brothel.
She thought it was.
-This is not a brothel, it’s just a bar?
-But you couldn’t tell the difference.
It’s a bar.
-Okay, why don’t you want to do a bordello?
-I can’t.
-Why?
-Um, why can’t I?
Because in Amargosa Valley
they changed their…
What do you call it?
-Their laws?
-Their laws, and you can only have…
..one brothel in Amargosa Valley
and that’s that one on 95.
-So if you could, would you?
-No.
-You don’t want it?
-No.
-Why, is it too hard to manage?
-I could work with the men
but I can’t work with the women.
-It gets pretty gnarly out there?
-Uh-huh.
A man and a woman
can’t own a brothel anyway.
A man can.
But it’s gotta be run by a woman.
-Why is that?
-Because a girl that works for you can say
all kinds of stuff and you get sued.
-Oh.
-Otherwise, they could do
a Donald Trump thing.
Say you tried to have sex with me
and then you end up in court.
So there goes all your money.
-Oh.
So the prostitutes have a lot of power
in that structure, the legal brothels?
-They would be…
They would be your commodity.
So you’re gonna have to
make them happy to make money, right?
-Okay, yeah.
-So their rooms have to be nice.
Anything that they want you’re
probably gonna go and have to handle.
-So what do people
not understand about your county?
Because from the outside they might say,
“Oh, prostitution, that’s terrible.”
Um, what are your thoughts?
What are the local’s thoughts?
-Locals are fine with it
’cause they know what it pays for.
-Okay.
-It’s the people that are moving in
from all over, New York, and California,
and they’re getting into Nevada government,
and they don’t want brothels.
But they don’t do their homework.
They don’t find out what it pays for.
-Well it seems…
I don’t know much about the industry,
but it seems like it’s better
having it structured like that
than, you know,
just prostitutes on the side of the street.
-If you can control it
because there’s prostitution in Vegas too.
-Yeah.
-Every hotel has
a few chairs for their girls.
-Oh, really?
-But they pick their girls that sit there.
-So even…
-And it’s all done through…
I’m not gonna get into trouble.
It’s all done through, um, the door men,
and the guys at the front door
that park your car.
-So it’s technically illegal
but it’s everyone partakes?
-It’s just here, it’s legal
because the girls are checked once a week.
-They’re checked for what,
STDs and everything?
-Uh-huh, anything.
They can’t work if they have anything.
-I know we’re not supposed to ask
but you said you’re 75?
-Uh-huh.
I was 75 in January.
-You’re feeling great?
-Hell yeah.
[all laughing]
-Is it the bubbly water your friend has
or what is it?
-No, I don’t drink water.
-You don’t drink water?
-I don’t drink water.
-Like zero water?
-My thing is wine and beer.
Wine and beer.
I could get rid of
all the liquor in the bar
and just have wine and beer.
-You’re killing
all the health advice out there.
They always say you gotta
drink a lot of water,
no alcohol if you wanna be…
-Well there’s water in beer.
I drink coffee and there’s water in coffee.
-Oh, what’s up with the Anheuser-Busch,
are people not buying it?
-I can’t even give it away.
You serious?
-No.
-No one’s gonna drink it?
-Bud Light was
my number one seller in the bar.
-Uh-huh.
-Whatever cases I ordered for Bud Light,
I ordered the same amount
of cases on the other ones
It’s sad.
-Yeah.
-It’s sad that business
had to go into politics.
-Yeah.
-Usually people know that I talk politics,
they start it first.
-Okay, I didn’t start it.
-Yes, you did.
[Kathy laughing]
Bud Light, beer, I was just curious.
-Because what is Anheuser-Busch?
-I did, okay I’ll give it to you.
-You shoulda known
that’s all it took was one word.
One word and you would
open up the whole thing.
-You see online that people
aren’t drinking it as much, but I don’t…
-They aren’t drinking it at all.
-Out here, zero?
-Out here, zero.
I have Mexicans…
-You think it’s gonna hold?
-All the Mexicans here, the number one beer
if you drive down in Amargosa,
there’s a dairy…
-Yeah.
-..And all the Mexicans
work at the dairy in Amargosa.
If you drive down Farm Road to go
to the dairy, or whatever that road is,
Mecca, I think it is.
To go to the dairy,
there’s Bud Light cans and bottles
on both sides of the road
beside disposable diapers.
Now they went back to Modelo.
-So the Mexicans
are protesting Bud Light too?
-They are.
They’re not drinking it either.
Like I said, I can’t even give it away.
[Peter exhales]
-Do you think that will last
or you think it’s just a little phase?
-If it doesn’t…
If it doesn’t last,
it didn’t prove a point.
-Hmm.
PETER: Do you have
some tourist information for me?
-No, it burned up in the fire.
-All right, can’t give me an inside,
you know, “Where’s the watering hole?”
Do you guys have a hot springs out here?
-Yeah, but you can’t swim in them.
Hot springs, no.
-You can’t swim, why?
-It’s a $500 fine.
-Mercury?
-Because of the pupfish.
-Oh, pupfish.
-And they’re an endangered specie.
-“Miss Kathy’s Short Branch Saloon.”
So this… This has got stories.
This has stories out here?
-This is where the bands play.
-I had a battle of the bands.
When I was younger
we used to go to the Pipeline
and then all these bands would show up.
-Uh-huh.
-And they would play “Wipeout”.
Last June I think I had a run,
and we had two bands,
and I went around
with a hundred dollar bill,
and I said this is what you get.
We’re gonna have a battle of the bands…
A battle of the drummers.
And they played “Wipeout”,
and this place was just crazy.
-Do you see a lot of stuff
in the skies here?
-You’re talking about aliens?
-All of the above.
-I’m gonna be like Elon Musk.
I don’t believe in aliens.
-You don’t?
-My daughter works out there.
-Okay, but do you see a lot of
military stuff in the sky?
-Lot of military training at night
and so you’ll see a lot of…
‘Cause they come down
with lights and stuff when they parachute
and people think
those are aliens and stuff but…
-Oh, they’re parachuting at night?
-Because out there
is just like being in the Middle East
and that’s why they do all that training.
-So there are a lot of
military bases out here, right?
-Just Creech.
Creech Air Force Base.
Where they do the predators and the drones.
The number one flyer out of Creech
is Young, young girls.
Because they have
faster reflex with their thumbs.
-[Peter surprised] No way.
-And they fly them out of Creech
all the way over to wherever they fly them.
-So the women fly the predators ’cause…
-Young girls.
-Young, like how old?
-Um, gosh, like 21, and a little bit…
I don’t even think they’re 30.
-Because their fingers work quicker?
-Young… Their reflexes are so fast.
-Huh, that’s interesting.
And so in my day off the line…
..was Shirley Muldowney and the drag strip.
-Uh-huh
And they made sure
she had the worst crew you ever saw.
Her husband, because she was so fast,
she beat all those guys.
Even her husband so that they…
He was really jealous ’cause he raced her.
But women are fast, reflexes are fast.
-The women are doing
all the drone bombings around the world?
-Most of ’em.
Most of ’em.
-Did not know that.
-And a whole bunch of ’em
come out of there.
Isn’t that beautiful though?
-I love the Mojave.
The Mohave is a gem.
KATHY: It’s prettier today
because we have the shade.
PETER: Well you just…
It looks like a painting.
-Uh-huh, and all these…
You see that yellow tint out there?
-Yep.
-Those are all flowers
on those creosote bushes.
-Okay.
-I can’t believe I remembered.
So you’ll see a bunch of yellow
and that’s all creosote bushes out there.
-You are a tourist information.
Listen to you.
[all laughing]
When I came from town yesterday
there was two little babies
and three adult horses
on the side of the road.
-Butch Cassidy is buried at Johnnie.
Which you’re going into.
-Johnnie The town’s name…
-The town of Johnnie.
-Okay, that’s right.
-At the Johnnie Mine.
He worked at the Johnnie mine
and he got killed by a great big
one of those grinding wheels in the mine.
He actually is buried some place,
um, by the mine.
But it’s an unmarked grave.
-Do I need to get out to Johnnie?
-No, that’s private.
-It’s private, okay.
What else should I see in this town?
Is there anything else to see in Crystal?
-No, I don’t think so.
-Cruise some of the streets?
I saw a guy with
a lot of school busses over there.
-That’s my backdoor neighbor.
Okay, if you need a school bus
you know who to ask?
[woman laughing]
No?
-He don’t get rid of sh*t.
-Yeah, he’s definitely collecting.
<He’s using a schoolie.
-Yeah, if you… Look, those are…
..cleaning up some wood and I was like,
“Look at that schoolie,
I could live in that.”
-People… Those are becoming popular
-They really are.
-He might be sitting on a gold mine.
-I think he has one or two over there
that people do live in.
PETER: He’s a schoolie connoisseur.
-Yeah.
But he used to own the gun shop
in Pahrump and now he’s out here.
-Okay, town like this, so you sort of
have to get along with everybody, right?
-No.
-Okay.
[woman laughing]
-You have friends and enemies?
<You’re asking good questions, Pete.
Good job.
-You like that?
-They just tore my sign down
at the top of the road.
-Why?
-Look at me, do you think I’m upset?
-You don’t put up with any BS obviously.
-No, and I know everybody
that does the meth
and I know everybody that does the drugs.
-Is there a lot of that out here?
-If I drive around they say
“Kathy, you’re too snoopy.”
and I says, “I’m not snoopy,
it’s called neighborhood watch.”
If I see somebody on somebody’s property
that’s not supposed to be on their property
I yell, and scream, and holler at him.
-Yeah.
I gave even Nye County even calls
because they come mostly from Beatty.
Which is 54 miles away,
and they said, “There’s two girls fighting
on such and such street.”
and I says, “Yeah, I know who they are.”
So I’ll go on the street
but I don’t just go and stay on the street.
I’ll go on their property
and I’ll yell at ’em.
“Well, Nye County just called me,
you two girls need to quit.”
“If you quit I’ll go back and tell
Nye County they don’t need to come out.”
“But if you keep on doing this ’cause
people are complaining about you two…”
“..well then I’m going back and saying…”
“‘I can’t control ’em
you need to come out.'”
and I’ll tell ’em the two places
where they have to go.
So you have a choice.
You either go to jail, or you go
and get in your house, and behave yourself.
-Okay.
Or you deal with Kathy,
which nobody wants to, huh?
-Yeah, one guy got made at me,
shot through my house.
Yeah, he got my beers… He got… gun.
-10 gauge?
-9 millimeter.
-Shot through your house?
-He got five years probation too…
..and he’s a felon.
That’s our judicial system now.
I just laugh at it.
He lives right over there.
-Five years probation?
That’s it?
-Yeah, and he’s a felon.
[Kathy laughs]
-He lives right there.
Our judicial system is crappy.
-In Nevada? I thought Nevada
would be a little more strict?
-Nope.
It’s the same, whatever you hear
about the judicial system,
it’s the same all over.
-Did the bullet come close to you guys?
-Um, I live over… It was my house.
<Peter.
-Yeah? Oh, thanks for the water.
Appreciate it.
You have the sweetest smile too
and I can’t put you on camera
but I totally understand.
[all laughing]
-It’s the house over there.
When you drive through town,
it’s the octagon house.
-And so he shot through,
and so it’s eight sided.
-You live in the octagon house?
-Uh-huh.
-Who lives in this Airstream?
-Oh, that’s mine.
-That’s nice.
-That’s another story too.
-I could do a whole
documentary series on you.
-You could.
I could write a whole book.
PETER: Harry from Canada’s living there?
KATHY: Harry from Canada’s living there…
..until the snow goes away.
-But are you gonna rent those rooms out?
-Well I only do ’em for Airbnb.
You go through Airbnb to stay there.
-People Airbnb out here?
-Uh-huh.
-And then I have three…
I have three camping spots
for people in RVs.
-Okay.
-So there’s three of those if they bring
an RV and they can stay out there.
-So people come out here because they want
the old school Nevada feel, right?
-Not necessarily.
When they get out here
they say the rooms are too small
and, um,
I’m not here 24 hours
to go and open the bar.
They really criticize me.
-You got a high-maintenance crowd?
-Uh, some of them do.
It’s a high maintenance crowd…
[sprinkler clacking]
Don’t get wet.
It’s a high maintenance crowd
because it’s cheap.
I’m not that expensive.
-Okay.
-If I was more money
they probably wouldn’t come out and stay.
They don’t read.
People don’t read.
And I call ’em Short Branch Bunkhouses.
How big do you think a bunkhouse is?
-I’d say a bunk house is 10 by 10.
-Okay, these are 13 by 13.
-All right.
-But I got my… It’s full of stuff
’cause Gwen and I are gonna do a yard sale.
I could look out my front window
and not see my neighbors smoke.
-That was your goal as a kid?
-No, as an adult
when I was raising my kids.
-Oh, yeah.
-So the bar had windows facing that way.
You could never see my neighbors smoke.
-You don’t like smoking?
-No, I just don’t like…
I like the 750 acres in front of me.
[chuckles]
-Yeah, that’s your front lawn.
[sprinkler clacking]
So when we gonna get this going again?
-I need trusses.
-Okay.
-I just don’t have anybody
that wants to be an engineer.
-Nobody?
-Last one I talked to he wants $950
just to come out here to talk to me,
and then we can go from there
’cause my son-in-law is a union carpenter.
-Okay.
-And Gwen and I can do sheet rock.
-But we always look for help.
-Okay, okay.
[all laughing]
Okay, so anyone out there that wants to
help out in the Vegas area, right?
-Yeah.
-What will…
You’ll give them plenty of cold drinks?
No Bud Light, but…
-No, I have Bud Light, that’s free.
-You have and endless amount.
[all laughing]
-Okay.
-That’s free, they can definitely have…
Yeah, we barbecue.
-You barbecue, you can cook ’em dinner?
-Uh-huh.
You’ll do the full… The full treatment?
-If they come out.
-You’re saying you want to look someone
in the eye if they give you money?
-I wanna see. I wanna see ’em.
-But do you have a GoFundMe or anything?
-I don’t like GoFundMe.
They got me a GoFundMe
and they filled it in, what, three days?
-You didn’t like that?
-I didn’t like it because I didn’t know…
..in three days,
I didn’t have a clue who gave me the money.
I didn’t have the slightest idea
who coughed up that kind of money.
You kind of want to say
thank you in person.
-Okay.
-You know, “Thanks a lot,
I really appreciate it.”
-We gotta get people out here.
Come to Crystal if you’re in Vegas,
you want a great adventure,
a beautiful trip, right?
Around the Spring Mountains.
-Correct.
-Come into Crystal and you’ll be here.
-My phone… My cell number’s
on the window if they want me to come in.
-Cell number’s on the window, okay.
-If they want me to come in, I’ll come in
as long as it’s not dark.
<It’s mostly open Friday.
-Okay.
-Friday, Saturday,
and Sunday I’m mostly open.
-Come to help support the cause
and get some good conversation
with you ladies.
That was great, seriously that was fun.
[Kathy laughing]
I wish I could stay.
I need to get out
into the desert now, right?
-You need to go out?
[wind blowing]
PETER: So ladies, you totally changed
the course of this route.
-What’s wrong with that?
-You’re saying don’t go Pahrump…
..or the ghost town I was thinking of.
-No.
You can stop at Area 51
and that’s where the brothel is.
-Nye county.
-Okay, stop at the brothel?
<Mm-hmm.
-‘Cause you said
you wanted to do a brothel.
-Well I wanted to
shoot video at the brothel.
I can’t go inside with the camera, right?
-Okay.
<It’s a little tourist trap.
-If you put your camera…
..underneath your arm
you can go in and talk to somebody.
When ’cause when I seen it under your arm
and then just talk.
-You thought it was a gun
so you were okay with it.
-I have no problem.
-You thought it was a gun,
so you thought it was okay.
-I have no problem with guns.
Like, you’re more worried about
cameras than guns, right?
-You make eye contact.
If your pupils were as big
as your whole brown in your eyes
then we probably wouldn’t be so friendly.
You make eye contact
-Because that means I’m alert?
Or tweaking?
-Tweaking, usually when a person is
on the verge of going off or whatever
their pupils get real, real, real big.
-Yeah.
PETER: Last question, cops,
is it sheriffs that come out here
or you have your own.
-Yeah, we don’t like ’em.
-Okay.
-‘Cause we are our own sheriff.
-Yeah.
You don’t like an out-of-towner coming in?
-That’s why they know and they call me.
-On the pay phone?
-Yeah, yeah, even when they
shoot through my house
they didn’t come out here for two hours
’cause they said,
“Kathy will take care of it herself.”
I didn’t call.
-Kathy, are you packing?
Are you packing?
-Hell yes I pack.
If you pack, everybody packs.
-Where is it?
-Well not now.
-Okay.
-We’re not afraid of you.
If I was afraid of you…
-You wouldn’t have let me come in here.
-I would’ve…
-Kicked my a**?
-I wouldn’t have talked to you this long.
-Yeah.
-You won’t believe how I talk to you
if I’m afraid of you, or I don’t like you,
or we have a problem.
You know.
You know that I don’t like you.
[Peter and Gwen giggling]
Gwen even tried to split up a fight
between me and a girl.
I just don’t like her at all
and she put her hands on me.
That’s the worst thing you could do to me
’cause I usually turn around
and she woulda went flying.
-All right.
Ladies, we’ve said goodbye
like three times.
-I know but don’t drive fast,
just be careful.
Highway patrol on the 95.
Just enjoy your day.
-Okay.
And if I get pulled over by the sheriff
I’ll tell him Kathy sent me.
That might not get you any place.
[all laughing]
GWEN: Could be a double.
-Double fines.
All right Gwen, you have to turn around
’cause I want to shoot
the front of the building
and I don’t wanna shoot you.
KATHY: She’ll have her picture taken.
-Okay, from far back we can do it?
Okay.
-She will, we’re buddies.
-You ladies are awesome, that was fun.
-Yes, it was.
Drive careful. Drive safe.
♪ mellow jazz ♪
PETER: So guys,
we’re not gonna do business here
but I’m curious.
We’ll see if we can film any of this.
Highly doubt it.
[Peter and woman laughing]
PETER: That’s very cool of you to speak.
So there’s a lot of judgment obviously
against, like, you know, brothels.
DEE DEE: YEAH.
-But the ladies were saying
in this town, Crystal…
-Mm-hmm.
-You know, they really…
They like them in the community
because it’s good for the tax revenue
and it’s also a clean way to do it.
As in it’s regulated
and there’s testing every week.
How does it work here?
-Yeah, there’s testing every week.
They have to have a negative result
to even be able to work the floor.
-Okay.
-Um, and then they also…
When they first come in,
they have to get a work card
through the sheriff’s department.
-Interesting.
-And that…
The sheriff’s department actually
runs a full background check on them.
We also do random checks on the guys
before we actually book them.
To make sure that there’s no visible signs
of any issues as well.
So from top to…
-You do background checks on the guys?
-Not background checks.
No, we do, um… I mean it’s kind of
impossible to do that on the fly.
-Yeah, yeah.
-Um, but, you know, the ladies are trained
in being able to detect, uh, you know,
issues with the men’s health as well.
-Okay.
-Um, or ladies.
Um, you know, sometimes couples come in.
-Couples, that’s interesting.
-Mm-hmm.
-I wouldn’t have thought that.
-No names obviously
but there was this beautiful couple
that decided to have a wedding
down in Las Vegas at one of the chapels
and then this was their…
This was their honeymoon.
-Wow.
[Dee Dee laughing]
They were super cute,
very respectful, great people.
-Wow, that’s interesting,
I’m sure you have stories.
-Yes, uh, well there’s multiple stories
that run through here, um…
[laughs]
-I bet.
You’re the general manager?
-Uh, yes.
The ladies are only
independent contractors.
This is their business.
Um, actually through Nye county
they’re not even allowed to post their…
Uh, they’re not even allowed
to post their menus online.
Um, so you would have to come to the house
to be able to speak to the ladies directly.
Um, but from there is no door fee
and there’s no obligation
to speak to the lady.
Um, everything has to be 100% consensual
before anything is finalized here.
I have a very stable house,
extremely professional ladies.
-Okay.
-You know, I really don’t have any drama.
Uh, we don’t allow drugs
into this house at all.
-Okay.
-We focus on having
a very positive experience
and having the ladies work together.
Um, which actually…
Which actually makes for
a greater household all together.
PETER: Cursa Capella, okay, talk to those
that don’t know what the house culture is
compared to doing your services
in cities on the streets for example
or house culture.
-Well, you know,
a lot of people like to come here
because it’s a really safe
and controlled environment.
-Okay.
-Um, you know that we’ve all been tested,
we have our licenses from the sheriff.
Um, and there’s people around.
So you don’t have to worry about
some of the hidden costs
that might be associated with,
you know, going somewhere outside.
-Right.
-And I would never talk badly…
..about the girls who do that
but, um, this is a really good option
for people who want
to do it a little bit safer.
-How long have you been here
at this facility?
-I’ve been working here
since December of last year
but I’ve been working
at the houses since 2021.
-Do you plan to do this for a long time
or what are your plans?
-I would like to do this for a long time.
-Okay.
-I’m, you know, pursuing things that
I’m interested in on my off time as well.
So I’m not letting it, um, sort of
get in the way of my other interests.
-Sure.
-But I would like to
do this for a long time.
-What are your other interests?
-I like to repair vintage audio gear.
I like painting, gardening,
stuff like that.
Oh, interesting.
So do you live out here
or do you live in Las Vegas?
-I live here while I’m working.
We all have our own rooms.
-Okay.
-But right now when I’m home
I live in the Bay Area.
-So you come out here for like
a week or two at a time and then go home
or how does it work?
-Well all the girls kind of have
their own touring schedules.
I usually come out here
for three to four weeks at a time
and then I’ll go home
for three to four weeks at a time.
-Okay, so you’re living,
like, two lives in a way?
-Not really.
-No?
-I mean all the people in my personal life,
they know what I do.
My family is very supportive.
Um, but I just kind of split my time
between my home and my second home.
-Okay so does… Is that…
Was that hard telling your family,
or your friends,
or everyone accepts it you said?
-Uh, you know, my mother
was a little bit hesitant at first.
She was like, “Really, you’re doing that?”
but then I sort of explained
this is what I want to do.
I want to pursue this
and she understood,
and my friends and family
are very supportive,
and I’m really lucky.
-Okay.
What do people not understand?
[inhales]
-I think people don’t quite understand…
That’s a good question, there’s a lot.
Um, there’s a lot of, sort of ideas
in the media about what it is that we do,
and how we do things.
Um, I would say one thing is, like, people
sort of assume that we’re not very smart
but we have to be because, you know,
we’re kind of running our own business.
So we’re taking care of the financials,
we’re doing all of our…
Getting our supplies
and talking to our clients.
So there is a lot of work
that goes into it.
Um, there are a lot of things
that we have here
that people doing this independently
might not have, you know?
There’s a community within the house.
There’s people that you can talk to,
people that you can lean on,
and
you know, all of the safety
that we have here is also really valuable.
-Okay, so that’s a big thing
I would think is safety, security.
-Absolutely, absolutely.
-Versus being on the streets
of Los Angeles or something.
That’s gotta be very dangerous, right?
-Yes, it is. It is.
-Have you talked to any of those women
doing that in those places.
-I haven’t necessarily talked with
a lot of, like, ladies who walk,
but I do know a good amount of people
who do this independently.
Like independent escorts
and things of that nature
and there are a lot of similarities,
a lot of overlap,
but there are a lot of safety things
that they have to worry about.
Like screening, you know,
and not getting caught by the authorities,
keeping everything kind of
you know, in that gray area.
Whereas here you don’t have to worry
about any of that.
-You choose the house you want to be at?
-Absolutely, mm-hmm.
-And why’d you choose this one?
-I…
That’s a good question.
I, uh, actually had a friend
who was working here at the time
and I asked, you know,
“How’s it going at Alien Cathouse?”
and she said, “It’s great, you should
fill out an application and come on by.”
So I came over and I figured out,
wow, it actually is great.
-You love it?
-I love it.
-Really?
-Absolutely.
No, it’s a lot of fun
and they take good care of us here
We have a lot of freedoms.
-Yeah?
-We can go run errands whenever we need to.
Um, there’s no one,
like, telling us to book
with clients that
we don’t want to book with.
It is really rewarding.
Whether you’re on the provider side
or on the client side.
-Is it rewarding because the attention,
the affection you get, or what is it?
-Sometimes.
Um, what I really enjoy is being able to
see into someone, and see what they need,
and to sort of help them
complete something that might be
otherwise incomplete in their life.
Because a lot of people come looking for
just the company and affection of a woman,
and there are people now,
kind of more than ever
um, who are lonely and isolated because of
all the things happening in the world
and so people really need
that physical touch
and that personal connection,
and that’s what
a lot of people come here for.
[birds chirping]
PETER: So guys, the point of this channel
is to bring you into different worlds
and let people speak.
I let them do the speaking.
I’m not doing the, uh…
..the narrative that you gotta
agree or disagree with.
Take that all for what it is.
I have my own opinions
and I’m not even going to share them.
Yeah, obviously that is a third rail topic
and some people are going to feel
very strongly one way or the other.
My job and the point
of these videos is to
expose you to things
that you might not normally see
and I’m sure some of you have seen
the insides and what goes on
and I’m not here to judge at all.
And I will say
that
the safety element is a good one
because right now
in Los Angeles for example
they pretty much…
uh…
..just let it fly from what I understand.
From what I saw
when I was there in South Central.
So what’s better,
that, with pimps, or this,
with some management,
and taxes, and testing?
Oldest profession in the world.
You decide.
All right, now on to… [chuckles]
Now on to a ghost town.
Outside of Vegas is…
Wow, from skiing,
to cathouses.
It’s quite mixed up.
♪ mellow jazz ♪
I’d like to take a moment in this video
to give a shout out to David
at Avis Budget Rent a Cars
at the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.
I had a small SUV
and David just gave me the big upgrade.
Which is awesome
when you’re out in these landscapes.
And also before we get out
to the ghost town,
I have a new merch line.
Finally have a new merch line.
This logo here represents the channel.
Bunch of different tees, some sweats.
If you wanna support the channel
and get some great merch in the process
click the link down below.
All right, let’s get out there, guys.
Towards Death Valley
we got a ghost town we need to get to.
♪ mellow jazz ♪
PETER: “Cook bank Building.”
Began in the spring of 1907,
one of four banks in Rhyolite.
That’s quite grand for being out here.
Look at that.
It was open for less than two years
in the summer and fall of 1907
a financial crisis caused banks
across the country to go bankrupt
by 1910 the Cook Bank was closed.
Such a peaceful silence up here.
About 110 years ago or so
this place was thriving,
horses, carriages,
big banks, businesses.
Adventurers would come from
all corners of the country.
Mostly from the East though
came west.
1849 was that big gold rush
here in California.
We’re almost in California.
It’s a few miles that way.
And all these explorers and adventurers
came to the West
to find their riches.
To start a new life.
To live in a very free place.
I think with very little rules.
So imagine coming across the country
and ending up in the Mojave Desert.
That is before air conditioning.
Now we’re up at, like, 3,000 feet here.
So it’s not too bad.
I’m sure in the summer it’s super hot.
We’re getting there through.
“Porter Brother’s Store.”
“Construction of their new building
began in 1906…”
“..used local stone and took four months
at a cost of $10,000.”
“Go to destination for Christmas shopping.”
“Even the popular store
was not immune to the down turn…”
“..that would
decimate Rhyolite’s businesses.”
“It closed in 1910.”
It’s the story of America, right?
Go where the opportunities are.
When the opportunities leave,
quite often you have to leave.
I think it was more extreme back then.
Like the minerals run out
and you gotta go, there’s nothing
versus now,
but we still have that trend now, right?
If you’re in some steel town
that ran out of steel
or coal town 40 years ago,
well, I don’t know.
I don’t know, I’m actually going to
get into that in the next couple months
in Appalachia.
A lot of people stay obviously
but we’re gonna learn more
about that story.
Which is crazy to think thriving,
active,
a lot of money being made out here,
and then not long after… This.
[wind blowing]
Do you mind if I have the camera on?
Is that all right or…
MAN: Yeah, that’s fine.
PETER: All right.
So you guys live around here.
-[both] Yeah.
-Peter.
-Ethan, man, nice to meet you.
-Nice to meet you.
-YouTube or something?
-YouTube. Derrick?
-Hey, man.
-Javin.
-Javin, nice to meet you.
PETER: What was this, do you know?
-Train station.
-Train station,
they were running trains in here?
-Yeah, so here and, like, Tonopah
all the way up to Reno and whatnot I think
-No way.
So they were getting
rhyolite out here the, right?
That’s why it’s called Rhyolite?
-Gold.
-They got gold from here?
-Yep this was a gold mine.
If you look right here,
this back mountain, all this right here.
-Yeah.
-Old gold mine called Bullfrog.
The bullfrog mine.
-This one?
-Yeah, right behind over this mountain…
..you’ll see some catch benches
and some leech pads,
and that an old gold mine.
My dad helped reclaim it out there actually
when a company called Lepcorp
came in and reclaimed it.
So they’re not mining gold anymore
out of it, it’s all reclaimed and whatnot.
-Are you guys mining anything out here now?
-No, just drilling.
There’s a small little mine
but it’s not operational
but everything right now is just drilling.
So it’s lithium
and gold drilling in hopes that
in the next three years
that they should open a gold mine
but that’s what’s been going on
for the past three years.
A bunch of drilling for gold and whatnot
-Oh.
-Is that what most people
are doing for work?
-Out here, yeah.
That’s what most people are doing for work.
You’re either drilling or you’re working
for the exploration site.
-Do you guys love it out here?
-Oh, I love it out here.
Yeah, it’s nice growing up in a small town.
-[Peter gasps]
-When you can come out, we
can put our trucks out here
and take pictures and everything.
-You guys got nice trucks.
-Thanks, man. Appreciate it.
-Thank you, that’s that gold money
right there actually.
-Is it?
-Yeah, his dad’s a miner…. Our dad…
So he’s my cousin,
these two are my brothers.
So his dad’s a miner,
our dad’s a miner, I’m a miner, or mechanic
and then these two
are still in high school.
-You’re a miner?
-Yeah, well, diesel mechanic in the mines.
So I work on heavy…
-Is it good work?
Is there good work out here right now?
-Yeah, it’s great work.
I mean I’m busy 24/7.
My boss is always having me
running around working in Amargosa
at a little rock pit
out here, and Vegas.
So you name it, we’re all over the place.
We’re contractors.
-They pay you well?
-Yeah, they pay very well.
-Buying nice trucks with your money.
I mean you guys are young.
-Yeah, definitely.
-How old?
-Just turned 17.
-Nice!
-And 19.
-Just turned 16 in March.
PETER: And you guys are all
rocking the big pickups.
-[all] yeah.
-I love it.
So you’re hoping in three to four years
this thing hits
and then the town’s
gonna be doing really well?
-Oh yeah, that’s out…
Have you ever been up to Elko?
-I have, long time ago.
-So Elko was like a boom town, there was
a bunch of gold and whatnot there.
That’s where the money’s at is in Elko
’cause there’s a bunch of gold mines.
We’re hoping that Beatty
turns into the next Elko.
Just a bunch of people, bunch of gold,
bunch of stores, bunch of everything.
‘Cause they got all kind…
They got two big projects right now.
They got something called
the North Bullfrog.
Where they’re trying to open up
and they got another project
on these back mountains called
Seahorst, or Merlin, or whatever.
-Okay.
-The big dog company
in Beatty right now is Anglo.
So if you want to learn about gold
or know who’s in Beatty,
Anglo is the number one,
that’s who it is.
They bought everybody else out
and they’re the ones that are doing
all kinds of drilling, they got some of
the best drillers in the world out here
drilling for them
-You’re not moving out, you’re staying?
-We’re staying here.
-No, I’m staying here. I like it here.
-That’s cool.
-The money’s here, so…
-What about the dating scene?
That might be hard.
-Oh, you bring that up, that’s funny.
Yeah, I always gotta go to different towns
to find a girlfriend because there’s no…
Like for me there’s just
no girls here that, like trucks or…
-A lot of the, like, Northern
Nevada chicks, they like the trucks.
PETER: So you like to pull down
Northern Nevada chicks?
‘Cause we’re in Southern Nevada.
-Yeah, I’m a big northern guy.
I love Northern Nevada girls.
That’s my thing, man.
-Why is that?
-Cause they’re all cowgirls
and they like trucks.
They’re all like me.
They’re not, like, all city and whatnot.
They don’t like doing all kinds of
weird stuff, they like doing stuff I do.
I feel like that’s kind of what separates
us and other small town kids.
I mean there’s plenty of great kids
out there but there’s a lot of kids
in these communities
that just do a bunch of hoodrat stuff.
-A lot of ’em see, like, the trucks,
and dirtbikes,
and think we’re just d*uchebags too.
-Yeah, exactly.
PETER: Okay, but you’re saying
you guys work hard.
You don’t smoke weed you’re saying?
-No, I’ve never smoked weed in my life,
not a day in my life.
Drugs or chicks,
if that come down to it I’m good.
I’m just trying to keep
my head focused on working right now.
Like I said, I’m 19 so I’m just trying
to keep my nose to the grindstone
and keep right.
-A lot of people come out here,
this is a pretty big tourist attraction.
PETER: This is haunted?
-Supposedly, yeah.
PETER: This is walkable here, right?
-I mean I think so.
-I think you can walk around it,
I don’t know about inside.
PETER: A serious train depot.
-[all] Yeah.
-Supposedly this town
was bigger than Beatty or something
There’s a bunch of history here.
I mean I’m not too good at history.
I didn’t pay attention in school really
but supposedly this place
was booming back in the day
when the gold was here.
-I hope Beatty just blows up
with gold mines.
Like, you go up North,
you’re trying to work winters,
it’s cold, a lot of people
want to kind of work
where it’s not too bad around, you know?
All around year, I mean out here
in the summers it gets pretty hot
but I’d rather be hot than cold up in…
Up in the northern areas,
so I’d rather work over here
where you get a little bit nicer weather.
The winters aren’t as harsh out here, so…
That’s the whole hope, man.
That’s why everybody’s out here drilling.
If you’re staying in Beatty,
you’ll go down, you’ll see
National trucks,
Bort trucks, they’re just…
They’re all the same trucks, big old
driller trucks, got mine flags on ’em.
-So I thought it was totally…
There was nothing here
because I came through town,
there was a bunch of trailers
that look a little beat up and I’m like…
-Oh yeah.
-But I just came through one way.
-Everybody in the town,
if you go ask everybody, they’re like,
“Oh, we’re hoping for the gold mines.”
or “The gold mines should be coming.”
It’s everything. Everything right now
in Beatty is gold mine.
It’s been like that
for the past four years.
-And you’re optimistic it’s gonna happen?
-I’m optimistic.
I want them to happen.
I think gold mines are great. I love them.
-Yeah.
-I’m gonna live and die,
and that’s my whole deal, I love it.
PETER: All right guys, here we are,
back where we started.
Full circle, hero’s journey.
What an adventure today.
So many different types of people,
different types of places.
Quite fascinating.
Went off-course a bit which is
what you gotta do sometimes
when you get good info.
And that was just one way out of Vegas.
You go this way, you got Lake Mead,
that’s a whole nother set of adventures.
Haven’t done it but maybe in the future.
All right, guys, this is
part of a greater Vegas series.
Check out my other videos on the city.
Thanks for coming along.
Until the next one.
♪ upbeat jazz ♪