Dennis Hof: What We Fail to See

We walked into the Bunny Ranch at noon. Three undergraduate journalism students, a couple of working girls, and a very protective dog later, I was able to walk out of one of Nevada’s first legal sex brothels, with an understanding of who Dennis Hof, the owner and businessman behind it all really is. Knowing that Hof holds a reputation of being a “pimp” in the media, and for his racy HBO show,Cathouse, I approached the Bunny Ranch with the purposefulness of revealing Mr. Hof in an entirely different light.

Barefooted and wearing a Bunny Ranch button-down polo, Mr.Hof had us set up at his dining room table, while our cameraman Cooper, dodged Hof’s 14-year-old-dog, Domino, who had six teeth pulled the day before. Three detailed, hand-painted canvas’s of Hof and his pup, Domino, were the focal point of the dining room.

“Could you please close those blinds a bit so the light doesn’t shine in my eyes during this,” Hof politely requested.

From there, we began. Having done research prior to the interview, it was easy to find anything, maybe even too much information, on Mr. Hof and the details of the Bunny Ranch (The “champagne parties”, “to-go orders”, and “around the world” experiences offered on the Bunny Ranch menu are not as innocent as they sound). However, finding information on who Hof was away from the Bunny Ranch, didn’t come as easy.

“Growing up I wanted to be a firefighter. I’ve got a great picture of me and a little fire truck when I was about three or four years old. In fact, the fire truck is sitting right out of the house here.” Hof motioned over his left shoulder to indicate where the truck was. “I’ve still got that thing but it didn’t work out that way.”

Although Hof’s childhood dream of becoming a firefighter didn’t pan out, his start as a businessman out of Phoenix, laid a foundation for his successes today. It wasn’t until a vacation to northern Nevada when the idea to pursue ownership of the Moonlight Bunny Ranch would start to unfold. But that was not Hof’s original career plan. Being a businessman, Hof began to buy gas stations around the Reno-Tahoe area. A little while later, Hof discovered a girl he had been dating was a working girl at the ranch. Hof was curious.

“So she convinced me, which I had no idea what this was about, to come out and take a look at things,” Hof continued, “So I went out and I said, ‘Well besides what they’re selling it was kind of normal to me.’”

Hof saw opportunity. He made a move in 1978.

“My buddy Andy Kaufman and I were brainstorming back and forth with all these ideas on how to run this place and he says, ‘You know what, let’s buy this place, you should buy this place and treat everybody the way you and I are being treated, that’ll be a winner’, and now it’s one of the most famous places in the world.”

Hof is an evolver, humbly admitting he was a bit skeptic of it all at first.Together we discussed how people easily take sides and live in a world of black and white. Once we see past those uncomforts and tune into a new perspective we produce success. A movement of growth within ourselves, an evolutionary accomplishment of moving past our egos.

Hofs ability to evolve and allow traditional ways of thinking go, is one of the main factors in keeping prostitution out of the hands of criminals in Nevada.

Hof points out in almost every interview he does, “Prohibition does not work.”

Not only is Hof a businessman , but also somebody of notoriety. While America chooses to wear the blindfold and negatively label him as a “pimp” , Hof chooses to do something about the sex trafficking issue happening every minute in America.

Hof refers to the women employed at the ranch as, “working girls.” These women have rights. They are independent contractors who can refuse business to anyone. They get tested weekly for HIV, and most importantly, they are choosing to do this.

“We get over 1,000 applications a month from girls wanting to work at the ranch. Including teachers trying to pay off school loans,” said Hof.

Hof does not want to be viewed as a pimp in terms of criminals on the streets sextrafficking, and violating womens rights. He accepts the label when used light-heartedly, infact he just recently released a book titled The Art of The Pimp.

There is no such thing as beating around the bush with Hof. Every question I asked followed with a sincere, honest, and lengthy response. As the interview continued, I felt as if I was catching up with an old friend, rather than a, “pimp.”

“My life has changed to where I do a lot of traveling, so now I insist on adding an extra day or two to the trip,” Hof says, “ I try to add more time to it so I can do some sight seeing, enjoy the area, my time and the girl I’m with.”

Hofs parents, both involved in WW2, passed before he took ownership of the Bunny Ranch.

“My father would be like, ‘Yeah right on,’ if he knew what I was doing,” Hof continued, “And I think my mom would go, ‘Ehh I don’t know about this,’ ya know her Catholic background would pop up and all that,” Hof chuckles.

“I don’t have any Vices except I eat too much and I love hot girls,” Hof laughed.

America could agree with Hof on at least one of those statements.

“My favorite foods in order are Asian, Italian, and Mexican,” Hof said.

These small tidbits of details illustrated a Dennis Hof America fails to see. The last thing an American against legalizing prostitution would want to do is sit down and relate with Dennis Hof. But why is that? Almost all of the interviews I’ve watched featuring Hof have somebody trying to expose something that isn’t there. The negative stigma and stereotypes framing America’s view on legalization of prostitution only feed revenue into the blackmarket, empower criminals, and endanger women. As a twenty year old blonde, female-athlete, I was able to safely and comfortably walk into the Bunny Ranch, interview Hof, and safely walk out without any influence of recruitment or harm. This would not be the case if I tried to strike up a conversation with a pimp on the street.

As the interview came to an end, I wished in that moment that everybody could talk with Hof the same way I had. Hof made sure when we left the lady at the front desk would let us pick out a T-shirt and most importantly, his famous hot sauce. The Bunny Ranch was friendly, free of judgment, discrimination, and full of comfort. I felt more at home inside of a legal sex brothel then most business establishments.