I have a friend who said his grandfather, or a grand uncle would regularly hang out a bordello in El Paso. His purpose was to glean information there about outlaws’ intentions or past crimes that he had committed. His intent was not to hang out with the girls, but to gain information so he could solve a crime.

Unfortunately, he and a Mexican bandit meet, and both fire their pistols at each other at the very same time. Both shots were fatal, so the two men were buried in the same grave. Convenient but unexpected.

If you remember the popular stage play and musical, “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” I believe the roll was played by Bert Reynolds and the madam was played by Dolly Parton was the Madam. Bert had the role of the local sheriff! This operation was based on the operation of The Chicken Ranch, which had been operating for years, possibly further back that World War I.

It was a convenience and the sheriff finally arranged for a private telephone line to his office from The Chicken Ranch, so he would not have to drive out there every evening.
The Chicken Ranch got its name from a period during the depression when customers could bring a live chicken or two and pay for the services of one of the girls there.

Finally, a T.V. and deputy from Houston, by the name of Marvin Zindler, took a film crew out to the Chicken Ranch mostly to create headlines for himself. There were many houses of ill repute in the Metropolitan Houston area, but the Chicken Ranch was more widely known.

I am convinced that the local sheriff would have shot Marvin if he had not had cameras rolling to record all that was going on in the small town of LaGrange, Texas.

If the citizens of that city had wanted to shut down the Chicken Ranch, it would have been closed decades ago. After it closed, the physical house was moved to Dallas for a period. I do not know what happened to it after that.

Since I know you have a burning question that I haven’t answered yet, here it is. Did I ever visit the Chicken Ranch? No, never did, neither there nor any of the whore houses of the border towns in Mexico. I cannot speak for Mexico, but the local sheriffs gained considerable intelligence garnered about what the criminal element was doing, and this was passed on the law enforcement. I suppose this was the price of being allowed to remain open.

Marvin Zindler could have found a dozen such houses in the Houston area, rather than going over 100 miles to LaGrange. Just Sayin…RJS