Virginia City, Nevada: Julia Bulette Red Light Museum (Closed)
RoadsideAmerica.com Team Field Report
- Directions:
- In the heart of downtown, on Hwy 341/Main St./C St. Upstairs is a steakhouse owned by the infamous Mustang Ranch.
- Hours:
- May 2020: Reported permanently closed.
- Admission:
- $1
- Status:
- Closed
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Julia Bulette Red Light Museum
Long running museum in the basement of a chinese restaurant captured the allure of paid sex with 19th century gamblers and miners.
Roadsideamerica.com Report... [03/21/2010]Visitor Tips and News About Julia Bulette Red Light Museum
Reports and tips from RoadsideAmerica.com visitors and Roadside America mobile tipsters. Some tips may not be verified. Submit your own tip.
While living in Nevada 12 years ago we decided to drive up to Virginia City. We had no money, maybe $5 to our name, but a full tank of gas. My husband didn't want to go into this museum, so I went alone. It was kind of freaky, spooky, weird, and haphazard, not neatly organized. Interesting pictures on the wall, especially one of Julia as a spirit floating above her grave. Made my hair stand on end. And then there was the display of the two mannequins, one the murderer and the other Julia, on the bed, with their faces looking right at you. The museum was in her house and I was probably looking at her bed, the murder bed! It was frightening.
[Nancy Biggs, 07/15/2018]Not worth the visit now. The museum, or whats left of it is located in the Mandarin Chinese Eatery. Actually, the Chinese food is pretty good. A lot of the prostitution related items have been removed, and instead you have old medical instruments and opium bottles. The town is worth the visit, I stay there many times myself, but not the museum.
[Paul Curtis, 12/15/2004]The thing that struck me about the "Red Light Museum" of prostitution was a scene made of department store dummies, in which the tour-ee has the perspective of peeping through a late 1800's window into a back alley abortion. There was also a case of eyeball prosthetics which I didn't really understand... Maybe there were a lot of one eyed hookers back then?
By the way, before we went into the museum, which is the basement of a little dive of a tavern the bartender ominously warned in a low drawl... "be careful, its haunted."
[Peg Clydesdale, 03/06/2004]We visited the "Museum of Prostitution" in Virgina City, which is actually called the Julia C. Bulette Red Light Museum, (775) 847-9991. It's very much worth the drive, although the drive from Reno to the City is a little bit scary (uphill, windy roads). Not only does the Museum have various ancient sex toys (such as a vibrator that looks like a hand mixer from Sears and Roebuck), it also displays old surgical tools and poisonous arrows. The "Bucket of Blood Saloon" also makes the trip worthwhile. A pleasant and highly interesting addition is the Cemetery in Virginia City.
[Cheryl Hoffman, 08/21/2000]Page of 2 [Next 1 items]
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The museum lives on in the cellar below a Chinese restaurant.