Biker Rally Planned to Save Historic Brothel

The International Sex Worker Foundation for Art, Culture & Education (ISWFACE) is sponsoring a rally and bike run the weekend of August 6-8 to help restore a historic brothel here. The bike run is scheduled right before the annual biker convention in Sturgis, South Dakota.

The bike run is part of the summer-long "ICE Camp '99," a convocation of prostitutes and other sex workers who are participating in the restoration of the historic Dumas Brothel as a museum.

Former surgeon general Joycelyn Elders will dedicate a safe-sex postcard found in the brothel during the restoration in a ceremony on Monday, August 9. Dr. Elders will be introduced by ISWFACE executive director Norma Jean Almodovar, herself a former LAPD officer and a former prostitute.

ISWFACE (pronounced "ice-face") is a registered nonprofit foundation, is purchasing the historic 43-room brothel, called one of the last remaining examples of "Victorian brothel" architecture in the United States. The plan is to establish the structure as a museum for the art and culture of sex workers.

For more information or to register for the bike run, call (406) 723-TIXX.