Teri’s Notebook: Carson City ranked fifth sexiest small city

I decided to write my column this week about a study that named Carson City the fifth sexiest small town in America. This is what I wrote in the beginning:

“Carson City received a surprising honor this week — if honor means unlikely, kind of peculiar recognition.”

I planned on explaining how Movoto, an online real estate brokerage that has taken a “unique approach to city-based research,” conducted its survey and express my skepticism at their methods.

And I would be right to do so.

The results are based on several factors, according to a press release, including nightlife, lingerie stores per capita, adult stores, massage parlors, hotels and average summer temperature (hotter means fewer clothes *wink*) — that’s their *wink*, not mine.

And when it came to choosing Carson City, they cited the nearby brothels, “a pretty lively nightlife and quite a few massage places.”

“Did we mention casinos? There are a ton here, and those can be pretty sexy, too, in their own way,” the author adds.

As if that criteria weren’t enough to dismiss the survey for anyone who’s walked through a casino at 11 a.m., the photo they used was one from flckr of lingerie-clad baristas from a short-lived coffee shop that closed more than four years ago.

But before I turned the whole thing into a mockery, I thought I’d best ask you what you thought.

And I was surprised.

While there were a few cynical responses: “After 11 hours, I finally stopped laughing,” Rick Smith wrote. “This ‘survey’ is ridiculous.”

And Shannon Gerrard Fowler questioned, “Are retired people sexy?”

Others found sex appeal in the capital city.

“I think it’s sexy!” wrote Elle Hansen. “You are a stone’s throw from a romantic lake, beautiful hiking, stunning sunsets, small local restaurants, history, architecture and men in suits downtown! Now THAT’S SEXY!”

Angela Brooks put it succinctly, “Politics is sexy.”

Sharon Brown said she finds the city’s charm and kindness to be appealing.

“I didn’t even think of the brothels,” she said. “I thought of the beautiful parks, with lovely trees to kiss a sweetheart under. Clean downtown sidewalks to walk on, hand in hand with my Sweet Sweetie. I guess I’m just a romantic at heart.”

Erick Studenicka said it’s a matter of perspective.

“If you live in Carson City, Carson City is not sexy,” he wrote. “If you are one of the 200 million people who live on the East Coast, Carson City sounds distant, exotic and romantic.”

For an official viewpoint, I turned Joel Dunn, executive director of the Carson City Visitors Bureau, which is just a fancy way of saying local sex-appeal expert.

While he may not have agreed with the reasons cited in the list, he agreed that Carson City is sexy.

“An opportunity to walk on the beaches of Lake Tahoe during the day with my wife then have a mood-lit dinner at Adele’s is what’s sexy to me,” he said. “Walking hand in hand with my wife on the wine walk in downtown Carson City, that’s pretty sexy.”

And how they came to that conclusion, he said, doesn’t matter.

“Being sexy means something different to every person,” he said. “The bottom line is studies like this benefit us as people come to Carson City to experience sexiness in their own way. It leads to the awareness that Carson City has so much to offer.”

Mostly convinced, I headed downtown Friday night to do some research of my own.

It reminded me of a blog post by Robin Givhan I read this week about Lauren Bacall in the Washington Post.

“Style, Bacall said without saying a word, had more to do with the confident swagger of the lady wearing the suit than the suit itself.”

It’s the same when determining the city’s sex appeal. It is not the sum of a mathematical equation computing the number of massage parlors or average summer temperatures, it comes down to the people who live here.

And you, fair readers, are sexy. *Wink* — that one’s mine.

Reporter Teri Vance can be reached at tvance@nevadaappeal.com.