Vanilla Slim: An Improbable Pimp in the Empire of Lust

by Bob Armstrong

On December 8, 2002, the San Francisco Chronicle published an article by "Insight" contributor Bob Armstrong titled "Zen Dolls: Confessions of a Pimp in the Pod." In the article, Bob briefly recounted his adventures running an "escort" service before being arrested on March 27, 2002, on one count of pimping and two counts of selling drugs, all the while working as a freelance journalist. He spent time in the county lock-up where fellow inmates dubbed...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786717017
• ISBN13: 9780786717019
• Release Date: December 2005
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf Publishers
• Length: 234 Pages
• Weight: 2.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.6" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

San Francisco, the other view

The author describes running a small contemporary escort service in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco, as well as producing erotic camcorder flicks, featuring the most beautiful of his contractors, and her answering trivia questions related to world history. This entertaining book is short (but succinct) on the voyeuristic side. It gives a compassionate view of the seedy part of the city, the action and follies of its inhabitants, sex-seeking visitors, those catering to them, and of the cities legislators and cops. Streets, buildings, and shops come to life, as does some of its recent history and art, the drug scene, and the authors days in prison. The "language" is mixed: direct and often beautifully poetic. This book parallels in a way John Steinbecks Cannery Row; I found it at least as much fun to read.