FaVorites:
Jeff York
Harold Harris Gates, Jr. aka Jeff York (December 15, 1957 - October 26 1991) was a model and gay adult film actor. Gates was just 33 years old when he died of AIDS in Florida in 1991.
In addition to his modeling for Cold Studio, Gates was also featured in many gay-oriented ads and promotions in the 80's. If you've ever looked at some of these old magazines, you know they were filled with ads for a variety of different products. The focus of many of the ads, before we all had the Internet, were for adult phone lines. Gates was often featured as the 'hot guy' you hoped was on the other end of the line when you called.
When I was researching Jeff York, I came upon a tribute by Tom Bianchi on the photographer's Instagram Page. The two worked together and became close friends.
'Harold Gates, an irrepressible puppy of a guy, came into my life with vast charm and an endless appetite for fun. We shot both in the Pines and New York, the city pictures being more intimate. I called him the Childe Harold, from Lord Byron’s poem. He was a friend who saw me through our transition from sexual innocence into the epic tragedy of AIDS. He demanded that we be grateful for whatever day we had in the midst of the mayhem surrounding us.'
'I reconnected with Harold in LA where he had moved when I was spending a winter there. He called one night to invite me to go out and party. I said I couldn’t — I was packing to fly back to New York in the morning to be at the deathbed of Tom Johnson, who’d been my best friend for years. Harold said, “You can be sad tomorrow. I’ll drive you to the airport. But tonight you will dance with me.” And so we did. A few years later Harold, too, passed with AIDS.'
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