VHS videotapes and compact audiocassette tape interviews of David Hurles, founder and proprietor of Old Reliable Tape and Picture Company, conducted by Pat Allen with the assistance of Bill Wyman, September 1998-January 1999. The collection also contains two compilation CD-ROMs of Old Reliable photographs, copyright 1998.

David Randolph Hurles was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the end of World War II. By his teen years he recognized his attraction to the neighborhood bullies and toughs. By the mid-1960s he was working for H. Lynn Womack at Guild Press, in Washington, D.C. In 1968, Hal Call, who ran San Francisco's notorious Adonis Book Store, persuaded Hurles to appear before the camera. His skill before the camera and easygoing personality led Call to rent Hurles a room and employ him. Hurles worked as a model, book store employee, and later as an office manager in Los Angeles. While in Los Angeles, Hurles gained experience behind the camera with Ken Albert, and was introduced to a few models. In 1975, with funds obtained from Womack, Hurles formed the Old Reliable Tape and Picture Company, specializing at first in audio tapes and still photography, and later in video tapes of street boys, tough guys, and "rough trade," men, typically working class laborers and hustlers, who did not want their masculinity or sexuality questioned, but would appear before the camera.

2 archive cartons. 0.8 linear foot.

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