Around 1970, Carroll moved into the loft Robert Mapplethorpe and Patti Smith were sharing. Patricia Morrisroe, in her biography of Mapplethorpe, writes:
“Mapplethorpe reacted with surprising equanimity to Carroll’s invasion of their privacy and displayed no outward signs of jealousy. He and Smith had grown accustomed to leading separate sexual lives, and he did not perceive Carroll as a threat. In fact, he enjoyed his company, and the trio of roommates spent spring evenings strolling around Times Square, where they revelled in the whistles and catcalls from men who mistakenly took them for male prostitutes” (82).
Carroll describes these outings in “The Cancer Hall of Fame” in Forced Entries, in which Mapplethorpe is “Roger.”