Delighted that Cabel chose Internet Archive to host all these wonderful catalogs.
"DAK and the Golden Age of Gadget Catalogs"
https://cabel.com/2023/11/06/dak-and-the-golden-age-of-gadget-catalogs/
Ha! DAK in the San Fernando Valley. I was fortunate enough to live nearby, so we used to make pilgrimages to DAK's warehouse to pick over the leavings; once thing had somewhat run their course in the catalog, any leftovers got a second life in the warehouse. You could browse thru giant shipping-container boxes of just about anything and everything, both from the catalog and stuff that didn't make the cut, all marked down. It was a picker's paradise, a Fry's before Fry's existed (or at least before it hit the Valley). Rarely left empty handed. I never ordered from the catalog - too impatient - but spent hours and a big chunk of my disposable income on DAK stuff. I didn't need it, it was mostly junk, but we had to have it...
@Biggles I have to ask if you ever met Drew
Not knowingly. But it wasn't a huge operation and we probably went there a hundred times, so I may well have and not realized it. The warehouse was a big swap-meet and everyone was comparing notes. And yes - the catalogs were just devoured. Thank you for archiving them.
