Adam Parfrey

By Dan Winger

ADAM PARFREY NEVER SET FOOT into the Amok Bookshop on Vermont Ave – Until the day I took over the shop – AND shortly there after – Adam heard there was a ‘new owner’ and came in for the VERY FIRST TIME – to introduce himself to me – I worked at Feral House a couple years later as well (long stories) – yes, I remember you I met you w/ Mark Anthony – I just had to respond – SO much disinformation out there – Adam Parfrey and Stuart Sweezy (owner of Amok then) – had not been on speaking terms for YEARS – when they had a fallout over who owned the name ‘AMOK’ – there was legal battle and as we know – Adam was eventually Feral House and Stuart retained the name Amok – this also caused a rift between Stuart and his brother Ken – Amok did not handle many of Feral House titles until I took over the helm and buried the hatchet between them – later when Amok on Vermont closed I moved to the 548 Building in Downtown Los Angeles – many hip people had space in this building including Me & Feral House and I got re-acquainted w/ Adam and started working for them as well as running my own book service – I worked close w/ these people for years – all that ‘man / boy love crap’ was the doing of then manager of the Amok shop – a gay black man named Michael Glass NOT Adam Parfrey – Stuart Sweezey was in charge then and let Michael Glass do pretty much what ever….we did handle NAMBLA – but it was not a huge display and just because I am reading a medical book does not mean I’m a doctor – we were about freedom of speech – since this is so convoluted I may reach out by phone to talk further too much to type – I still sell books after 29 plus years – no shop just online presence here at ETSY for about 15 years now – UNUSUAL BOOK is my shop – https://www.etsy.com/shop/UnusualBooks -Thanx for writing / Best Regards – Dan Winger

Comment From Paul Hunt

Thanks for clearing up the lost history of Feral House and Amok. I still miss Adam, we had some epic conversations over the years.  I remember begging him not to move out of Los Angeles, he was L.A.’s bad boy and the underground press gave him reams of publicity.  I also still remember the first issue of the Amok catalog, it was sort of a large newspaper size sheet packed with interesting titles, put out by Stuart’s brother. The later catalogs were thick and glorious and real treasures if collectors can be lucky enough to find one. Interestingly I re-connected with Stuart about 10 years ago at the old Hollywood “Museum of Death”.  I had just been laid off my job delivering magazines for the old Armadillo Distributors in Inglewood, which was shutting down, and dropped by to sell them a few items for some gas money and Stuart was there with a video crew shooting a series on the Museum.

You are certainly most welcome to write again and share memories of the Hollywood book scene. Your old office on Spring Street downtown was a cool place to hang out and talk about avant-garde publications and books. I think the Dream Machine guy was there also.  As real estate prices drop maybe a squad of old booksellers could buy an “unusual” office building and build a mecca for book freaks.  Possibilities just depend on price.  Send me a few photos of the Amok Store and your old office if you can. And maybe a cool pix of the legendary bookseller Dan Winger, one of the most knowledgeable book man around.  Check out Dan’s shop Unusual Books at https://www.etsy.com/shop/UnusualBooks.