Thursday, January 08, 2009

Anyone for a donut?

Two of these stands survive here in L.A. I used to live near this one; the other is maybe five miles away.

In any case, Randy's -- the other is currently known as "Dale's" -- is in better condition, and seems to be doing business...



I'm surprised there are pigeons congregating on top of the "donut." There can't be many crumbs up there to nibble after all these years, as the structure was, as I recall, built in the late 1930s.

14 comments:

Fin said...

Wow, that takes me back. Is the hotdog one still there too? I seem to recall you posted a pic of it too once.

MrScribbler said...

Fin -- A long, long time ago, in a journal far, far away, I posted a pic of "Dale's Donuts." There were one or two "hot dogs" in the L.A. area, but I believe they are gone now.

Unless I've missed the others, the two donuts are the last examples of a strange period in commercial architecture in this region....

Doug said...

Every period in LA has been strange, Scribs...

I think giant food signs are cool.

BenB said...

Dang, that donut looks like it's bigger than the building it's sitting on! Hate to see that thing fall

Anonymous said...

Pigeons need somewhere to hang out.

Anonymous said...

Love it. We have a giant coffee pot somewhere here in SC but the shop is long closed. Maybe I can buy the coffee pot for my roof.

MrScribbler said...

Joan (and anyone else who is interested) -- do a Google image search on "Programmatic Architecture." You'll see several examples of the thinking that spawned the "donut" structures. Too bad so many are long-gone....

gillardia said...

That just looks like something you'd see in a movie and not real life. LOL

Gill

Dorrie said...

aw, what memories!

Kimmywoo said...

How American!

MK said...

You'd be surprised what the wind can bring in. I'm sure there's all kinds of neat things at the top. I mean, why not, there's all kinds of shit that finds its way onto the roof of the house.

I had a Frisbee up there once. I don't even own one of those. Go figure.

Anonymous said...

Put some wheels on that thing and the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile might have some serious competition. :)

S

deb said...

I love this stuff. In FL we had giant dinosaurs at a gas station and, of course, you have to walk through the jaws of an alligator at Gatorland. Up here we used to have the Gumdrop House for candy.

BenB said...

I remember one in Texas that was sitting on a pole that must have been 50 feet off the ground. I used to drive through the area frequently - it was definitely OLD school, but at the same time, I miss some of the stuff they used to have. Giant arches, twirling buckets, things like that.