Randy's Donuts

Randy's Donuts

Randy's Donuts is a landmark building in Inglewood, California, near Los Angeles International Airport, in a style that dates to a period in the early 20th Century that saw a proliferation of programmatic architecture throughout Southern California. This style had its heyday from the mid 1920s to the mid 1930s. By the 1950s however, the trend of designing structures in the shape of the product sold there had changed to focus on signs rather than architecture itself. In the case of Randy's, the product in question is represented by a 32.5-foot (9.9 m) doughnut on the roof of an otherwise ordinary drive-in that is a dedicated doughnut bakery. The building was designed by Henry J. Goodwin.

The 24-hour drive-in is located at 805 West Manchester Boulevard where it intersects with La Cienega Boulevard, and is near the Manchester Boulevard off-ramp of the San Diego Freeway (I-405).

History

Randy's was built in 1953 as the second location of the now-defunct Big Donut Drive-In chain by Russell C. Wendell, a donut machine salesman. There were 10 locations, built over the course of the 1950s. At least four other Big Donuts survive: they are Kindle's Donuts in Los Angeles (this is the original location, built in 1950), the Donut King II in Gardena (3), Dale's Donuts in Compton (5), and Bellflower Bagels in Bellflower (8). Each features the distinctive giant donut constructed of rolled steel bars covered with gunnite, the material used in swimming pools. Five Big Donuts have been demolished. They were located in Culver City (4), North Hollywood (6), Inglewood (on Imperial Hwy, 7), Van Nuys (9) and Reseda (10).

In the 1970s Wendell sold off the individual stores to concentrate on his Pup 'N' Taco chain (which he sold to Taco Bell in 1984). Robert Eskow purchased the Manchester and Normandie locations in 1976 and named them "Randy's Donuts and Sandwiches" after his son. In 1977 a baker named Gary Kindle purchased the store on Normandie, which is still operating under the name Kindle's Donuts. In 1978, brothers Ron and Larry Weintraub (cousins to the Eskows) purchased the Randy's on Manchester and kept the name; they own it to this day.

Similar to the Big Donut chain is The Donut Hole of La Puente, California, the last of a chain of five stores featuring two 26-foot diameter drive-through fiberglass donuts on either side of a small bakery building. A number of Angel Food Donut stores in Long Beach also feature oversized donuts; these appear to have been manufactured out of metal ductwork.

Pop culture

The building was featured in the movies Earth Girls Are Easy, Mars Attacks!, The Golden Child, Into the Night, Coming to America, Stripped to Kill, Problem Child 2, Breathless, Californication, California Girls, 2012, Iron Man 2, Volcano, and Love Letters. It has also been featured in the music videos for Randy Newman's "I Love LA" and The Prodigy's "Wind It Up".

A similar building with a giant donut, under a different name, is featured in the racing video game Midnight Club: Los Angeles.

A similar building with a giant donut, under a different name, is featured at several locations in the racing video game Need for Speed Most Wanted.

A similar building with a giant donut, under a different name, is seen in The Simpsons. During the episode "Marge vs. the Monorail", the monorail's makeshift anchor catches onto the donut, stopping the train and saving its passengers.

The iconic structure was shown on the History Channel series Life After People, showing what would happen to the building without human repair.

In the episode "Pier Pressure" of Arrested Development, in a sequence showing Buster's medical trial for THC, medical marijuana, a picture is shown of Buster standing next to Randy's Donut on the roof attempting to eat his way through it.

In the film Iron Man 2, the protagonist Tony Stark is seen eating donuts while reclining inside the donut sign.

External links

• Official website with additional photos