Randy's Donuts is a bakery and 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. Randy's is represented by a giant doughnut on the roof of an otherwise ordinary drive-in that is a dedicated doughnut bakery. The building was designed by Henry J. Goodwin. There are actually two different sized doughnuts. Most locations used a 32 1/5 ft -diameter version that straddles the building and is aimed at the intersection. In Roadside Giant by Brian and Sarah Butko, the Weintraubs climbed on top of the doughnut with a tape measure and confirmed this for the authors. The Bellflower and Reseda locations, however, feature a small version of the doughnut on a pole out in front the building. This may be 23 feet in diameter, as is widely reported. The 24-hour drive-in is 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. The shop's exterior has made numerous television and film appearances, including Arrested Development, Masked Rider, Entourage, The Golden Child, Get Shorty, Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles, Californication, Earth Girls Are Easy, Iron Man 2, Dope, 2012 and the pilot episode of The Bernie Mac Show, as well as the music videos of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Californication", Justin Timberlake's "Can't Stop The Feeling!," Becky G's "Becky from the Block" and "Zooted" and Randy Newman's "I Love L.A.".
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 doughnut 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 unincorporated Westmont, the Donut King II in Gardena, Dale's Donuts in Compton, and Bellflower Bagels in Bellflower. Each features the distinctive giant doughnut constructed of rolled steel bars covered with gunite, a material used in swimming pools. Five Big Donuts have been demolished. They were located in Culver City, North Hollywood, Inglewood, Van Nuys and Reseda. In the 1970s Wendell sold off the individual stores to concentrate on his Pup 'N' Taco chain. Robert Eskow purchased the La Cienega location and later the Century and Normandie location 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. Recently, they decided to retire, and sold the business to Mark Kelegian, who is expanding the brand by opening a branch in the Westfield Century City Mall. Similar to the Big Donut chain is The Donut Hole of La Puente, California, the last of a chain of five stores featuring two 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 doughnuts; these appear to have been manufactured out of metal duct work. Randy's Donuts opened a new store in El Segundo on September 10, 2018. Randy's Donuts is also planning to open locations throughout California, and internationally in South Korea and the Philippines. On 4 July 2017, Inglewood rapcore band Fever 333 had their first public performance in a U-Haul truck in the shop's carpark.
