Randy's Donuts Rolls Toward Opening

By David Ganezer

Randy's Donuts getting a touch of paint

Time to get excited people! Randy's donuts at 9th Street and Wilshire will be opening next week, the owners have announced.

What makes Randy's Donuts different?

"We only use the freshest ingredients. We throw out donuts that are older than an hour," says one of the perky kids who will soon be selling donuts.

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.

The shop's exterior has made numerous television and film appearances, including Arrested Development, Masked Rider, Entourage, The Golden Child, Get Shorty, Problem Child 2, Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles, Californication, Earth Girls Are Easy, Iron Man 2, The Kissing Booth 3, Runaways, 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."

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 (I-405).