As much as we love doughnuts, we love giant doughnuts atop buildings even more, and Los Angeles unquestionably is the place to find these iconic structures. Featured in countless movies, spoofed (alongside Big Boy restaurants) in The Simpsons as Lard Lad Donuts, and seen in the current Toyota Tundra ad campaign, Randy’s Donuts of Inglewood is the most famous location of the 1950s-era Big Donut Drive-In chain. Buffetbuster reminded us of this gem in his excellent trip report and L.A. Weekly ran an excellent series on the chain, but of course we wanted to see and try them for ourselves. Of the ten locations, only four other Big Donuts have survived (and one has been transformed into a giant bagel!). Our chocolate glazed donut from Randy’s was fresh, delicious, and satisfying:

Our next stop was Kindle’s Donuts of Los Angeles, which happens to be the chain’s original location at 10003 S. Normandie Avenue. Being older than Randy’s, this giant donut showed its age with a few holes in the plaster:

Kindle’s plain raised donut looked to be the best choice, and its fragile glaze shattered at the touch. It wasn’t the freshest specimen, but the sugar rush that followed erased any judgment:

Third on our list was Donut King II at 15032 S. Western Avenue in Gardena. The giant donut looked very clean, but its lettering could’ve been aligned better:

More remarkable, however, was the old Sega Genesis controller hanging from a wire to the shop. Our theory: some hardcore gamer, before upgrading to Sony's original PlayStation, sacrificed his controller to the giant donut in thanks for the countless, donut-fueled calories needed to collect all six Chaos Emeralds in the Sonic the Hedgehog game:  

Anyway, we only had eyes for the glazed buttermilk bar this time around, and it delivered the crunchy crust/creamy insides balance that we had hoped for:

Our penultimate stop was a first-ever trip to Compton and Dale’s Donuts at 15904 S. Atlantic Avenue:

…and we were Travelin-Manned. But honestly, what donut shop closes in the middle of the day and reopens in the evening?!? Mea culpa for not calling ahead, but the interior looked promising. Maybe we’ll save it for our next trip:

Sadly, Dale’s was our last stop for donuts, because Bellflower Bagels at 17025 Bellflower Boulevard in Bellflower rebranded their giant donut as a giant bagel...with what looks like strawberry cream cheese in the middle. Notice that it’s on a post instead of being mounted on the roof:

Now Bellflower does sell donuts, but we couldn’t bring ourselves to order one, since it is indeed a bagel shop. Instead, we enjoyed an everything bagel, toasted with cream cheese. Its surface was completely covered with poppy and sesame seeds and slivers of onion. Taste-wise, it was slightly above the average mark but the kind lady behind the counter made the drive worthwhile. (The bubble tea was horrible, with the tapioca beads nearly uncooked and hard, but that’s a minor quibble.)

Overall, this was a spectacular tour of programmatic architecture in the City of Angels, and hail to the almighty donut!