We have a handful of nickels,
pennies and dimes between us
to go to Winchell’s -
the donut shop
with the gigantic tractor tire
in the parking lot
painted like a chocolate donut
with a lot
of sprinkles on top.
Five cents for cake
or plain or raised,
eight cents for raspberry
custard
or lemon-filled,
glazed.
Making a choice
is sweet agony
hopping in place
(one foot
to the other)
barefoot
on the other side
of the glass case.
We pedal our bikes furiously
with a hunger
deep and craving,
an urgency borne all on the wings
of sacred
pocket change.
I remember when they raised the price of specialty donuts from eight to eleven cents a piece. That’s all we could talk about for days! It seemed like a terrific injustice. In our minds, we were the core clientele of this tiny, paint-peeling little donut shop on Saticoy, just around the corner from Jellico. Executing our donut runs almost exclusively on a Saturday, we were accordingly unaware of the week day early morning business they must have been doing just fine without any of us penny-pinching neighborhood kids.
Winchell’s is an international donut chain. We didn’t know this. We thought Mr. Winchell was the old guy in the stained white apron and the little paper hat behind the counter.
Donuts 2011: 89 cents each
"The Donut King"
Verne H. Winchell
October 15, 1915 - November 26, 2002
Founder of Winchell's Donuts in Temple City, CA, 1948, graduate of Alhambra High School, CA.
* Excerpt from Station Wagon Wars ~ Growing Up in the 60s by cTanner
