The massive doughnut signs that act as landmarks across Southern California\u2019s low-rise landscape are slowly melting away\u2014 leaving a hole in the skyline.<\/p>\n
The iconic signs shaped like massive doughnuts \u2014 that rest on top of drive-up restaurants \u2014 are ubiquitous to Angelenos and have been featured in blockbuster films and television shows to signal LA.<\/p>\n
Randy\u2019s Donuts shop in Inglewood, CA, at dusk with a giant donut on the roof. Barbara Davidson\/NYPost<\/p>\n
In Iron Man 2,<\/a> Tony Stark eats a box of doughnuts while sitting inside the hole of the Randy\u2019s Donuts sign. While in the music video for Justin Timberlake\u2019s \u201cCan\u2019t Stop the Feeling<\/a>,\u201d a shop employee dances in front of the infamous O.<\/p>\n Tony Stark in Iron Man 2 eats a box of doughnuts inside the Randy\u2019s Donuts sign. Marvel Studios<\/p>\n The signs are \u201calmost like the Hollywood sign, in some ways,\u201d Adrian Scott Fine, president of the LA Conservancy told SFGATE.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re going to experience LA, you need to experience a giant doughnut,\u201d Fine told SFGATE.<\/p>\n The giant rooftop doughnuts started popping up in the 1950s but are slowly disappearing as land values sore and developers squeeze out the last of SoCal\u2019s mid-century whimsical architecture.<\/p>\n Dale\u2019s Donuts shop with a giant donut on its roof. Barbara Davidson\/NYPost<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of those were taking up spaces that were vacant land, and the area hadn\u2019t really developed yet, or it was kind of happening at the same time, and so land wasn\u2019t as expensive,\u201d Fine told SFGATE.\u00a0<\/p>\n As the neighborhoods developed around the sites of the giant sugary treats, the lots they occupied became more desirable, and much more valuable, according to Fine, who spoke with SFGATE. \u201cAnd so that\u2019s how they also got pushed out, because of the development pressures of the city that was growing.\u201d<\/p>\n The Donut King in Gardena. Los Angeles Times via Getty Images<\/p>\n When the original huge doughnut was dreamed up by Russell C. Wendell\u2013 who opened Big Donut Drive-In in 1951\u2013 he had to hire an architect and structural engineer to have them designed and put together using rolled steel bars covered in sand, cement, and water, according to the LA Conservancy.<\/a><\/p>\n Dale\u2019s Donuts shop with a giant donut on the roof. Barbara Davidson\/NYPost<\/p>\n Today building the same sign would cost substantially more, and would likely be too expensive to attempt. <\/p>\n \u201cAlthough there are more efficient ways to build something like this now, a modern big doughnut would be cost-prohibitive given different building and seismic codes, Fine told SFGATE. \u201cIt would be much more difficult to actually achieve that today.\u201d<\/p>\n Bellflower Bagels & Java located in Bellflower. MediaNews Group via Getty Images<\/p>\n The doughnuts that remain are beloved by local residents, who have fought \u2014 with some success <\/a>\u2014 to keep the locations from being demolished.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile it may seem like we still have a lot of the giant doughnuts, we\u2019ve lost a lot,\u201d Fine told SFGATE.\u00a0<\/p>\n