Doughnut Shop

Working out of a doughnut shop in a crime-plagued neighborhood in Van Nuys, Mary Lou Holte has been acclaimed by Barbara Walters, Larry King and the Wall Street Journal as a force for good, a citizen crime buster who stands up to street thieves and prostitutes. But Holte now finds that the Los Angeles Police Department has called the shop a magnet for crime, branded it a public nuisance and asked that its operations be sharply restricted. Acting at the request of police and neighbors, a city zoning official on Monday decided to investigate.

There's something magical about the doughnut. You don't have to be Homer Simpson to swoon when you're greeted with all those bright colors and sparkly decorations in a doughnut shop display case. But no matter how wonderful they appear, it's hard to find a store-bought doughnut that compares with homemade. And, believe it or not, they're really not hard to make. You can whip up a batch of cake doughnuts in about an hour. Put together a batch of yeast-raised the night before, and all you have to do is fry them the next morning.

When the delivery truck pulled up at the base of their steep driveway, the Beardsley children knew what to do. The crew, clad in hand-me-down clothes, poured out of their eight-bedroom Carmel home and down the hill. They helped unload 50-pound bags of flour and huge tubs of jam. Grocery shopping for 22 was pandemonium; instead, a restaurant supply company brought the food to them. "A jar of peanut butter? Gosh, that would last one meal. Maybe," said Susie Pope, a middle child in a big, blended family that inspired a Lucille Ball movie.

When the delivery truck pulled up at the base of their steep driveway, the Beardsley children knew what to do. The crew, clad in hand-me-down clothes, poured out of their eight-bedroom Carmel home and down the hill. They helped unload 50-pound bags of flour and huge tubs of jam. Grocery shopping for 22 was pandemonium; instead, a restaurant supply company brought the food to them. "A jar of peanut butter? Gosh, that would last one meal. Maybe," said Susie Pope, a middle child in a big, blended family that inspired a Lucille Ball movie.

A North Hollywood man was shot and killed by rival gang members Sunday as he stood with friends outside a North Hills doughnut shop, Los Angeles police said. Miguel Caceres, 21, was in front of Donut King near Roscoe and Sepulveda boulevards at 1:50 a.m. when a carload of men drove up and identified themselves as gang members, Detective Ed Heissel said. As Caceres walked toward the car, one of the men began shooting, hitting Caceres in the head, Officer Rita Savala said.

Free art film, free coffee, free doughnuts! "Around the Clock: 24 Hour Donut City" is a 24-hour pop-up doughnut shop open during the screening of Christian Marclay's "The Clock" at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The 24-hour pop-up -- which takes place from noon Saturday to noon Sunday at arts organization ForYourArt, across the street from LACMA -- is imagined as an edible exhibition of L.A.'s signature donuts. A new doughnut will be presented every 24 hours.  ForYourArt asked LACMA's employees to select their favorite doughnuts, arguably the doughnut capital of the world: • Michael Govan, CEO and Wallis Annenberg director: coconut cake doughnut, Bob's Coffee & Doughnuts • Stephen St. Laurent, director of security: chocolate-glazed old-fashioned, Tang's Donuts • Amy Heibel, AVP, technology & digital media: French cruller, Randy's Donuts • Ellen Castruccio, director of membership marketing: blueberry buttermilk bar, Stan's Donuts • Scott Tennent, director of executive communications: crumb doughnut, Bob's Coffee & Doughnuts • Alex Capriotti, marketing manager: rainbow sprinkle doughnut holes, Bob's Coffee & Doughnuts • Erin Wright, director of special projects: buttermilk bar, Winchell's Donut House • Elvis Mitchell, curator of Film Independent at LACMA: buttermilk doughnut, Randy's Donuts • Franklin Sirmans, Terri and Michael Smooke department head and curator of contemporary art: traditional New Orleans...

Two brothers were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and robbery Monday night after they allegedly attacked the manager and the baker at a Fullerton doughnut shop, police said. Paramedics treated the baker, Victor Solares , 22, of Anaheim, and his cousin, Mardoqued Solares, 21, of Fullerton, at the shop, Sgt. Tony Hernandez said. He said that the cousins later sought treatment on their own at Martin Luther Hospital in Anaheim.

A smoke bomb canister bearing the words "United Skin Heads" and a swastika was tossed into a Studio City doughnut shop, causing minor damage, Los Angeles police said Saturday. Police said the shop's baker was the only person in the Winchell's Donut Shop in the 12000 block of Ventura Boulevard when the smoke bomb was thrown Friday night. The baker did not see the person who threw the device but suddenly realized that the store was filling with smoke, police said. Sgt. Chris Roberts said police have no suspects but an investigation is continuing.

A woman robbing a suburban doughnut shop pretended to be a waitress when a customer came to the drive-up window. Trouble was, she bungled the order--and the customer was a cop. Cheltenham Township Police Sgt. Michael Regan wanted a large coffee with cream and sugar. The woman at the suburban Dunkin' Donuts had an unfamiliar face, and she delivered a medium black with the cup only half full. He parked in a remote corner, watched and waited.

A man suspected of shooting his mother-in-law at a Clairemont doughnut shop Sunday afternoon later broke into his estranged wife's apartment and kept police at bay for 1 1/2 hours before surrendering, police said. Audrey Erbe, 58, was in critical condition at Sharp Memorial Hospital Sunday night with a bullet lodged in her brain and was not expected to survive, a hospital spokeswoman said. Randy Ernest Geering, 36, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

Say what you will. Say stay off the sidewalk. Ora Alcox is going to see the space shuttle. On Friday, the now-earthbound Endeavour will be wheeled by very slowly, a block from Alcox's Inglewood home. She will witness it, she says; try to stop her: "They'll have to drag me, screaming and crying. I'm 70 years old. I have MS and I plan to see this. " At the drive-through window at Randy's Donuts, Alcox was picking up her usual apple fritter. And like a lot of those there for their morning fixes Thursday, she was peeved.

Free art film, free coffee, free doughnuts! "Around the Clock: 24 Hour Donut City" is a 24-hour pop-up doughnut shop open during the screening of Christian Marclay's "The Clock" at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The 24-hour pop-up -- which takes place from noon Saturday to noon Sunday at arts organization ForYourArt, across the street from LACMA -- is imagined as an edible exhibition of L.A.'s signature donuts. A new doughnut will be presented every 24 hours.  ForYourArt asked LACMA's employees to select their favorite doughnuts, arguably the doughnut capital of the world: • Michael Govan, CEO and Wallis Annenberg director: coconut cake doughnut, Bob's Coffee & Doughnuts • Stephen St. Laurent, director of security: chocolate-glazed old-fashioned, Tang's Donuts • Amy Heibel, AVP, technology & digital media: French cruller, Randy's Donuts • Ellen Castruccio, director of membership marketing: blueberry buttermilk bar, Stan's Donuts • Scott Tennent, director of executive communications: crumb doughnut, Bob's Coffee & Doughnuts • Alex Capriotti, marketing manager: rainbow sprinkle doughnut holes, Bob's Coffee & Doughnuts • Erin Wright, director of special projects: buttermilk bar, Winchell's Donut House • Elvis Mitchell, curator of Film Independent at LACMA: buttermilk doughnut, Randy's Donuts • Franklin Sirmans, Terri and Michael Smooke department head and curator of contemporary art: traditional New Orleans...

A freak for fitness, I decided the other day to concentrate on what trainers call the "core muscle groups," the very struts of the human body. In my case, the core muscles are the tongue and the schnitzel. The schnitzel is unfamiliar to many folks, but it's a sister muscle to the hamstring. Twisty like ship rope, the schnitzel runs from the back of the tongue to a spot just under my computer desk. I'm typing with it now, in fact. So what I've been doing every morning is to work my core muscles - my tongue and my schnitzel - then replenish my fluids later in the day with that popular new heart medication, a glass or two of red wine.

Judge Jacqueline Nguyen had never met a lawyer before attending law school at UCLA. She fled Vietnam during the fall of Saigon with her parents and five siblings all younger than 11 and started life in the U.S. living in a tent city with other refugees at Camp Pendleton. Now President Obama has nominated Nguyen, who two years ago became the first Vietnamese American woman to serve as a federal judge, to the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco. “Judge Nguyen has been a trailblazer, displaying an outstanding commitment to public service throughout her career,” Obama said.

Aries (March 21-April 19): Safe topics include your location, the weather and current events. Stick to those, and you'll make and keep friends Taurus (April 20-May 20): There are too many aspects to your personality to say that you are one person. You are many people, and there are many more you could be. Gemini (May 21-June 21): You get the feeling that the stakes have been raised, and you respond by asking more of yourself. Cancer (June 22-July 22): Moods are as temporary as clouds.

There were more witnesses when Jeffrey and Kathryn Elliott renewed their vows in the lobby of a doughnut shop than at their first wedding in Hawaii. This time, instead of family and friends, the ceremony was observed by a ring of delighted tourists snapping pictures on their cellphones while a skinny "voodoo priest" in battered Chuck Taylors and a mask fashioned from a paper bag officiated over their declaration of love. The couple ? she's a technical writer for Microsoft; he's a management consultant ?

Burger King, Wal-Mart, Kinney Shoes, Dunkin' Donuts are hardly names that stir feelings of fear and loathing in the masses. But for Joseph and Lorrie Liani, the owners of a quaint doughnut shop down the road from Salem State College, the names are like a punch in the stomach. It's the feeling that strikes any mom-and-pop business when a national franchise--Liani calls them the "big boys"--rides into town.

An employee of a doughnut shop was fatally shot early Tuesday in his car outside the shop, police reported. Kimmeng Yin, 25, of Long Beach was found near 35th Street and Atlantic Avenue. He died at a hospital. Police said they have a suspect, who has not yet been detained. The motive isn't known.

The owner of a Claremont doughnut shop was indicted Tuesday on federal charges that he bought endangered-elephant ivory on EBay and smuggled it into the United States from Thailand three years ago. Moun Chau, 50, of Montclair was charged with conspiracy and the illegal importation of wildlife, according to the indictment, which cited violations of the Endangered Species Act and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. The alleged smuggling was discovered in November 2006 when authorities found four African elephant tusks in a shipment purported to be toys.

Footage from a security camera captured the last, frantic seconds leading up to the shooting death of a teenager by a Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy last week, but the images fail to resolve conflicting accounts of the incident. The video, taken from a surveillance camera mounted on the facade of a doughnut shop, shows 16-year-old Avery Cody Jr. sprinting from the sidewalk onto Alondra Boulevard in Compton on July 5.