The Donut Man

Jim Nakano grew up in the Los Angeles area and entered the donut business in the 1960s, working at several Southern California donut shops before deciding to open his own operation. The 1970s were a boom era for Southern California donut shops — a wave of Cambodian immigrants began entering the donut business in the late 1970s, eventually building the dense network of independent neighborhood donut shops that defines greater Los Angeles to this day — but Jim's 1972 opening of The Donut Man came slightly before that broader Cambodian-American donut wave and was driven by his own pre-existing experience in the trade.

The choice of the Glendora location on East Route 66 was practical. By 1972 Route 66 had been substantially bypassed by Interstate 210 to the north for through traffic, but the old highway alignment remained the primary commercial artery for Glendora's eastern edge and adjacent foothill communities. A walk-up donut shop on a busy local road, near several schools and residential neighborhoods, was a sensible neighborhood business model. The original storefront was modest and the early menu was conventional — yeast-raised glazed, cake donuts, old-fashioneds, twists, the standard repertoire of a 1970s Southern California donut shop.

The strawberry donut emerged from Jim's experimentation with seasonal ingredients in the early years of the shop. California's strawberry season — typically running from late February or March through May or June, with peak quality in April and May — produces some of the best fresh strawberries in the United States, and Oxnard and the surrounding Ventura County coastal plain is one of the largest commercial strawberry-growing regions in the country. Jim's strawberry donut took the abundance of nearby California strawberries and applied them in an unusually generous way: a yeast-raised glazed donut sliced open and stuffed with multiple whole fresh strawberries, glazed again, served the same day. The combination of soft yeast donut, sweet glaze, and tart-sweet ripe California strawberries became a regional sensation across the 1970s and 1980s.

The strawberry donut is what most first-time customers come for, and it is the item that has put The Donut Man on national food-media radar across the decades. The construction is straightforward but unusual: a standard yeast-raised glazed donut is split open horizontally, filled with multiple whole fresh strawberries (typically four to six berries, depending on size and the day's strawberry quality), and the upper half is reattached. The result is roughly the size of a small softball and is genuinely a two-handed eating experience — the strawberry juice runs, the glaze sticks to your fingers, and you will almost certainly need napkins.

Strawberry donut season runs roughly from late February through June, tracking California's commercial strawberry harvest. Hours and availability during strawberry season can be unpredictable — the shop typically produces strawberry donuts continuously through the day but sells out by late afternoon or evening on busy days, especially weekend days. Lines during peak strawberry weekends (April and May Saturdays in particular) can stretch down the sidewalk and wait times can reach 30 to 45 minutes. Most strawberry-season visitors arrive in the morning specifically to avoid the afternoon rush.

Beyond the strawberry donut, The Donut Man's seasonal menu includes fresh peach donuts in summer (typically July and August, using California peaches), and a fresh tiger tail — a long twisted donut with chocolate and vanilla cake variants. The year-round menu covers standard donut shop offerings: glazed, old-fashioneds, jelly-filled, chocolate-iced, maple bars, and a respectable apple fritter. The non-strawberry items are good neighborhood-donut-shop quality but not particularly distinctive — The Donut Man's reputation rests squarely on the seasonal fresh-fruit donuts and especially the spring strawberry season.

The Donut Man has historically operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week — a now-rare schedule that reflects the shop's identity as a working neighborhood institution rather than a curated daytime food destination. Late-night and early-morning customers form a substantial part of the customer base across the decades, ranging from Glendora-area shift workers stopping in at 3am to college students from nearby Citrus College or the University of La Verne making post-bar food runs. The 24-hour schedule has occasionally been adjusted for staffing constraints and during the COVID-19 era, and current hours should be verified directly with the shop, but the overall pattern of round-the-clock or near-round-the-clock operation has been a defining feature of the business.

The walk-up window setup contributes to the late-night accessibility. Without an indoor dining room to staff and supervise, the shop can operate efficiently with a minimal overnight crew — typically one or two staff handling the window and basic production tasks. The model has proven durable across decades and across changing Southern California retail food trends. The Donut Man has outlasted countless designed dessert concepts that came and went around it during the 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s gourmet-donut and Instagram-food eras.

The local customer base includes multiple generations of Glendora families who have eaten Donut Man strawberry donuts in childhood, brought their own children, and continue to bring grandchildren. The shop has become genuine community infrastructure in a way that goes beyond food — it shows up in Glendora wedding-day photographs, Citrus College commencement family celebrations, and the standard Glendora local rotation of birthdays and small celebrations. National food-media attention is welcome but largely incidental to the shop's primary identity as a Glendora neighborhood institution.

The Donut Man sits on the historic Route 66 alignment through Glendora — East Route 66 and East Foothill Boulevard, the original Mother Road path that ran through the foothill communities at the southern base of the San Gabriel Mountains as it traversed Los Angeles County toward Santa Monica. By the time The Donut Man opened in 1972, Route 66 had already been substantially bypassed for through traffic by Interstate 210 to the north, but the old alignment remained — and remains today — the primary local commercial artery for Glendora, Azusa, Duarte, and the other foothill communities.

The Glendora setting is part of why the shop developed the customer base it did. Glendora is a longstanding suburban Los Angeles community with a deep population of multi-generational families who tend to support local independent businesses across decades. The town's identity as the "Pride of the Foothills" reflects a deliberate community emphasis on small-town quality of life within the broader Los Angeles metropolitan area, and Glendora's downtown along Glendora Avenue (just west of the Route 66 corridor where The Donut Man sits) maintains a walkable Main Street character that is unusual for Los Angeles County suburbs.

For Route 66 road-trippers, The Donut Man is one of the most genuinely worthwhile food stops on the California portion of the Mother Road. The shop pairs naturally with The Hat — Glendora's famous pastrami sandwich destination, about half a mile west on the same Route 66 corridor — for a substantial Glendora food itinerary that can be combined with downtown Glendora exploration. Travelers continuing west toward Pasadena (about 15 miles west) or east toward Rancho Cucamonga (about 5 miles east) typically include The Donut Man as a planned stop.

First-time visitors during strawberry season (late February through June) should plan to arrive in the morning — ideally between 7am and 10am — to avoid the worst of the afternoon lines and to ensure strawberry donut availability. Weekday mornings are substantially less crowded than weekend mornings, but the strawberry donuts are reliably available throughout most of the day during strawberry season. Mid-afternoon weekend visits can involve 20 to 45 minute waits depending on demand.

Off-season visitors (July through February, when strawberry donuts are not available) can typically walk up with no wait or a short wait. The off-season menu is conventional donut-shop fare — good but not the destination experience that strawberry season produces. Peach donuts in mid-summer are a respectable seasonal substitute for strawberry-season enthusiasts and are worth specifically seeking out in July and August.

The Donut Man accepts cash and most credit cards. Prices are reasonable — individual donuts typically run $2 to $5 depending on type and season, with the strawberry donut at the higher end of that range and standard donuts at the lower end. Buying a dozen is the standard family or group order and produces meaningful per-donut savings. There is no indoor seating; customers eat in their cars or take the donuts home. The small parking lot can fill up during peak hours and street parking on East Route 66 is available but can require a short walk back to the shop.