The Rise, The Fall, The Resurrection

Donuts were popular back in the sixties. The two big national chains were Mr. Donut and Dunkin Donuts. They were open 24 hours a day and many nights I'd head over there with my photographer friends Nathan Benn and Al Olme, or the artist Tony Mafia. There was a Mr. Donut about six blocks away, another perhaps thirty-five blocks, and a Dunkin Donuts about fifteen blocks, but in another direction.

The closest Mr. Donut closed first. The world was on a health food kick in the seventies. Then the Dunkin' Donuts became some sort of a restaurant. Eventually Mr. Donut became The Donut Connection, but that closed awhile ago. I guess greasy fatty food suddenly became healthy again, or maybe it's just the coffee fad fueling things.

As Starbucks tries to have a store every mile or so Dunkin Donuts is showing up in strip mall after strip mall. They advertise how good the coffee is, how so many people prefer it to Starbucks. The donuts never get mentioned. This store is new. The strip mall is undergoing a complete renovation. It's about the same distance from my house as Starbucks. Starbucks stopped selling cinamon donuts. I wish I liked Dunkin Donuts coffee. I buy my donuts and transport them up the street