Farley Elliott

There's not much going on around this stretch of Venice Boulevard. The bisected street hasn't quite hit Culver City, and isn't close enough downtown to simmer with Pico-Union's Central American spices. Sure, Tacos Leo is nearby and you can find a serviceable pupusa at Con Sabor down the street, but the Venice Plaza strip mall at Venice Blvd. and Hauser Blvd. is an often-overlooked run of nail salons, beauty salons and a weary check cashing place. But tucked right into the mix -- or in one case, around the corner and out of sight -- are a couple of dine-in Mexican restaurants and a faded dessert shop.

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Farley Elliott

It seems only fitting that L.A. Weekly's newest recurring feature, Strip Mall Rat, would begin with one of the most infamous intersections in the city: Santa Monica Blvd. and Highland Ave. The corner strip mall and surrounding sidewalk has long been known as a haven for all sorts of unsavory characters, from prostitutes and drug dealers to run-of-the-mill shady types who seem to think hanging out in front of a doughnut shop is the best way to look tough in Los Angeles.

Well, there's more than just a Donut Time outpost at Santa Monica and Highland. Between the check cashing place, the adult bookstore and the weed dispensary is a bare-bones Indian restaurant and a funky sushi joint. There's also a corner Subway, but don't they just build those things in automatically with every new strip mall?

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Samantha Bonar

Peach Donuts at Donut Man

It's all about doughnuts (or donuts) in the March issue of Saveur, out now on newsstands. The cover promises a list of the world's best inside. But according to features article contributor Michael Krondol, who's working on an upcoming book on the pastries, "though donuts take on countless shapes, textures, and forms around the world, it's in America where these fried cakes came of age."

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ReneS/Flickr

Donuts

Some Homer Simpson of the Matrix has decided to break down the particulars of various major social media outlets using the round, yellow cartoon patriarch's favorite food: donuts. For those who Facebook with trepidation, tweet (we prefer saying "twit") irregularly, and generally lose their minds when contemplating the vast sea of connecting possibilities technology has birthed, the donut thing works pretty well.

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Guzzle & Nosh

Assorted doughnuts from Fōnuts.

The name Fōnuts (don't forget the macron) implies "faux," but there's nothing ersatz, derivative or watered down about pastry chef's Waylynn Lucas' upscale doughnut shop. Opened in late August on West Third Street in Chrysta Wilson's shuttered Kiss My Bundt storefront, the minimalist shop is nearly bare, except where it counts: the doughnut selection.

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Guzzle & Nosh

A seasonal peach donut from The Donut Man in Glendora.

By now, we've all probably heard about Jim Nakano's legendary strawberry donuts: "flattened demisphere[s] big enough to use as a Pilates cushion, split in two and filled to order with what must be an entire basket of fresh strawberries, and only in season." Fewer people know that Glendora's patron saint of fried dough also makes a peach variation of this same donut for about month during summer -- and it's even better than the original strawberry.

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With the highest number of per capita donut shops of any major metropolitan area in the United States, Los Angeles is the ideal locale for a donut confab. Following on the greasy heels of 2009's Hot Dog Death March and last year's inaugural Donut Summit, the 2nd LA Donut Summit will unite donut connoisseurs of all proclivities for an afternoon of deep-fried mayhem.

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Sometimes, "tempura" is just another way to say "we deep-fry everything." That's the situation at the OG Tempura Truck (@ogtempura), where crisp apple rounds, delicate squash blossoms, tough hunks of flank steak marinated in sake and miso, turkey wrapped in bacon and, of course, the standard lineup of vegetables and shrimp get the hot oil treatment.

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Remember when a Du-par's donut was coated in an inch-thick raft of frosting, spread, it seemed, by a very generous hand? Neither do we, but our friends who grew up in Los Angeles do, and they still talk about it with reverence. In the absence of that, here are five of LA's classic, old-school donut shops, perfecting for celebrating today, National Donut Day.

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It's not so amaaaaaazing that National Donut Day is almost upon us. It occurs every year on the first Friday in June. What is amazing is that our very favorite Tennesseaan-turned-Angeleno, Huell Howser, is celebrating the big day with a trio of donut-themed episodes on his show, California's Gold.

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