Echo Park customers rally to support Ms. Donut

Some loyal customers have rallied to support Ms Donut. But the Nous have no idea what happens after that.

They’ve heard nothing from the incoming owner, said Annenn Nou. For the last year or so, they’ve found themselves on a month-to-month lease. “It’s why a newcomer can kick us out,” she said.

This could be the end of a very long tradition of selling donuts at that corner, according to the Nous and some customers. Before the Nous took over, the shop was run for 16 years by a distant relative who had bought it from a manager. Before that, it may have been a Winchell’s, according to Conrado TerrazasCross, a regular customer (Favorite Donut: white cake with chocolate frosting and peanuts).

Another customer, Kyle Hulburd (Favorite Donut: maple bar), has set up a Go Fund Me fundraiser to give the Nous and their three children some kind of financial cushion if they do, indeed, lose the lease.

“I grew up with a local donut shop,” said Hulburd, who came from the Bay Area. So when he moved to Los Angeles, “I looked for one and found it.”

Though Annenn Nou grew up in Belgium, both the Nous were born in Cambodia - making them part of a wave of Cambodian immigrants who have successfully operated donut shops in California. But the donut business seems to have changed in recent years, especially after the pandemic, Annenn Nou said. You don’t have as many people buying a dozen donuts, maybe for coworkers at the office.

The Nous really haven’t had much time to think about what to do if they lose the lease. They work in the store seven days a week, 15 hours a day. -- opening at 5 am, closing at around 5 pm, starting the next day’s baking at 11:30 pm.

Said Hulburd, “The bar is really high in terms of moving somewhere else.”