Doughnut Maker to Run Rings Around Downtown

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Face it, there’s been a hole in downtown Los Angeles for a long while now.

Well, that hole is about to be filled – kind of. If all goes as planned, DTLA will have its first Dunkin’ Donuts location by Christmastime.

Construction crews are hard at work at 754 S. Olive St., transforming what used to be three separate storefronts into a 2,000-square-foot doughnut shop, said Aharon Aminpour, the Dunkin’ Donuts franchisee behind the upcoming downtown location.

Aminpour became a Dunkin’ Donuts franchisee about two years ago, he said, and has plans to eventually open five stores throughout downtown. There’s no time line in place yet, but he’s actively looking at sites in Little Tokyo, Bunker Hill and South Park.

“Los Angeles, in my opinion, is the hub of the West Coast,” he said. “And being downtown, we have so many residences and businesses in one area.”

The South Olive location will be Aminpour’s second Dunkin’ Donuts shop. His first, which opened in Encino in June, drew crowds that lined up out the door and around the block, he said.

“We’re anticipating huge crowds as well for downtown,” Aminpour said.

To prepare, he has already hired about a dozen workers who have begun training at his Encino store. But, he added, he’ll need at least 70 more employees by the time the store is ready to open in December.

Flying Higher

Another gaping hole downtown was created by the shuttering two years ago of the Angels Flight funicular.

Now, another effort is underway to get the legendary railway between Olive and Hill streets up and running again, this one a fundraiser at the Million Dollar Theatre on South Broadway.

Nonprofit Angels Flight Railway Foundation will be screening the film noir staple “M” on Nov. 5. Portions of the 1951 film (a remake of the 1931 German classic starring Peter Lorre) were filmed on Bunker Hill, and the century-old railway makes an appearance. Dr. Gordon Pattison, who grew up near Bunker Hill, is co-sponsoring the event.

“I rode it every day as a young person when it was at its former site,” Pattison said of Angels Flight, which was moved from West Third and South Hill streets to its current location in the early 1990s. “I am sponsoring the Angels Flight fundraiser because this beloved railway needs our help. It is an important part of the legacy handed down to us by earlier generations of Angelenos.”

The 315-foot, steeply angled railway was closed two years ago as a result of safety concerns after a partial derailment had occurred. Supporters say the railway is not dangerous now and they want to see it operate again. 

The nonprofit launched a campaign in August to raise $10,000 to help fund the historic railway until state regulators make a decision about its future.

Green for Greenery

Downtown business leaders are concerned a city proposal to raise a fee on developers to fund the creation of urban parks could put a damper on the residential construction boom.

The fee in question – known as a Quimby fee – is levied on much of the new residential construction in the city. It’s supposed to be used to fill in some holes in the city’s greenscape by acquiring and building new parks.

Fees now range from $2,634 to $7,596 for each residential unit in a project that needs a zoning change. City planning officials want to raise the fee and expand it to include all residential construction, not just projects that need to be rezoned. The fee would be $7,500 for each new rental unit constructed and $12,500 for each new for-sale condo or townhome unit.

“The key objective … is to increase park acreage and park access citywide, with a focus on expanding resources available in underserved communities,” according to a May 6 Department of Recreation and Parks memo laying out the case for the fee increase.

The proposal will ultimately require City Council approval.

Business leaders are concerned the fee increase would hinder new residential construction.

“In many cases it is a new fee on residential construction and in all almost all other cases it is an increased fee,” said Marie Rumsey, managing director of legislative affairs and government relations for downtown pro-business nonprofit Central City Association.

Rumsey said business leaders have another issue with the proposal: About $32 million in Quimby fees remain unspent, presumably because finding park space and building new parks is a difficult and drawn-out process.

“The city should develop a plan to spend those fees first before imposing a new fee and increasing it,” she said.

Staff reporters Cale Ottens, Karen Jordan and Howard Fine contributed to this column. #DTLA is compiled by Senior Managing Editor Jonathan Diamond. He can be reached at [email protected].

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