Looking For Donuts In Compton - A Visit To Watts Towers & Cruising Thru Long Beach / Belmont Shore
Oct 2025 In California
Transcript
0:03
Welcome everyone. Adam the Woo here as
0:03
the recording of this. It is Sunday,
0:05
October 26th,
0:07
2025.
0:08
Today I'm going to be departing the BTTF
0:11
HQ, Back to the Future headquarters, a
0:14
house that I shared with a group of
0:15
friends over the last series of days
0:18
very late last night. Right down here,
0:20
let me spin this around. Down in that
0:23
direction is the Twin Pines Mall from
0:25
Back to the Future. the Quenta Hills
0:28
Mall right over there through the haze.
0:33
Covered Back to the Future for the last
0:35
three, four days. None of that today.
0:39
Moving on from the 40th anniversary of
0:42
my all-time favorite film. And today got
0:45
to hang out with a buddy who flew in
0:46
last night for the event is going to be
0:49
here for a couple of days. and him and I
0:51
are going to traverse down to Long Beach
0:54
and then into parts of Orange County,
0:57
California. Kind of winging it. I'm not
0:59
really sure what's going to happen. I
1:01
don't think he even has a major game
1:02
plan where we're going to have a Long
1:04
Beach and possibly Orange County. Is
1:08
Long Beach I don't think Long Beach is
1:10
Orange County. So, Long Beach and Orange
1:13
County and just see where the day leads.
1:15
Saying goodbye to the BC Delorean
1:20
BTTF HQ for the 40th anniversary of Back
1:24
to the Future. What a whirlwind amount
1:26
of day. So, I'm inviting you to join me.
1:28
Let's have ourselves a day and see see
1:30
what happens. See where the wind blows.
1:32
Right now, the wind's not blowing at
1:34
all, but it might. Join me. There goes a
1:37
bird
1:45
right there. Crow.
1:45
It just perched right there
1:48
on another crow. Join me, shall you? All
1:52
right, we're now in the back of the mall
1:54
before heading to Long Beach. It looks
1:56
like there's a Marty out here and we're
1:58
going to go directly towards the Fox
1:59
photo booth just like the Libyans did.
2:01
We're not going to crash into it, but
2:03
they still have the set dressing towards
2:06
the Libyan. You're going to go around
2:07
it. You don't want to run into that
2:09
thing.
2:11
>> Hey, Marty.
2:17
All right, zipping along now. We are
2:17
going to stop by a pretty interesting
2:20
historic landmark here in the greater LA
2:22
area called Watts Towers. I haven't been
2:25
there in a long time, but just a couple
2:27
miles out of the out of the way of the
2:29
route, but not too far. So, see what's
2:31
going on at Watts Towers on our way to
2:34
Long Beach.
2:40
We have parted ways with the crew and
2:40
now it's just me and Dune Buggy Jim on
2:42
our own.
2:55
Located at the end of this road, this
2:55
little dead end, I would call it a
2:56
cul-de-sac, but the road just stops, is
2:59
the very impressive
3:02
Watts Towers, junk art.
3:08
heading to the sky. A nice little
3:08
landmark
3:10
here in Watts.
3:13
Now, there was a time many years ago
3:15
that this gate was open and you could go
3:17
inside, but I think probably since 2019,
3:22
that's maybe the last time I was here. I
3:25
stopped by and you couldn't go in. It
3:26
doesn't look as if that has changed.
3:28
There's no one on site giving any tours
3:30
or anything.
3:41
There's a house behind me. They got some
3:42
chickens.
3:44
When a private vision becomes a public
3:46
legacy in 1963,
3:49
Watts Towers became the 15th historic
3:52
cultural monument to designated by the
3:53
city of Los Angeles. It's also on the
3:56
National Register of Historic Places.
4:21
Simon Rodias.
4:21
That is the That's the guy that made it.
4:34
It passed a test of 10,000 lbs of
4:34
pressure to not topple them in an effort
4:37
to topple it. To pass the test and the
4:39
demolition order was withdrawn.
4:48
Oh, this must be him right here. Yeah,
4:48
there he is. Simon right there.
4:57
He built them and in 1954 without any
4:57
apparent reason
4:59
he left deeding the property to his
5:02
neighbor
5:03
Lewis Casha.
5:12
That's him.
5:12
You've been here before, Jim. Uh, never
5:14
stopped like this. Just drove by.
5:26
I didn't realize how old it was.
5:26
>> 54.
5:31
>> Did you see the sign down there where it
5:32
said it's always in constant repair?
5:34
>> I did.
5:35
>> Fixing cracks. They've taken thousands
5:36
of pictures of where everything is so
5:38
they can
5:39
>> always put it back together the way he
5:42
had it.
5:47
>> It is pretty cool.
5:47
>> Gosh, it's awesome.
5:49
What a vision.
5:51
>> What was the place we were just talking
5:52
about? The castle.
5:53
>> Bishop Castle.
5:54
>> Bishop Castle. Yeah.
5:55
>> Colorado.
5:56
>> Yeah.
5:56
>> Just similar to this. A guy with one
5:59
vision and driven to do it.
6:03
There he is right there. That's the man.
6:07
Okay. I stand corrected. Evidently,
6:09
there are guarded tours. Only tours
6:14
available only if you book a guided
6:16
tour. There are guarded there are guided
6:18
tours
6:21
only on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays
6:23
from 12:30 to 3:00 p.m. It falls into
6:26
that category,
6:36
but there's no one in there.
6:36
Art center.
6:45
It's an art center over here.
6:45
All right. All right, there was a little
6:46
QR code that went to their website. And
6:48
evidently, since that sign was placed
6:50
there, they have changed it. Now tours
6:52
are Thursday through Friday at that
6:53
time. But we're going to walk over to
6:55
the building and see what they say. The
6:57
Watts Towers Art Center right over here.
7:01
Got this mural on the side
7:09
and little sculpture.
7:09
I wonder if this is the gentleman
7:12
that built them. I believe so. cuz he's
7:14
got his
7:15
he's got his hat there.
7:18
He's got his little bucket. Got his
7:21
>> working materials there.
7:37
Sabado Simon Roodia
7:37
passed away in ' 65.
7:54
>> I like how they have it set up where
7:54
he's looking at his handiwork.
7:56
>> I know. Look at that.
7:58
>> It's also interesting, too, because lot
8:00
I think a lot of people don't know this
8:01
exists.
8:04
getting the getting the viewpoint from
8:05
>> his eye view. Man,
8:06
>> from his eye view.
8:09
>> But when you see a lot of, you know,
8:11
promotional material, different icons of
8:14
LA, this is in like the top five or six.
8:16
When you see like uh a montage of famous
8:19
LA spots, you always see watchtowers
8:21
somehow worked in there.
8:29
>> Yeah. I love all the tile. Yeah,
8:29
>> it's like glued to the wall or pasted to
8:31
the wall.
8:42
>> Old cup mug in there.
8:48
>> I don't think there's going to be any
8:48
tourists today.
8:49
>> You remember? Do you remember on Route
8:51
66? This reminds me of um Tinker Town.
8:54
>> Oh, yeah. Yeah. Albuquerque. The whole
8:57
rooms are just bottles that guy made.
8:59
Same kind of thing, right? One guy did
9:01
all that.
9:04
>> All right, the door was locked. So, no
9:06
luck on the tour today. Got kind of
9:07
excited at first when we saw the sign,
9:09
but evidently that sign is is outdated
9:13
and website says different different
9:15
info.
9:21
That's a good view there. Not obscured
9:21
by the tree. This is showing different
9:23
info than the first sign and the
9:25
website. This is saying guided tours
9:27
Thursday through Saturday. So we miss it
9:28
by a day. Closed to the public.
9:31
>> Y
9:48
It's turning into a ghost here.
9:48
>> Yeah. Fading out.
9:51
The
9:52
>> one thing I remember about living in
9:53
Long Beach, there's a lot of helicopter,
9:56
police helicopters with their spotlights
9:57
on. Oh, is that what that is? They got
9:59
one up there. Look at that.
10:02
>> You think this is supposed to be an
10:03
artistic rendering of this particular
10:05
neighborhood? Are these the houses next
10:06
to the towers?
10:09
>> Kind of looks like them, right?
10:11
>> Is she carrying a wedding?
10:18
>> Looks like it.
10:18
I think it might be cuz if you look over
10:20
here, those look like the houses there.
10:24
Yeah.
10:53
Hey, how you doing?
10:53
>> All right,
11:02
>> there it is. The iconic Watts Towers
11:02
still standing and preserved and
11:05
protected.
11:07
>> Look at the hawk on top.
11:09
>> Oh yeah, look at that.
11:10
>> Look at that.
11:12
>> Right there. There's a hawk way up
11:13
there.
11:16
Little street vendor corn in a cup.
11:18
She's selling.
11:24
Pigeons.
11:24
Pigeons right there.
11:31
All right, we're just moving along a
11:31
little gridlock through here. We are on
11:32
our way now to a doughnut shop in
11:36
Compton. Dale's Donuts.
11:39
Evidently a big they have a big donut on
11:41
top of their building kind of like Ry's
11:44
Donuts. A lot of people been to Randy's.
11:47
Not many people been to Dale's Donuts.
11:50
That's where we're headed.
12:00
There's a man up on the billboard. Look,
12:00
there's a man on the billboard.
12:03
Well, we're not having the best luck
12:04
with things being opened and not the
12:07
best luck with payoneses working because
12:10
Dale's Donuts is closed.
12:15
Looks a lot like Ry's Donuts.
12:16
>> I think they closed at 11.
12:19
>> They closed 3 hours ago. It's already
12:20
2:00.
12:21
>> They were open.
12:22
>> So, it's an early morning thing.
12:39
You got the the big donut up top right
12:39
here. There you go. Dale's Donuts.
12:46
There's actually a few doughut places
12:46
around that have the the rather large
12:48
donuts on top of the buildings in this
12:51
general area within a, you know, four or
12:53
five miles of each other. But this one I
12:55
never been to and I was looking up some
12:57
shops and it was close by not too far
13:00
from Watts Tower. So we decided we'd
13:01
come by. But it is currently currently
13:05
not open. So no go on Dales. I wonder if
13:08
the same person that made Ry's Donuts
13:10
built this building also.
13:13
It almost looks identical.
13:16
Then again, how many different ways can
13:17
you make a donut look? I mean, it's this
13:19
big circle with a hole in it.
13:24
>> All right.
13:24
Moving on.
13:25
>> You know of any other doughnut shops?
13:27
>> I don't know if they're open.
13:29
>> Okay.
13:29
>> But I know a couple in Long Beach.
13:30
>> All right, let's check it out. Oh, yeah.
13:32
There's the LA River
13:34
>> crossing over this bridge. I think we
13:36
found an open doughut place. We're on
13:38
our way. The Donut House.
13:46
Got the sirens.
13:46
It's open 24 hours a day. Just not
13:53
LB water. Long Beach Water. Are we in
13:53
Long Beach now? We're still in Compton.
13:55
>> I think we're in Long Beach.
13:55
>> We're right on the cusp, right? I've
13:58
noticed a lot around the greater LA,
13:59
you'll see places that have bottled
14:01
water, like water places, but also
14:04
donuts. And this place is just like, or
14:07
this place is not an exception to that
14:10
rule, the Donut House. I like how the
14:13
sign actually has a house on it. So,
14:15
we're going to get something for the old
14:16
Sweet Tooth.
14:18
We're on the corner of Long Beach and
14:20
Market.
14:30
All right, this is the selection. We're
14:30
going to get
14:31
>> extra frosting.
14:33
>> Oh, sugar. Oh,
14:34
>> extra sugar.
14:35
>> I thought it was extra frosting.
14:36
>> Oh, you put a little extra sugar on
14:38
there, huh?
14:38
>> Yeah. Yeah. Well,
14:39
>> yeah.
14:40
>> All right. This is what we're dealing
14:41
with. Something for the old sweet tooth.
14:43
How is it?
14:46
Bend in.
14:47
>> She only had a few left.
14:48
>> You think it's as good as Dale's?
14:50
>> I don't know. We didn't try.
14:53
>> I know there's one in Long Beach I would
14:54
have rather had. It's called Bartha's
14:56
Donuts. And man, they were so good.
14:59
Still open it looks like, but closed.
15:01
>> Closed today early.
15:02
>> Closed early.
15:03
>> So, we had Donut House.
15:04
>> All right. Over near downtown Long Beach
15:07
now. Near the convention center over
15:10
near the Sea Life Aquarium or the
15:11
Aquarium Sea Life.
15:31
That's a nice day. Nice little nice
15:31
little breeze out here.
15:41
The old walkway that looks like a roller
15:41
coaster. And then the ferris wheel up
15:44
next to it.
15:47
Is there gargoy still up there? Yeah,
15:49
looks like they are
15:50
>> right below the green roof.
15:53
>> Little gargoyle carvings there. Is that
15:56
a hotel of some sort?
15:59
>> I don't know if it was a condo or That's
16:01
not a hotel or anything.
16:03
>> That's a cool building. I never noticed
16:05
that before.
16:10
>> We'll go around the front of it and
16:10
check it out.
16:35
There's an island out there with nothing
16:35
but oil pumps on it. I never noticed
16:38
that before either. Kind of reminds me
16:39
of Alcatraz a little bit in the Bay Area
16:42
of San Francisco.
16:54
Looks like it used to be an old theater
16:54
right there.
16:56
>> Found a parking spot. Now we're heading
16:58
over to Supermex
17:01
>> on a scale of 1 to 10 to eat here. I'm
17:04
at about 11.
17:06
>> So you've eaten here many times back in
17:08
the day. So it was open back when you
17:09
lived here over what, 20 years ago?
17:11
>> There's your old car alert. Oh, the
17:14
classic
17:21
>> still open after
17:21
2005. You moved out of here.
17:23
>> 2004.
17:24
>> 2004. So this place
17:25
>> 21 years
17:26
>> still kicking. Supermax.
17:27
>> That ought to say something.
17:32
Tried a couple different options. Really
17:34
big chips that go with the salsa. And
17:37
then they had a special for today for
17:40
the shrimp ceviche. So, not only got the
17:42
salsa, but got the shrimp ceviche and
17:45
went with that. And then we both got the
17:47
same exact thing. We ended up getting
17:48
the carneada burrito, which was really
17:52
good. Really good. And I have to say it
17:53
had definitely had a different kind of
17:54
flavor than a lot of other burritos. And
17:57
I really liked it. I would I could
17:59
definitely see the hype. I can
18:01
definitely see the
18:02
>> It's a good burrito.
18:03
>> Definitely see the dune buggy gym hype.
18:07
How many times you think you've eaten
18:08
there? Oh,
18:11
>> 100
18:11
>> 100 times. They remodeled the inside,
18:13
you said, right?
18:14
>> Yeah. It was way different than 20 years
18:15
ago.
18:16
>> Man, that food was good. It kind of had
18:19
like it had a little chewy flavor to it,
18:22
right?
18:22
>> Kind of a little text
18:25
barbecue or what it is, but it's got a
18:26
little smoky flavor.
18:28
>> Good soft sauce.
18:31
>> And the ceviche was good. The best.
18:32
>> Yeah, it was
18:33
>> shrimp ceviche I've had. We're going to
18:35
go over to this place called Burnout
18:36
now. It's like a little vintage kind of
18:40
throwbacky type of store. They had some
18:42
vinyl in there and
18:45
some uh clothing, some retro clothing.
18:47
So, we check that out. Then we're just
18:48
going to stroll. What street is this?
18:50
This is corner of Park A.
18:52
>> Seventh.
18:53
>> Second.
18:53
>> Second Street.
18:55
Corner of Park A and Second Street. Two
18:57
>> streets away from the beach.
18:59
>> So, the beach is that way, correct?
19:02
>> I've been to Long Beach a few times.
19:03
I've been to the Queen Mary. I've been
19:05
to the convention center, but I've never
19:07
been to this area of long. I've never
19:09
been into the Long Beach part of it. A
19:11
>> lot of mom and pop shops down here.
19:14
Really cool vibe.
19:22
There's the Long Beach PD.
19:22
Oh, here it is. Burnout.
19:30
Vintage clothing, accessories, and more.
19:30
All right. They had a pretty good
19:31
selection. They didn't have a whole lot
19:32
of records, but they had a lot of
19:33
t-shirts, like band t-shirts and trucker
19:35
hats. And I must say, some of the band
19:37
t-shirts, they were so vintage. They
19:39
were like $200, $250.
19:42
Some of them were even like $299. They
19:44
had an armed and dangerous vintage
19:45
t-shirt that was $299
19:53
or $295. And I ended up buying a trucker
19:53
hat right here, which I don't think I'm
19:54
going to put today, but I've got a I got
19:56
a trucker hat that I'm going to sport at
19:57
some point, which I think was thought
19:58
was What are you laughing?
20:02
Is it funny? The trucker hat I got.
20:05
>> It'll be a good one.
20:06
>> Well, I I don't It kind of spoke to me.
20:10
>> But as we're walking along up here,
20:12
there is a cleaners.
20:14
>> That's cool.
20:14
>> Was that there when you lived here?
20:18
>> Old vintage.
20:19
>> Is it even still open? Those look pretty
20:22
cool. That thing has been there forever
20:23
in a day.
20:30
>> Like the old fire station. Engine
20:30
Company number eight across the way
20:33
there. Yeah, I've never walked through
20:35
this area of Long Beach before. It's
20:37
nice.
21:05
Nice.
21:05
Got a fish.
21:06
>> I guess those would be apartments right
21:07
there. Sure to get a fish. Got you one.
21:10
>> Nice fish on.
21:13
Look at that little guy
21:16
stripe.
21:22
Catch and release.
21:22
Throwing it right back.
21:30
Now I understand what that shirt meant
21:30
back there in the shop where it said I
21:32
got my bike stolen in Long Beach. Look
21:34
>> at that.
21:36
>> A lot of bikes get stolen here.
21:38
>> I don't know.
21:39
>> Or just turned into
21:41
>> art.
21:41
>> Modern art.
21:43
>> Wow.
21:43
>> All right. At one point attached to the
21:46
firehouse used to also be the police
21:48
station.
21:49
>> That's neat. It's all one building
21:53
next to engine number eight.
21:56
Nice little seab breeze here.
22:06
Now, this particular area of Long Beach
22:06
is the Belmont Shore section. Nice
22:09
vintage pizza sign there. The neon and
22:13
everything.
22:18
>> The liquor locker. There's another
22:18
vintage sign. The liquor locker right
22:21
there. Some old old uh lighting as well.
22:24
Old neon. That's a really neat sign.
22:27
McCarti's
22:28
jewelry.
22:31
You can see
22:33
how it's like twinkling there. A diamond
22:36
below the diamond. A little twinkling
22:37
lights. A Bard's jewelry. Very nice.
22:54
Check out Dunkin Donuts.
22:54
Coming in hot with the oversized dunk.
22:57
Oversized donut.
23:00
Long Beach runs on Duncan and an
23:03
oversized donut. Was tempting to get
23:06
another donut, but
23:10
all right, that's going to do it for
23:11
today. Kind of short and sweet. A nice
23:14
little just driving around
23:16
SoCal day.
23:18
We're going to call it a night. Early
23:21
night. I haven't been staying out pretty
23:22
late. Been going some pretty lengthy
23:24
days the last few days. Doing a lot of
23:25
Back to Future stuff. Today not as
23:28
lengthy as the other day. So
23:33
that's it. I'll see you next video.
23:33
Thanks for watching. Vlog is over.