Apparently, June 2nd is national doughnut day and what better way to celebrate it than by meeting the proprietors of the wildly successful doughnut franchise, Voodoo Doughnut, which has opened its first California establishment right in Universal Hollywood’s CityWalk. Already in multiple U.S. cities including Eugene, Ore., Denver, Colo., and Austin, Texas, The CityWalk location is situated directly across from the newly renovated Cinemas and the 5 Towers entertainment space.
The chain has made a name for themselves by offering a variety of scrumptious flavored doughnuts such as Grape Ape, Mango Tango, the Voodoo Double Bubble and Bacon Maple Bar as well as their iconic Voodoo Doll. Of course, we were here for the horror of it all. No we are not talking about calories. Those don’t count here.
Voodoo Doughnut Founders Tres and Kenneth
Voodoo Doughnut founders Tres Shannon (Left) and Kenneth “Cat Daddy” Pogson (Right)
Voodoo Doughnut founders Tres Shannon and Kenneth “Cat Daddy” Pogson opened their first shop 14 years ago in downtown Portland Oregon. Noticing the lack of doughnuts in the Portland area the two put their own “punk rock” spin on the American classic and created a sensation.
“We’ve kind of gone from the punk rock doughnut shop to sort of the rock n’ roll doughnut shop”
Shannon: We actually learned how to make doughnuts here in the L.A. area.
Podgson: We’re using old school techniques, making doughnuts the way they have since the 30’s. But, there’s nothing really “boutique”-y about them, we aren’t using handmade chocolate or fresh berries. We are using stuff you would see at a typical doughnut shop, we just turned it on its ear using different kinds of toppings, more exotic, salty and sweet type of stuff.
HB: You offer vegan options, do you offer gluten free options as well?
Podgson: No, no we don’t and, really, if we were gonna be honest and be gluten free, we would have to have a whole shop that was gluten free. Because there’s so much flour in the air and to do it honestly, and if you were gonna do it, you should do it honestly, we would have to have a separate kitchen. And, really, we got a lot of requests for vegan doughnuts, we get “some” requests for gluten free.
HB: Why Universal Hollywood CityWalk?
Podgson: They called us. (Laugh) They called us and we were excited! Actually we weren’t really into these types of deals and opening our own places here. But it just seemed like a great opportunity to really get our product out there.
HB: You do know that Universal Hollywood is known for their annual Halloween Horror Nights event.
Shannon: Ohhhh Yeeeesssss!
HB: Are you going to be creating any special doughnuts for that event?
Podgson: We’ve got our thinking caps on, there are a lot of opportunities to go nuts with that. The minute they called I suddenly thought, “Oh my god! A Frankenstein doughnut!”
HB: What kind of doughnut would you create for The Shining? That was a maze that was just announced.
Podgson: The one that everyone would expect, I’m sure, is Jack Nicholson and the door, you know, “Here’s Johnny!” or even like a maze, you know, for the hedge maze? Shelley Duvall, shaking with the knife, all those classic images. All work and no doughnuts makes Jack a dull boy.
Shannon: Or Scatman Crothers! I LOVE Scatman Crothers!
Shannon quickly grabs the shops iconic Voodoo Doll doughnut and both he and Podgson reenact the famous axe murder scene from The Shining SPPOILER ALERT if you have not seen the film.
All of the Doughnuts
The crazy concoctions developed by this zany duo have an infectious fun about them. Like seeing Pinterest wins come to life, each sugar-filled, deep-fried dunker is hand decorated and made fresh daily. It is the creativity and the personalization, not to mention the adventurous flavors that explains the appeal, not to mention the guaranteed line.
The new location also features another Portland specialty: Stumptown coffee, which brews regularly from the first-ever pink Stumptown espresso machine located exclusively at Universal CityWalk’s Voodoo Doughnut.
Go celebrate Doughnut Day and grab a handcrafted bite of decadence at Voodoo Doughnuts at Universal Studios Hollywood’s CityWalk. If you are a fan of the more adventurous flavors, this is the place for you. Now, bring on the horror doughnuts already!
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