Historic Hood River
“Don’t Say Doughnuts, Say Spudnuts!”
12-10-2024
Notes
Continuing with our trip back to 1955, let’s visit the Spudnut and Coffee Bar in the Height. Their location at 1116 Twelfth Street is now occupied by Machi Yoga Studio.
The Sport Center was at 307 Oak, which is now a new barber shop next door to Twiggs.
Smith’s Motel was one of several motor courts on West Cascade, greeting Columbia River Highway travelers as they entered town. There’s now a small house there, with the winter warming shelter located on some of this ground.
Category: Downtown Hood River
Tags: 12th Street, 1950s, Heights, hotel, motel, Oak Street, Smiths Motel, Sport Center, Spudnut, West Cascade Avenue
Tags: 12th Street, 1950s, Heights, hotel, motel, Oak Street, Smiths Motel, Sport Center, Spudnut, West Cascade Avenue
Jeffrey Bryant
Spudnuts were the best. I see from the obituary of Mary Frances Smith Chambers, that she also worked at Spudnuts before their “Buds 24 Flavors Ice Cream” and eventually Bette’s.
Jeffrey Bryant
I seem to remember Spudnuts being located farther out, somewhere close to across 12th street from The Ranch.
Roger H Sheldrake
OK, I’ll be the one to ask. Where did the term Spudnuts come from? A potato dough?
Pat A
Yes Roger, I was amazed how my mother turned potatoes into doughnuts.
I agree with Jeffrey, they were delicious.
Steffen
I have a match book that I found in the basement of 11/16 12 street from Spudnuts, it indicates the address is 1303 12th St.,
Marilyn
Is that the Sprouse Reitz store next to the sports center?
Arthur Babitz
Steffen’s address matches Jeffrey’s memory. Looks like they were selling so many Spudnuts they needed a larger location.
Steffen
My thinking is that 1116 12th St., was the second location for Spudnuts Café. I started the renovation of the building in September 2017 and found the match book in the basement. Leading me to believe that they would’ve brought the matchbooks over from the other location.
nels
There are many recipes on line for potato donuts. Some use lard, others use butter. And some even ferment the potato before using.
Rodger Nichols
Spudnut fans rejoice. The last real Spudnut shop survives in Richland, Washington. And, yes, they are as good as you remember them.
Here’s a story I wrote for The Dalles Chronicle in 2006. We have been back since twice and they survived the Covid pandemic, thanks to loyal customers:
Before Colonel Sanders discovered his 11 herbs and spices or McDonalds raised its first golden arch, Spudnuts were food franchise superstars.
In the post World War II era, ex-GIs were eager to open their own stores selling doughnuts made with potato flour. For a modest investment in equipment, a few sacks of mix, a lease on a cozy storefront and a small franchise fee, they could start their own business. Many of them did, in small towns across America, including Baker City, Hood River, and The Dalles (see sidebar).
But the restaurant franchise that once boasted it reached “Coast to coast, Alaska to Mexico,” with more than 500 outlets now musters fewer than 50 store-fronts. Most of them are in California, part of a small attempt to revive the franchise.
There is, however, a haven in the Northwest for those who remember the Spudnuts of yore. The Spudnut Shop of Richland, Wash., thrives as it has since its opening in 1948.
Much of its success can be traced to keeping it in the family.
Val Driver owns the shop that was founded by her father Barlow Ghirardo and her uncle Jerry Bell in 1948.
“With one $50 check they bought a franchise and 100 sacks of Spudnut flour,” says the back of the Spudnut Shop menu.
Originally, it was operated as a wholesale business, but in 1950 the business relocated to uptown Richland and opened its doors to the public. The customers came in droves, and they’ve never stopped.
It’s the kind of repeat business other restaurants would kill for. Joe and Pauline Cyr have visited “every morning for 15–20 years” for blueberry muffins (called Spuffins for the potato flour content.) It isn’t just the food that draws them, “It’s the people and the atmosphere,” they said.
And the Cyrs are fairly recent arrivals. On the day before his 91st birthday, Bob Versteeg admitted he had been coming there since 1954, more than 52 years.
Outside the modest storefront, six newspaper stands attest to the number of customers that pass through the Spudnut Shop doors, and their tendency to linger in a friendly atmosphere.
It’s the kind of store where customers pick up the coffee pot and help the waitresses keep up with the crowd, where the newest employee has been there five years, and most are well into double digits.
And if a regular doesn’t show up for more than a day or two in a row, they’re likely to receive half a dozen phone calls from fellow customers checking on their welfare.
The Spudnut franchise story begins in 1939 with brothers Bob and Al Pelton who had a modest doughnut shop in Salt Lake City and were looking to improve the product. They liked the effect of adding mashed potatoes to various flour formulas, and ultimately developed a dry flour to replace the nightly drudgery of peeling, boiling and mashing potatoes.
Even so, making Spudnuts is not for the faint of heart.
“I start in here at either midnight or 1 a.m. each morning,” said Driver.
She’ll start by opening a 50-pound sack of mix and making the dough that will have to rise before it can be rolled out and cut. Each sack will produce 50 dozen Spudnuts, and Driver or one of the other two cooks will prepare 200 to 350 dozen Spud-nuts, Spuddies (cake doughnuts) and Spuffins every day except Sunday, when the store is closed.
Sunday, when the store is closed.
Driver says the connection between the staff of 14 employees and the customers is a strong one
“I’ve been here 37 years,” she said. “I started when I was 15. Most of the people have been coming in here for years, and most of ’em raised me”.
There have been a few changes over the years. Driver’s father bought out her uncle in 1968. An expansion in 1970 nearly doubled the floor space, and Barlow Ghirardo, whose knack for treating customers like family has been carefully maintained, died in 1987.
“People still remember Dad,” Driver said. “People will still come in and say stuff about him, especially summertime, because so many people come back to visit.
Driver said she and her husband had visited some of the revival Spudnut shops in Los Angeles, and found them wanting.
“The ones down there are like Winchell’s used to be, with plastic seats and really uncomfortable,” she said. “So many of the trendy places are like that; they’re not built for comfort. In fact, they want you to get in there and get out.”
No danger of that at the Spudnut Shop in Richland, where Val Driver is training her nephew to carry on the family tradition, and a baby picture of his son proudly posted at the cash register indicates a fourth generation may be waiting in the wings.
The Spudnut shop is located at 228 Williams Boulevard in Richland, Wash. It’s open from 4 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 4 a.m to 4 p.m. Saturdays.
Those traveling from The Dalles who may be arriving in the afternoon may want to phone ahead and reserve some of their favorite Spudnut varieties; even at its heavy production level, the store is sometimes sold out early. The phone number is (509) 943-3000.