Donuts Back in the Day

By Leo Racicot

There was a time in the 1960s and 1970s when Lowell could have earned the nickname, The Donut Capital of Massachusetts. The city was home to many.

Let’s see now: there was Donut Shack. Its made-on-the-premises, old-fashioned donuts have been a crowd pleaser with Lowellians for years. I’m not sure — I don’t often find myself in the Highlands but think the place is still going strong on Westford Street. As I recall, it opened extra early in the morning and would remain open until its morning supply had run out, bought up by eager, hungry customers heading to work or school so – pretty fast, given its tasty offerings…

Mary Lou’s Donuts held forth on Chelmsford Street (close to Plain Street) for more years than I can count. The lines to get in the door were long. It wasn’t uncommon to see early risers lined up on the sidewalk for its filled-to-bursting jelly and marshmallow wonders. And I mean real jelly and real marshmallow; today’s jellies and marshmallows hardly compare and have me wondering what the heck passes for a marshmallow donut these days.

Eat-a-Donut on School Street was another favorite among locals. Before our morning shift started, my pal, Connie Carrigg and I used to take our CTI vans there to start our long days with a piping hot cup of fresh coffee and a treat. I liked the shop’s Bismarcks, beignets and “sinkers”. Not sure but I heard The Board of Health shut the place down due to sanitary issues, must have been in the early 2000s?  That shop was always mobbed, a crowd lingering outside at any time of day. It was one of the city’s most popular stop-offs.

My favorite long-operating donut spot was Quality Donuts run by John Apostolos. It was so convenient, being a two-minute walk from our house, at the corner of Fletcher and Butterfield Streets where John held court for lots of years. Its tiny space for a long time sold only coffee and donuts (Honey dipped, plain and crullers — this last word “cruller” seems to have disappeared from the lexicon — you never hear it said and I gave up years ago asking for it in bakeries by name. I guess the Dunkin’ Donut jelly stick and glazed stick come closest nowadays to the crullers of my youth. I miss the ridged, twisty shape of a cruller, especially a sugar cruller, the crisp exterior, the moist, cake-like interior. Sorry but the Dunkin’ version simply doesn’t compare.  Later on, John “expanded” his menu  to include steamed hot dogs on a plain bun. As with the other donut establishments described above, John’s (we always called it “John’s” was always always a mob scene. Many’s the time we’d go in, only to be told all the donuts had been sold. I can still see the morning cars, workers on their way to the job, stopping mid-Fletcher Street one-after-another, the driver getting out, going in and coming out quickly with their donut and coffee, continuing on to their destination. It was a common sight finding neighbors and friends of our mother inside, having a nosh, shooting the breeze with the always affabe John: Jane “Jenny” Tournas, Ellen Wilkerson, Doris Pratt, the Dubes, the Brissettes, Virginia Chateauneuf, her husband Al, their son, also Al. Virginia liked to stop in with her dog, Rinny, for a honey dip (her fave and Rinny’s). It was a sad day in The Acre when John decided to close up shop. The tiny space now houses the equally popular Eliu’s Hole-in-the-Wall.

Now, we have the ubiquitous Dunkin’ Donuts which may I say I’m not all that crazy about — too much cream in their coffee, plastic-y looking, plastic-y tasting pastries. Unfortunately, it’s the only game in town that I know of.  For a time in the ’90s, there was talk that a Krispy Kreme outlet was coming to Lowell but that never, as far as I know, happened.

Here’s to the old-fashioned coffee and donut shops of yesterday. They not only served up yummy treats but also served as community gathering spots for gossip and casual, friendly social exchange.

Tray of donuts

Quality Donuts

Mary Lou Donuts

Enjoying a marshmallow donut

Donut Shack

Eat-a-Donut