Hunt's Donuts, Open 25 Hours

Here is an attempt to lay down the history of Hunt's Donuts at the corner of 20th and Mission St. in San Francisco. I lived around the corner on San Carlos in 1996. I could see the shop from my bedroom window. And I could watch people buying drugs (supposedly methodone) from the building right across the street. While I knew the corner was actively illegal, I never knew it was quite like this! Unfortunately, I don't think I ever went inside... But I was also fascinated by the sign on the outside that said it was open 25 hours. There is something so simple and mystical about the claim.

I had moved into the apartment after separating from my girlfriend and moving out of our apartment. One roommate, Sophie, was a documentary film maker. The other, Patricio, is still one of my closest friends. Later Sophie moved out and we made the mistake(?) of letting a previous roommate move back in. From Mike I learned everything one could want to know about crop circles and Atlantis. Unfortunately, one time a "friend" he had met at a party stayed with us for a few days. At the end of those days, our place was robbed. I lost a good tape deck, a roll of stamps, and some other valuable things. Then I stupidly took my roommate and friend's word that they had already called the cops and the cops had visited. Fool! Soon after, by chance Patricio was offered the opportunity to move up into the "Swish Alps" between the Castro and Noe Valley in a 1908 house with virgin redwood beams and a garden full of flowers and fruit for an insanely low rent from a friend of his. "Paradise on a stick," we called it. And we passed the apartment lease on to a gay guy who had prosthetic legs from the knee down.