Donut Palace

Upon entering the Donut Palace the first thing that catches your attention is not the sweet smell of doughnuts or kolaches, it's the soft Cambodian music coming from the speakers. The decoration of this doughnut shop is a bit odd. Old doughnut signs hang on the walls and the counters are littered with bamboo plants and Buddha statues. 

The Cambodian owned and operated Donut Palace is a perfect window into the San Marcos community. Various people come and go. The elderly, businessmen, soccer moms, and young hipsters all enter the shop to buy doughnuts or kolaches. This cross section of citizens is a great example of people who receive little or no media attention. 

They are common people doing everyday activities. The length of their stay is routine and ranges from a businessman who takes less than a minute to a Hispanic mother and daughter who stay for five minutes talking to the woman behind the counter about the weekend. The lively discussion soon changes to the topics of Bavarian cream and Long Johns, doughnuts made in the shape of a bar, before coming to an end with a polite goodbye. 

There are many interesting discussions that can be had at this doughnut shop. One such discussion is that the kolach is king at the Donut Palace. Meaning that most of the customers prefer the Czech pastry to the doughnut. It's a fascinating observation that might lend itself to a story about cultural heritage of food or even the mixing of cultures through food, for example, how does Cambodian mix with Czech? 

Another interesting observation is one of socio-economics. 

Many of the Donuts Palace's customers come from the Check Box, a check-cashing store, next door. These customers are mostly Hispanic and African American, two types of people that are misrepresented by the media. A compelling story might be finding the relationship of these customers' economic activity and their social life, why do they go next door to for doughnuts? It may just be that Donut Palace has extraordinary doughnuts.