Gordon MacDonald
1930 to 1965
Karsten Reinemo Sr.
1965 to 1991
The Downyflake Restaurant (currently Fog Island Café), with its famous doughnut sign, was one outlet of a 1930s franchise operation licensed by the Pillsbury Co., with locations all over the Northeast. The original cut-letter board hung above the smaller painted “Breakfast” sign until it was replaced by the famous Downyflake doughnut. In 1965 the restaurant’s original owner, Gordon MacDonald, sold the business to Karsten Reinemo Sr. and his wife, Marion. The Reinemos turned the Downyflake into a year-round business that opened at 5:30 A.M. for early-risers, fishermen, and other working folk. With its piping-hot doughnuts, the Downyflake became an iconic business on Nantucket, remembered fondly by kids and adults alike. Prominently displayed in the Cambridge Street window was the doughnut-making machine, which kids often stood watching for hours. Visitors frequently tried to throw things through the hole in the doughnut sign, contributing to its famously battered appearance. Children on the way to church with change for the offering in their pockets were frequently waylaid by the aroma of the freshly made doughnuts. In 1991, an early-morning gas explosion was almost fatal to Karsten Reinemo, and destroyed the property. After relocating to Children’s Beach for a couple of seasons, the Reinemo family rebuilt in the business district on the edge of town, on Sparks Avenue across from the Fire Department, the site of the current, thriving Downyflake, now owned by Susan Tate West Wall and Mark Hogan.
A poster on the wall displayed this verse: “Remember, brother, As you ramble on through life,Whatever be your goal, Keep your eye upon the doughnut, And not upon the hole.”
Photo courtesy
of Julie Reinemo
S9710
