Photos: Cronuts Rain Down on Los Angeles

Would you pay $60 for a Cronut? One guy did when the real, legit Cronuts of New York came to Los Angeles for one rainy Saturday morning at The Grove.

With a line that stretched well into The Grove’s parking structure and Cronut hopefuls waiting as early as 4 a.m. to be among the first in line, Sam Kokin, 28, and Sallie Oto, 29, knew they had no chance when they arrived at 9:30 a.m. for Cronuts, which would start being served at 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., or until they were gone. So they did what any enterprising individuals would do—pay someone for their spot.

“As we realized the standby line was a waste of time … a friend of mine had paid TaskRabbit people to wait in line since 6 a.m.,” Kokin explained. (TaskRabbit is a service that gets paid to do things like wait in line for you.) “He just got here an hour ago and took over. He befriended a woman behind him, and I had offered to buy one of his but he couldn’t, but she took me up on the offer.”

Chef Dominique Ansel, the creator of the Cronut, a cream-filled, croissant-donut hybrid that went viral and has drawn huge lines in New York since its inception, came to L.A. for a one-day pop-up shop at Barney’s. For $5 a piece, L.A. foodies could buy up to two Cronuts, this time a milk-and-honey-flavored Cronut with a lightly-scented lavender sugar.

Marianne Decastro, 30, of Glendale, waited in line since 6 a.m. and was among the first 50 or so in line. She had eaten Cronuts in New York and said they were worth the wait.

“I definitely like his stuff,” she said. “I read about it and was like, I’m there.”

Meanwhile Hayley Denenberg, 24, and Cathy Flanagan, 24, both West L.A. residents and food bloggers for Alamain.net, sat in the back of the standby line after getting there around 8:45 a.m.

“I’ve had like a fake Cronut at one of the bakeries in Santa Monica, so I know how it’s supposed to taste,” Flanagan said. “But I want to try the original Cronut.”

Jessica Pajo, 23, got her Cronut after waiting at 8:30 in the morning, but her friend Lorenzo Torres was the first, she said—he got there at 3:50 a.m.

Back to Kokin—at $60, plus the $5 he paid for the Cronut itself, would it be worth his time, money and effort?

“I think it will be difficult, considering the months of pent up expecations,” Kokin said.

Kokin took a bite of the Cronut and emitted a sigh. “Delicious,” he said. Worth the 60 bucks? “Oh yeah,” he said.

Kokin was kind enough to share a bite of Cronut with LAist, and we have to agree—unreal, like everything you’ve ever wanted to eat at once. Let’s make this thing permanent.