He did as he was told, but then pulled out a knife and stabbed himself, declaring he would rather die than live without her. Why would anybody be interested in my story?' Los Angeles Times In 1975, Ngoy fled the Khmer Rouge with his wife and three . Abcarian: Mask mandates? That same year, President Gerald Ford signed the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act, allowing 130,000 people from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia to come to the U.S. California's Governor at the time, Jerry Brown, opposed the move, saying, in a clip that's featured in The Donut King, "When we have a million people out of work, when we have our own people taxed to the hilt, I'm just very slow to just open the floodgates and say come on in unless we provide a way to put Americans to work.". "I just wanted to raise pigs and chickens and have enough meat and eggs to take to . Ngoy built a vast donut shop empire across California and it started in 1970s Orange County. At 35, Ngoy had already climbed out of poverty and into privilege once. "What happens if I decide to jump into your room?" Did working on this film change or contribute to your perspective of the American dream or immigrant stories?It seems like these days the American dream is harder and harder to attain. When he completed his three-month training, Winchell's gave him a shop to run on Balboa Pier, a tourist spot on the Newport peninsula not far from Tustin. He took a chance and opened a bedroom door - and there was Suganthini, fast asleep. When you hook up with gambling, your life's finished. [9], Ngoy is the subject of the 2020 documentary film The Donut King. Here's Why It's Especially Dangerous To Hike SoCal Mountains Right Now, How 4 Words Upended A University's Journalism Program, And Stirred A Reckoning Over Race, What A Popular Yoga Teacher's Descent Into Conspiracy Theories Says About The 'Wellness To QAnon Pipeline', Ancient Lung Disease Strikes Countertop Cutters In LA. She said he would be throwing his money away. When he lost big, he would sign the stores over to them. We believe when reliable local reporting is widely available, the entire community benefits. It actually made national, if not international, news about the kindness of these people in Orange County. [6][3], Ngoy bought additional doughnut shops in Orange County. Soon, Cambodians began copying the Ted Ngoy business model. Chuong Lee Tao passed down DKs Donuts in Santa Monica to her daughter Mayly Tao, who updated the shop with a vast menu and a worldwide social media following. Instead, she told him about a training programme run by the doughnut chain, Winchell's. One of them being my interview with Michael Krondl, the food historian. Ted was dismayed. It was a humbling experience, and the lowest point in his life. "It made me homesick," says Ted. I am the child of immigrants who came and moved here for the American dream. Upon deeper glance, it was so personal for me. His mother raised him in a rural village near Cambodias border with Thailand. Using his Republican Party connections, Ngoy successfully lobbied the U.S. for most-favored-nation trade status for Cambodia in 1995, helping create a modern garment industry and thousands of jobs. The Donut King was directed by Alice Gu, and is her first feature film. Thank you for investing in your neighborhood. Buddha cannot help me.. With Chuong Pek Lee, Susan Lim, Ted Ngoy, Daewon Song. Along with thousands of other Cambodian refugees, the Ngoys ended up at Camp Pendleton. He was very surprised that anybody would find him and want to tell his stories. She was hooked. In 1985, Ngoy and his wife became American citizens assuming the American names of Ted and Christy, respectively, and were enjoying a lavish lifestyle including a million dollar home at Lake Mission Viejo, a vacation home in Big Bear, expensive cars, and vacations to Europe. He formed the Free Development Republican Party (ahead of the countrys UN-backed elections), believing that he could show others the path to wealth and hoping that being a politician might stymy his gambling addiction. I never loved you.' Nearly every independent donut shop in every Southern California mini-mall hides a story and many of them start with an unlikely impresario, a Cambodian refugee named Ted Ngoy. I never will be able to pay back. Ted began to look for more doughnut shops to buy and lease to fellow refugees. Gambling is a devil. Ted and Suganthini sold everything they had and arrived in California on one of the first refugee flights, with their three children, an adopted nephew and two nieces. It's so amazing, so touching.' [6], The Donut King had its world premiere in the Documentary Feature Competition the South by Southwest film festival. A 2005 profile in the Los Angeles Times described him as "broke, homeless, and dependent on the goodwill of his few remaining friends." Today, he makes a living selling real estate in Cambodia. Read about our approach to external linking. Then, after falling out with a powerful political rival he feared for his life and fled to the US. This caused tension in the Ngoy household, being the center of many arguments between Ngoy and his wife. He went on to marry Suganthini Khoeun, the daughter of a high-ranking government official. Instantly acquiring the rank of Major, Ted and his young family moved to Bangkok, and every month he travelled back to Cambodia to collect the wages for his soldiers. When you hook up with gambling, your life's finished. Doing this film was really an exploration for me of understanding where you come from. He had sold what few shops remained. He helped them apply for permits. [4], Ngoy secured work as a janitor with Peace Lutheran Church in Tustin, California. Still homeless, he moved to the coastal town of Kep, on the Gulf of Thailand. Gab Chabrn reflects on growing up in L.A. in a Latino home that doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving and the traditions they formed instead. Ted Ngoy, who was known as the doughnut king, lives in Phnom Penh. Theres also the moment where Ted revisits his former home in Mission Viejo. Ngoy managed to escape just as Phnom Penh was falling and brought his wife, Suganthini, and their three children to America in the mid-1970s. The Donut King Ted Ngoy is a Cambodian American entrepreneur and former owner of a chain of donut shops in California, earning him the nickname the "Donut King." . Which donut shop do you find yourself going back to for the sake of eating a donut?I had my out of body experience at DKs Donuts and Bakery in Santa Monica. He also figured that as a prominent politician, he would be forced to control his gambling habit. "It's a devil, it's a monster. Why are we still having these debates? The families who followed Ngoys lead learned to run businesses and picked up English. This 2020s documentary film-related article is a stub. Everybody went to the gold mine, Ngoy said. From the wall, he leaped onto the roof and crawled through an open window. We had an instant connection and it felt like we were meant to be doing this story together. Yes, you read that right. Was there any tension or awkwardness when he visited California again?He came to visit California, I think, with a little bit of trepidation. He lost all the doughnuts, said James Dok, director of the United Cambodian Community, a social service agency in Long Beach. [citation needed] Ngoy's political career ended in 2002 after breaking with two powerful allies, the commerce minister and the head of the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce, Teng Bunma. Once, I said I would die if something happened to him, Christy said of her ex-husband. He had met Richard Nixon, the former president, and Presidents Reagan and George HW Bush. "And she says, 'Because Cambodian people make them.'". Christy's parents said they would let Ted live if he told Christy that he was a dog who had romanced other girls and had never loved her. He took two additional jobs, working almost 24 hours per day. Then he would return to Vegas in an attempt to win back what he had lost. But while she was gone Ted had an affair. They took American names. And I thought, How could that be? Hes passed away now so I cant talk to him about it, but it was a learning experience for me about my parents relationship with politics. Two days after Gu's out-of-the-blue call to DK's Donuts, she was talking to Ngoy in Cambodia. [5] By 1977 he was able to purchase his first doughnut shop, Christy's Donuts, in La Habra. Las Vegas was the new thing, he said, besides making money and making doughnuts,. The Ngoys decided to keep uniformity amongst their shops, naming subsequent acquisitions Christy's. Near the station was a doughnut shop. On hearing the music float across the quiet city, Suganthini's mother remarked that whoever was playing must be in love. A map of Christys Donuts, Winchells and Dunkin Donuts across California during the height of Ted Ngoys entrepreneurship in the 1970s through the 1990s. When Christy's parents eventually discovered the ruse, they were furious. You see some of these families and their stores in The Donut King While working a second job at a gas station, Ngoy took notice of a busy local donut shop and inquired of its operators about . Every evening, he sat by his open window and played the flute. DK's Donuts Eventually Cambodians owned so many doughnut shops in California that they dominated the market, pushing Winchell's into second place. He wrote a note, telling her that he lived in the building opposite and was the flute player. I just do it.. [5] In return, he played their tables and lost thousands of dollars. When time goes by it gets into your blood and you just cannot get it out," says Ted. Ted Ngoy stands in front of his first independent donut shop in La Habra, named after his wife Christy Ngoy. And then we started communicating, bringing back and forth the messages," Ted says. (Elina Shatkin/LAist). After completing the company's training program, they gave him the keys to a store in Newport Beach. The stranger who crept into her room more than 35 years ago is a stranger again. [5], Ngoy was hesitant to return to California for the film; he was estranged from his children and former friends. until 2014 Los Angeles Times It's something Ted feels a bit bad about. Ted became known as the Donut King - or Uncle Ted, because of the many Cambodian immigrants he'd sponsored. Seasonal Halloween donuts at DK's Donuts in Santa Monica. Once, he was a poor boy who carried away one of Cambodias wealthiest daughters. Ted did a lot of the baking at night, with his youngest son, Chris, collecting a light dusting of flour as he slept beside him in the kitchen. When you first reached out to Ted, it was a cold call. He did not fare well in either the 1993 or 1998 parliamentary elections, but his friend, Prime Minister Hun Sen, made him an advisor on commerce and agriculture. If you walk into a doughnut shop in California, the chances are it's owned by a Cambodian family. Ngoy bought his first doughnut. Ted Ngoy was a high school student in Phnom Penh when he first set eyes on Suganthini Khoeun, the daughter of a high-ranking government official. After cry, go back gambling." After a year of running two shops they had saved $40,000 and Ted decided to expand. "[1], Ted Ngoy was born in the Cambodian village of Sisophon near the country's border with Thailand. The couple and their three toddlers arrived penniless at Camp Pendleton, part of the first wave of Cambodian refugees. Channy also wholesales doughnuts to other minimarts. Soldiers and dogs guarded the mansion. Hard work. Pit bosses, floor men and dealers at Caesars Palace, the MGM Grand and the Mirage got to know the Cambodian doughnut king. In saffron robes and shaved head, the doughnut king spent a month meditating. Cambodia was having its first democratic elections since the war and he wanted to stand for office to help rebuild his country. It provided a path for refugees to settle and was a profitable business model. Next to the petrol station there was a doughnut shop called DK Donuts. To understand the politics, the Republican party at the time was a very anticommunist party. Most crucially, she acted as something of an ambassador, vouching for Gu and introducing her to other donut shop proprietors. He also apologised to many of those he hurt. His party did poorly in the 1993 and 1998 parliamentary elections, but Prime Minister Hun Sen made him an advisor on commerce and agriculture. After setting up a sweet shop of his own, he helped fellow . I thought I would just get an exterior scene for context. the I say, Ted I dont think its that easy at all. And hell respond, Ive been rich three times. While Ted was immersed in Cambodian politics, Christy flew to the US for the birth of a grandchild. You cannot resist against it.. Ted had met Ronald Reagan, George Bush Sr., [Richard] Nixon. It smelled delicious and when he first tasted one it reminded him of something from home - a fried pastry, also circular, called nom kong. It was really wonderful. The ubiquity and low overhead of these Cambodian mom-and-pop donut shops helped drive Dunkin' Donuts out of California in the late '90s. At each stop, they set up the business and trained the families who leased it. Like Ngoy, most of the people who leased his stores were Chinese Cambodian. One by one, Ted lost all of his donut shops. Ted was a poor boy from a poor family while Christy was the daughter of a high-ranking official. In the early 1970s, Cambodia was in the midst of a brutal civil war that displaced two million people, more than a quarter of the country's population. "They forgive me fully. Naturally he agreed, and set his sisters up with doughnut shops. Then when dinner is ready, she knocks on the door and I open the door to have dinner.". Ted Ngoy (born Bun Tek Ngoy; 1942) is a Cambodian American entrepreneur and former owner of a chain of doughnut shops in California. One of the tricks he learned was to bake doughnuts in small batches throughout the day to keep them fresh - and because the smell of baking was the best form of advertising. Ted was the consummate schmoozer and salesman. His doughnut fortune was almost gone. Christy was in the front and made a lot of inroads with the community and built a lot of bridges. Their youngest son Chris drove them there to pick up the money - but it went horribly wrong. Streaming now on PBS. During the week they went to school, where sometimes they were so hungry they stole snacks from other kids' lunchboxes. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot. In the end, filming the documentary was a healing experience for Ted. , to name a few outlets), but Alice Gu is the first to put it on film. They saved money where they could, even washing and reusing coffee stirrers - until they were reprimanded by Winchell's. After a little research, Gu discovered that a huge number of California's independent donut shops, maybe 80-90%, are owned by Cambodian Americans, mostly thanks to Ngoy. Peace Lutheran Church But I still win. What new information did you learn in the making of the film?There was a lot that was new to me. His sponsor told him people will have their prejudices but they mean well. "She was powerful, like your royal princess," says Ted. She became Christy. Ngoy had become an example to other Cambodian immigrants, who began to follow his business model for their own entrepreneurial endeavors. While he was recovering in hospital, Suganthini also made an attempt on her life. I wanted to tell this story in a way that was inspirational and optimistic. Ted became known as the Donut King - or Uncle Ted,. L.A. became the country's epicenter of donut culture when Ted Ngoy, a Cambodian immigrant, arrived in California during the 1970s. "She was so beautiful," he remembers. By 1987, Ngoy owned 32 Christy's Donuts locations, largely accomplished by living out of a motorhome allowing him and his family to travel up and down the state of California establishing new locations. The son of a peddler had no chance with such a girl, no right even to think of loving her. Ted wrote one day. Every weekday, you'll get fresh, community-driven stories that catch you up with our independent local news. They went to Europe twice. Heres a list, Greek transportation minister resigns over train collision as death toll keeps rising, Ohios senators to unveil rail safety bill in wake of East Palestine derailment, After months of pounding, Ukrainian official says military may pull back from Bakhmut, Elizabeth Holmes cites her new baby as a reason she should avoid prison for Theranos scam. An owner could keep costs low by employing his family. He was a fraud, he said. They did business on a handshake, he said, and his tenants always paid. By 1976, Ted had saved up enough money to buy his own shop, which he named Christy's. Then I went to America, Ngoy said, and created the doughnut world.. Some of the interviews in the film seemed that way.It was actually really wonderful to speak with particularly his older kids Chet and Savy, who until that interview, they didnt have much to do with him. She would forgive him when he promised to stop, and he would -- for a while. This is my own speculation, but it seemed like he had come to some peace with his dad and childhood. The family were housed in a hastily erected refugee camp on a marine training base, Camp Pendleton. Her father was a high-ranking government official. One involves reggae and another focuses on Puerto Rican musicians. I ate the whole thing. The gambling is sad, the saddest part of my life.". And she said she knew a lot of people in her parents generation who are lifelong Republicans and thats why they hate the Democratic party. Never surrender. Once, he was a millionaire who met three U.S. presidents. When they were released, the cash was gone. Eventually he and Christy were left with just one doughnut shop, which they decided to sell. Support our coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Don't die. He ran to the shop across the street where he bought a donut. "Many times I try to commit suicide because I hate myself. And that's what he did. Ngoy was one. He would forge her signature on checks and even borrow money from relatives who leased stores from him. Also Jerry Brown, who weve seen in California as our beacon of hope and morality, in 1975 was actually the opposite. After earning a communications degree at UC San Diego, Tao worked for a while at a news station but wasn't enthused about that career path. I was addicted to a feeling, and money was simply the needle that delivered the toxic dose," he writes in his autobiography, also called The Donut King. That phrase Donut King is already so eye-catching right off the bat. in Tustin sponsored the family, allowing them to live in the church where Ted worked as a janitor. In 1990, after disappearing for another disastrous trip to Las Vegas, he flew to Washington, D.C., and joined a Buddhist monastery. Suganthinis parents hoped she would marry well. Ngoy would open more shops and lease them to fellow refugees. By the mid-1980s, he was a millionaire. Rose Donuts and Cafe Ngoy asked to visit. Even in gambling. Cambodia was poor and under-developed after years of war. "I achieved my American dream," Ted says. The Donut King But with great riches come great temptations. He joined Gamblers Anonymous but was back at the tables in no time. All night long Ted would watch people buying coffee and doughnuts, and he realised it was a good business. "When Alice called me, she described something that I have always wanted to tell but never thought that it would get picked up anywhere," Tao says. The family members worked 17 hours a day and saved for a year. Christy has remarried and lives in Lake Forest, not far from their three adult children, who all live in Orange County. All that money paid for expensive clothes, luxury cars, fancy trips and an opulent home in Mission Viejo. 60? "I became a very, very bad man and borrowed money here and there," he says. To Christy, this was the final betrayal. When he was working in the donut shop, he went to his sponsor and said he was having a hard time. In doing the research and finding that it was President [Gerald] Ford who issued the executive order to receive the refugees, a Republican president that was a huge surprise to me given that during the time that we were making this film we were hearing Donald Trumps rhetoric. He believed he could show others the path to wealth and opportunity. But he was more than well-off; he was respected. I believed him a thousand times, she said. It's a monster in me.". Ngoy fled with his wife, three young children, two cousins and a nephew to the United States in 1975. Christy would search for him in the casinos, the children in tow. After Ted revealed his presence to Christy, he hid under her bed until he was eventually discovered and her family allowed them be together. He enjoyed meeting the younger generation of doughnut makers, who are innovating and inventing new flavours. For the next 45 days, he lived in her room. Baby Yoda cocktails. He trained them and handed over the keys. He landed in LA with less than $100 in his pocket - all the money he had left. Every time I met them I said, 'Sorry son, sorry my daughter, sorry Christy. Tao did everything in her power to help Gu. I told him that he has a story to tell. They had lost their beautiful home and their chain of shops, but still had enough money to live comfortably. "Some of them were cousins, uncles, nieces," says Ted. Inspired by the economic success of Taiwan, Ted decided to lobby the US for "most favoured nation" status, which would open the door to foreign investment. He began to disappear off to Las Vegas for days, losing $5,000, $7,000 a game, and neglecting his family and his doughnut empire. ", He communicates with them almost every day. Ted liked Cadillacs; Christy preferred Mercedes-Benz convertibles. The Donut King comes out Friday, Oct. 30, online, and when you "I learned to bake, to take care of payroll, cleaning, sales - everything," he says. It was hurtful. goes to your local theater. Oklahoma-style smash burgers and Georgian dumplings make for some excellent cheap bites in Glendale, Husband and wife Felix Agyei and Hazel Rojas combine food from their heritages, creating a marriage of West African and Filipino cooking. Sent to the city to study, Ngoy met the beautiful Suganthini Khoeun who was the daughter of a government. He says to me, Alice, making money its so easy. "He was a little uneasy," Gu says. He became Ted. NICK STREET Channy is a stocky man in his mid-forties, and he runs USA Donut in Boeung Keng Kang with his wife. You will end up destroying the whole family and no more relationship with the world, just finished. These are kids who are American educated. So he named his own political party the Free Development Republican Party. ", But in the end, he says, he beat it. Money, doughnuts, sleep.. His story begins in the early 1970s when Ngoy was a commander in the Royal Cambodian Army, training soldiers in Thailand. And he said he saw her heart break before his very eyes. Ngoy is Cambodian and he was in Phnom Penh when it fell. I could have made a special piece just on the history of donuts. He is nicknamed the "Donut King. Suganthini smuggled him food at night, and after many days she said she loved him too. He hired his wife and nephew. He was, however, invited to become a government adviser on commerce and agriculture. Today, at 62, the doughnut king is broke, homeless and dependent on the goodwill of his few remaining friends. Gambling is a devil. He began placing bets with Cambodian bookies on football and basketball games. More land deals followed and he has now worked his way back to being a millionaire. Ngoy became a trainee and took over a Winchells in Newport Beach. The rise & fall of The Donut King. The film details how Ngoy fled Cambodia with his family during the Vietnam War and later went on to build a donut shop empire, only to lose it all because of a gambling addiction. [8], After Cambodia's establishment of a constitutional monarchy in 1993, Ngoy, along with his wife, returned to the country for its first elections. He had burned a lot of bridges and at the time his children hardly spoke to him. Ngoy doesnt remember how many stores he started or bought -- 40? He says his gambling is under control -- though he has no money with which to test this will power. On Sundays, he attends Parkcrest Christian Church in Long Beach. "Ted, again, is Mr. Nine Lives. Night after night, he watched customers come and go. Ted now sees that the same character traits that made him take bold risks in life also made it easy for him to fall prey to gambling. Their fairy tale romance is so distant, she said, its as if it happened to someone else. Huge numbers of Cambodian refugees were arriving in California. The premise of family in the film is how hard your parents work and the sacrifices they make so that you can have a life better than they did. Monks cannot help me, he said. He saw an opportunity to expand his business and help the large number of poor, unassimilated Cambodians who had fled the Khmer Rouge to the United States. People made fun of his accent. At the end, I win. The family also still had the Winchell's so now they had two stores to run. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. In 1975, Ted Ngoy fled the war in Cambodia with his wife and three kids and arrived in America as a penniless refugee. Ted negotiated well and got a good commission. Distraught, she took an overdose of sleeping pills and fell into a coma. Ngoy also involved himself in American politics, joining the Republican Party and hosting fundraisers for George H. W. Bush and encouraged fellow Cambodian immigrants to support the GOP. He was bleeding out and her parents were like, 'Oh, God. Ted became their first South East Asian trainee. In most of America there's an average of about one doughnut shop for every 30,000 people - in LA, there's one for every 7,000 people. "Before I'd never gambled, but like all the compulsive gamblers in the world, first you throw in a couple of bucks, $10, $20. Read about our approach to external linking. One of Ngoy's first jobs in the US was as a service station attendant. But then one of Suganthini's servants appeared at his door with a reply. A child of immigrants herself, she had become curious why Californian doughnut shops were so often run by Cambodians, and why there were so many of them. "It's impossible to explain that money had nothing to do with it. He had lost the respect of his family and community. Eager to learn the business, Ngoy approached the shop owners. Ted and a lot of the Asians who came aligned themselves with the Republican party. 50? Working all hours, Ted and Christy knew very little about what was happening back home in Cambodia, but what they heard was bad. Through doughnuts, many Cambodians stepped out of isolation and into the American mainstream. This tastes like any other glazed donut,'" Gu says. Chet and Savy, Ted Ngoys oldest children, sit down for an interview in The Donut King.. "But many of them were not related, they just lived in the same village or heard of my name. What you've done is incredible.' They have social media and know how to work it to innovate their parents old donut shops with a worldwide following. LAist.com/radio. Driving back with $85,000 cash in the boot of the car, they were stopped by the police; they had fallen behind with payments, so the car showed up as stolen. He built a donut empire and $20 million in wealth, but his fortune built on donuts would crumble and he would lose it all. He was raised by his mother, who was from Shantou, Guangdong, and who only spoke Chinese. A new documentary chronicles the fascinating saga of Ted Ngoy, "The Donut King," who made a fortune and then lost it all to a gambling addiction. "'You want to tell my story? The film follows an immigrant tale of the American dream through Bun Tek Ted Ngoy, a Cambodian refugee whose charmed life is full of war, romance, entrepreneurship, racism and a caution about greed. He remarried and had four more children - the youngest two are still at school. Suganthini was terrified, but she let the stranger stay. Perpetually in need of cash, he'd ask the people running his donut shops for loans. Ngoy ended his political career abruptly in 2002, breaking with two powerful allies, the commerce minister and the head of the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce. "After cry, go back gambling," he told one interviewer. It was helping his community and it was a bit of a cautionary tale.". Ted soon got a job working at Winchell's, which was then the dominant donut chain on the West Coast. Ted now had a new passion - politics. "I came back to L.A. and I didn't know that I was going to create this crazy explosion in the business. "But what shall we do in the morning? He co-signed loans for supplies and equipment. Christy Ngoy now owns a Peruvian restaurant in Irvine. "If I need to shower, I knock on the door, 'Lady can I take a shower?' The family worked 12 to 17 hours a day, with all hands on deck. In 1993 Ted and Christy moved back to Cambodia. At the height of his success in the US he had been an ardent Republican, and an enthusiastic fundraiser for the party. And she let me in to take a shower. "The note said, 'I appreciate you blowing the flute. The entire family Christy and the three kids worked alongside him. Gu first needed to find Ted Ngoy but she had no idea how to do it. The Donut King: Directed by Alice Gu. When he lost he would lash out, smashing doors, breaking furniture and frightening the children. He bought donut shop after donut shop, leasing them to other Cambodian immigrants, who ran the stores with their families, and taking a monthly cut of each store's profits. Some of his relationships didnt end well. In our very first phone call, he asked if I was American and I told him that I was Chinese American. In The Donut King, we learn that a teenage Ted won over his wife, Christy (ne Suganthini), by spending 45 straight days laying under her bed. 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