Soldiers and dogs guarded the mansion. Ngoy's epic rags-to-riches-to-rags story has been chronicled before (in the 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. Despite his success, he said, he felt unhappy and isolated. Something else about Orange County that I found so beautiful and touching while we were making this film, there was a man who owned a donut shop in Seal Beach and his wife was stricken with cancer. All three were taken to the police station but they were too scared to mention the cash in the boot. Ngoy became a trainee and took over a Winchell's in Newport Beach. I did not have time to expand. About 30 Christys Doughnuts were still in operation, as were hundreds of other Cambodian-owned doughnut shops. For a year and a half, I struggled with how I was going to get access to that Mission Viejo mansion. Because of the Ngoys, a Cambodian refugees first American job was often in a doughnut shop. But one night, he had an idea. Tell me more about how they connected to the local community.Ted came in the 70s and it was quite homogeneously white in Orange County at the time and a lot of people had never seen an Asian person, much less heard of a place called Cambodia. He was Chinese Cambodian, part of a despised underclass. Abcarian: Mask mandates? Every evening, he sat by his open window and played the flute. NICK STREET Channy is a stocky man in his mid-forties, and he runs USA Donut in Boeung Keng Kang with his wife. Yeah, My Family Doesn't Either, Soup Dumplings, Kimchi Burritos And More Fast, Cheap Eats In Glendale, At Masarap Cafe, West African and Filipino Cuisines Find Their Pairing, Drinking At Disneyland? He believed he could show others the path to wealth and opportunity. The family members worked 17 hours a day and saved for a year. Perpetually in need of cash, he'd ask the people running his donut shops for loans. Ngoy lived in an attic apartment a few blocks from the Khoeun familys mansion. 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. Ngoy would make a habit of returning monthly to watch performers such as Tom Jones, Diana Ross, and Wayne Newton and indulging in the incentives pit bosses of major casinos offered all the while spending even larger sums at the card tables. There were some hurt relationships. "You can't find any prettier woman besides her.". Ted worked as the church janitor but he soon realised earning $500 a month wouldn't be enough to support his family. This tastes like any other glazed donut,'" Gu says. A day before he left, his eldest son said if you have $3.2 million you can buy it. In return, he played their tables and lost thousands of dollars. "Before I'd never gambled, but like all the compulsive gamblers in the world, first you throw in a couple of bucks, $10, $20. They both drank and vowed to be faithful. War erupted in 1970. Ted became known as the Donut King - or Uncle Ted,. He wrote a book called The Donut: History, Recipes, and Lore from Boston to Berlin and he gave really fascinating insights into donut culture, history and our relationship to donuts in America. He built a donut empire and $20 million in wealth, but his fortune built on donuts would crumble and he would lose it all. Ted Ngoy By 1985, 10 years after arriving in the US as refugees, Ted and Christy were millionaires, owning around 60 doughnut shops. In our very first phone call, he asked if I was American and I told him that I was Chinese American. His few shirts and pants hang from a clothesline. Few foods are as universally adored as fried dough. Ted Ngoy had served in the Cambodian army as a major fighting communists that were trying to take over that country's government in the 1970s. When he lost their money he would just sign over the shop to them - without telling Christy, whose signature he forged. L.A. became the country's epicenter of donut culture when Ted Ngoy, a Cambodian immigrant, arrived in California during the 1970s. Is there anything that you left on the cutting room floor that you still think about?There are a lot of things that I still think about on the cutting room floor. He taught them the names of the doughnuts: old fashioned, jelly-filled, glazed. Streaming now on PBS. I say, Ted I dont think its that easy at all. And hell respond, Ive been rich three times. He dissolved his party and accused the government of corruption. All the boys at his school were in love with her, and as a poor half-Chinese boy from a village near the Thai border he had no chance. 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. 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. What was surprising for me was watching Ted, a Republican, pictured with Pete Wilson at one point in the film since Wilson supported laws that hurt immigrants.Its wild. Then, after falling out with a powerful political rival he feared for his life and fled to the US. Ted negotiated well and got a good commission. 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. TED NGOY HAD an unrelenting obsession during his 1975 plane ride from Southeast Asia to Southern California. He bought a bigger doughnut shop, and offered to lease the original Christy's to a family of Cambodian refugees, who had been working in fast food outlets on low wages. I never will be able to pay back. Okay, you guys can' It was a whole Romeo and Juliet story," Gu says. In the 1980s and '90s, when Dunkin' Donuts tried to establish itself on the West Coast, his frosted, deep-fried empire sent the company packing. Money, doughnuts, sleep.. [6] Gu persuaded him to and, ultimately, he regarded his return as a 'healing experience,' and his ex-wife and children have forgiven him. After a year of running two shops they had saved $40,000 and Ted decided to expand. Alongside doughnuts, they sell imported American goods - everything from Pop-Tarts to Starbucks Frappucinos. It's a monster in me.". Naturally he agreed, and set his sisters up with doughnut shops. buy a ticket I'm no good. Ted managed to escape on the last flight out of Phnom Penh but Suganthini's parents were left behind. He wanted to be with her, but he had no one else to manage the shop. I just want to create as many as I can, he said. I am the flute player, he said in a note passed through the familys maid. Over the years, he says he sponsored more than 100 Cambodian families that wanted to come to the U.S. Once, he was a poor boy who carried away one of Cambodias wealthiest daughters. I dont know who I am right now, he said. Suganthini replied, "Well be careful, if you don't jump into my room, you'll jump into my mum's room.". "I came back to L.A. and I didn't know that I was going to create this crazy explosion in the business. 'How I got rich beating men at their own game'. The donut business isnt easy. But he was more than well-off; he was respected. The Cambodians worked hard and because the whole family pitched in, they did not have to pay out any wages. A daughter owns a 1950s-style hamburger restaurant in Orange County. She ended up threatening to starve herself, saying, "If you won't let me be with him, I'm not going to eat.". [5] Having grown up in Los Angeles, she was doubtful when her children's nanny made a reference to "Cambodian" donuts; she thought all donuts were simply "American. ", "I was like, 'What on earth makes this Cambodian? [2], In 1967, Ngoy was sent by his mother to study in the capital, Phnom Penh, where he met and married Suganthini Khoeun, the daughter of a high-ranking government official. I believed him a thousand times, she said. His mother raised him in a rural village near Cambodias border with Thailand. This caused tension in the Ngoy household, being the center of many arguments between Ngoy and his wife. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Key grant funding to help O.C. By 2005, after a failed political career in Cambodia, Ngoy was penniless and living on the porch of a fellow Parkcrest Christian Church parishioner's mobile home. Those are the sounds of a man in love, her mother said. The world moves so quickly now, but I do believe that it is still real and it is still possible. His family didn't want to see him, and nobody offered him work, not even baking doughnuts. 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. He was born Bun Tek Ngoy. Ngoy bought his first doughnut. Ted did try to curb his habit. Yes, you read that right. "The note said, 'I appreciate you blowing the flute. Like Ngoy, most of the people who leased his stores were Chinese Cambodian. The whole community banded together and they all agreed to sell him out of donuts every morning by 9 a.m. When Christy returned to California for the birthday of a grandchild in 1999, Ngoy met a young woman and brought her to live in his house. , chronicles Ngoy's thrill-of-victory/agony-of-defeat rollercoaster ride through the American Dream immigration, capitalism, history, hubris, romance, addiction, family and food. He is nicknamed the "Donut King. [8], After a particularly devastating gambling loss in 1990, Ngoy flew to Washington, D.C. and joined a Buddhist monastery where he spent a month meditating. That's a disaster," he says. These are kids who are American educated. Read about our approach to external linking. Because he was a high roller the casinos put him up in $2,000-a-night suites and offered him VIP tickets to the best shows. Broke, Ted and Christy returned to Cambodia. I called her when I found out and asked if she knew about Ford and Brown. She later discovered that they were among the first to be executed by the Khmer Rouge. Late at night, Ngoy would put Suganthini on his back and climb down the roof, then down the coconut tree. Doughnut revenue put their children through college. Where are they now?. Ted had met Ronald Reagan, George Bush Sr., [Richard] Nixon. Gu's documentary, He said hes Chinese Cambodian and we spoke Mandarin for a couple of minutes. 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. His gesture went unreciprocated for days. Twice he joined a Buddhist monastery. I just do it.. One night, he saw Suganthini on her balcony, and decided it was time to make his move. 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. "And she says, 'Because Cambodian people make them.'". He had met Richard Nixon, the former president, and Presidents Reagan and George HW Bush. Doughnuts offered an escape from years of welfare dependency. "She was so beautiful," he remembers. Whenever Ted won, the family would rejoice with him. The Donut King For weeks, they watched other families leave, until finally they, too, were sponsored by a pastor from a church in Tustin, Orange County, about 35 miles south of Los Angeles. It was a humbling experience, and the lowest point in his life. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. in Santa Monica. DK's Donuts I gave her my spiel, and she said, 'Well, you've called the right person. Christy was in the front and made a lot of inroads with the community and built a lot of bridges. Ted became their first South East Asian trainee. 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. The Ngoys drove a motor home around California, opening shops in Los Angeles, Modesto, Fresno, San Jose, the Bay Area city of Brisbane, Sacramento and San Diego. It was small amounts first but he was soon blowing bigger figures and he couldn't seem to stop. I ended up not sharing that donut. She was hooked. called The Ngoys helped hundreds of refugees find housing and apply for Social Security cards. We were taxed to the hilt, unemployment was high and he was very reluctant to give refugees a home here when Californians were out of work. At each stop, they set up the business and trained the families who leased it. One of their sons is a financial consultant; another is a computer-networking technician. Why would anybody be interested in my story?' If there's anything she wants people who watch The Donut King to know, it's that this seemingly simple treat has a deeper cultural resonance. A week later, Suganthini wrote back, and the two began a secret correspondence. "It made me homesick," says Ted. He remarried and had four more children - the youngest two are still at school. He hired his wife and nephew. But with great riches come great temptations. Gu didn't know about any of that before she started developing this project. "But what shall we do in the morning? Ngoy is Cambodian and he was in Phnom Penh when it fell. In 1975, Ted Ngoy fled the war in Cambodia with his wife and three kids and arrived in America as a penniless refugee. Your Guide To Everything Boozy You Can Order, A Los Angeles Family Seeks Answers And Accountability After Black Mom Dies In Childbirth. This 2020s documentary film-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. "[1] In 1977, the Ngoys took a trip to Las Vegas where Ted saw Elvis Presley. He moved from church to church, until an elderly Cambodian woman allowed him to live on the covered porch of her mobile home. I go to borrow. I told him that he has a story to tell. Hes friends with Dana Rohrabacher. No days off. What new information did you learn in the making of the film?There was a lot that was new to me. But while she was gone Ted had an affair. Not many professional gamblers are bipolar women, but Cat Hulbert was one of the best - and she delighted in winning money from men. The Donut King is told through archival footage, animation, and interviews with family members alongside Ted Ngoy, who has tried to make peace with those who he's hurt including Mel Allison, a 91-year-old baker still at it at Winchell's. He enjoyed meeting the younger generation of doughnut makers, who are innovating and inventing new flavours. It was love at first bite. Ted wrote one day. One night he asked the woman at the counter if saving $3,000 would be enough to buy a doughnut shop. Ngoy would often visit Las Vegas for a period of a week, unbeknownst to his wife. Following his time in the nation's capital, Ngoy spent time in a monastery in the Thai countryside where he spent his morning begging for alms. She thought it might have been a tall tale, "But when I was in Cambodia, [Ted] lifted his shirt and I saw the puncture wounds," Gu adds. The Ngoys went to Las Vegas for the first time in 1977. "Cambodian people owe them a lot.". It's something Ted feels a bit bad about. Ted Ngoy was born in Sisophon, Cambodia. "It's impossible to explain that money had nothing to do with it. in San Clemente and, of course, DK's Donuts in Santa Monica. "Growing up, when you look on the screen, there's not a lot of Asian representation. Soon, Cambodians began copying the Ted Ngoy business model. Never surrender. He subsists on small handouts from friends. 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." While working a second job at a gas station, Ngoy took notice of a busy local donut shop and inquired of its operators about learning the business. Ngoy wrote to her. The United States alone is home to more than 25,000 donut shops and they produce more than 10 billion donuts each year. It really helped put some perspective on the journey to get here from somewhere else and the struggles that people go through when they arrive in a new, strange and foreign land. until 2014 In 1985, he and Suganthini became U.S. citizens. Designers Andrew Hem and Charlie Le were awarded a SWSW Film special jury recognition for their poster design of The Donut King in 2020. In the early 1990s, it was reported that California had 2,400 Cambodian-owned doughnut shops. Ngoy attempted Gamblers Anonymous, but denied it helped with his situation, stating that when he went to meetings "I cry, everybody cry. Ted Ngoy (born Bun Tek Ngoy) was born into a poor Cambodian family in 1942. By 2002 Ted was broke. Theyre savvy, young, hip. It's so amazing, so touching.' Ngoy would open more shops and lease them to fellow refugees. What was it like?I spoke with him and he was in Cambodia. He paid for their airfare and, when they arrived, "Uncle Ted" let them stay at his house while he taught them the ropes of the donut business. Ted's parents and sisters fled across the border to Thailand, and Ted got a call from the US embassy there asking if he would sponsor them to live in the US. Hard work. Ted was the consummate schmoozer and salesman. While working a second job at a gas station, Ngoy took notice of a busy local donut shop and inquired of its operators about . 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. To Christy, this was the final betrayal. "It was a different take on a refugee story,". Theres this portion in the film that goes into Ted and his ex-wife Christys experiences in Orange County during the 70s. Also Jerry Brown, who weve seen in California as our beacon of hope and morality, in 1975 was actually the opposite. "New documentary 'The Donut King' follows Cambodian refugee Ted Ngoy's journey to multi-million dollar empire", "Review: A Shakespearean SoCal tragedy, 'The Donut King' charts the rise and fall of Ted Ngoy", "Director Alice Gu Wants You to Meet The Donut King", "The Donut King who went full circle - from rags to riches, twice", "Review: The Donut King, a sweet documentary that doesn't tell the hole truth", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Donut_King&oldid=1131760803, This page was last edited on 5 January 2023, at 16:51. He was very surprised that anybody would find him and want to tell his stories. ", But in the end, he says, he beat it. I have to go to school.". When the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia in 1975, they knew they couldn't go home. The family were housed in a hastily erected refugee camp on a marine training base, Camp Pendleton. He also sponsored more than 100 Cambodian refugee families and established a path of financial opportunity for them in America. Long-lost ship found at the bottom of Lake Huron, confirming story of tragic collision, TikTok to set default daily time limit of up to 60 minutes for minors, 19 cafes that make L.A. a world-class coffee destination, The chance of a lifetime: Five friends ski the tallest mountain in Los Angeles, TikTok faces bans in a number of countries over security fears. Upon his return to Orange County, Ngoy began gambling harder than ever stating "Monks cannot help me, Buddha cannot help me. When you first reached out to Ted, it was a cold call. He did as he was told, but then pulled out a knife and stabbed himself, declaring he would rather die than live without her. With the pastor's permission he went out and got two more jobs, as a sales person from 6pm to 10pm and petrol attendant from 10pm to 6am. [5], The film received 69/100 on Metacritic, receiving "generally favorable reviews. I am the child of immigrants who came and moved here for the American dream. Ngoy became a trainee and took over a Winchells in Newport Beach. ", He communicates with them almost every day. He has found his way to be wealthy again. I thought I would just get an exterior scene for context. They barely talked to him. The gambling is sad, the saddest part of my life.". Some of his relationships didnt end well. COVID origins? [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. They did business on a handshake, he said, and his tenants always paid. In Cambodia, Ngoy formed the Free Development Republican Party. Even in gambling. Her parents wanted nothing to do with him. Then he opened his first independent shop in La Habra, eventually covering the rest of O.C. 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. One by one, Ted lost all of his donut shops. He trained them and handed over the keys. When he lost he would lash out, smashing doors, breaking furniture and frightening the children. Casino operators gave Ngoy free rooms, food, airfare and front-row seats to prize fights. She would drive there with her youngest son and go from hotel to hotel looking for him. "Everybody's happy to see me now, because I changed from the bad guy to the good guy.". 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. Over the last few years, Tao has rebranded the shop with a colorful, hot pink logo and experimented in the kitchen, producing eye-catching, Instagram-friendly creations and original flavors. While he was recovering in hospital, Suganthini also made an attempt on her life. Tao did everything in her power to help Gu. Through the maneuvering of his brother-in-law, chief of police and briefly future president of Cambodia, Sak Sutsakhan, Ngoy was promoted to the rank of major and appointed military attache at Cambodia's embassy in Thailand. 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. Then, he lost it all. On Sundays, he attends Parkcrest Christian Church in Long Beach. He also figured that as a prominent politician, he would be forced to control his gambling habit. And that's what he did. Was there any tension or awkwardness when he visited California again?He came to visit California, I think, with a little bit of trepidation. "Well, it is because I've fallen in love with you," Ted replied. He co-signed loans for supplies and equipment. The stranger who crept into her room more than 35 years ago is a stranger again. Gambling is a devil. At the end, I win. Thank you for investing in your neighborhood. I wanted to tell this story in a way that was inspirational and optimistic. "It's a devil, it's a monster. "[1] He says his Christian faith ultimately helped him abandon the habit. When he couldn't pay them back because he had gambled the money away, Ted signed away his ownership stake in those stores. You just have to see the opportunity and go for it. Those are the wise words of Ted Ngoy. When you hook up with gambling, your life's finished. She would forgive him when he promised to stop, and he would -- for a while. He had sold what few shops remained. Your tax-deductible financial support keeps our stories free to read, instead of hidden behind paywalls. [11], Last edited on 22 February 2023, at 19:19, "Rise and fall of Cambodian refugee 'Donut King' charted in award-winning film", "A TASTE OF CAMBODIA: A Real Horatio Alger Story: Refugee Built Empire on Doughnuts", "VOICES FROM THE FIRST GENERATION: The Ngoy Family", "Asians Looking to Broaden Horizons: Immigrants Prosper but Hope to Venture Outside the 'Business Ghetto', "The Donut King who went full circle - from rags to riches, twice", "The story of the man they called the doughnut king", "Review: A Shakespearean SoCal tragedy, 'The Donut King' charts the rise and fall of Ted Ngoy", "Lessons from the Donut King & Science Fiction's Golden Age", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ted_Ngoy&oldid=1140980965, This page was last edited on 22 February 2023, at 19:19. The ubiquity and low overhead of these Cambodian mom-and-pop donut shops helped drive Dunkin' Donuts out of California in the late '90s. So, I just did it. It was hurtful. He returned to a refugee community in transition. On the porch of a friends mobile home in Long Beach, the Cambodian doughnut king falls asleep each night shivering. In 1990, after disappearing for another disastrous trip to Las Vegas, he flew to Washington, D.C., and joined a Buddhist monastery. A map of Christys Donuts, Winchells and Dunkin Donuts across California during the height of Ted Ngoys entrepreneurship in the 1970s through the 1990s. They told him Winchells Donuts trained store managers. The first few times he and Christy visited, on early family holidays, everything went well: they watched a magic show, they saw Elvis perform. In a year Ted had saved enough to put down a deposit on a second doughnut shop, a "mom-and-pop" shop called Christy's. Telling Christy, whose signature he forged a doughnut shop every evening, he says, said! A Winchell & # x27 ; s in Newport Beach porch of man... 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