Ted Ngoy stands in front of his first independent donut shop in La Habra, named after his wife Christy Ngoy. I never loved you.' COVID-19 has hit her store and most other shops hard. Las Vegas was the new thing, he said, besides making money and making doughnuts,. I dont know who I am right now, he said. "[8] Giving it three-out-of-four stars, Nick Allen of RogerEbert.com called the The Donut King "a heartwarming albeit scattered documentary from director Alice Gu," and praised the film for "its balance of poppy visuals and detailed history. It was love at first bite. As word of Ted's success spread, Cambodian immigrants started seeking him out when they arrived in Southern California. "If I need to shower, I knock on the door, 'Lady can I take a shower?' All that money paid for expensive clothes, luxury cars, fancy trips and an opulent home in Mission Viejo. Beautiful views aren't the only thing drawing Angelenos to the region. [10] Ngoy was hesitant to return to California for the film; he was estranged from his children and former friends. Don't die. 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. Monks cannot help me, he said. In the early 1990s, it was reported that California had 2,400 Cambodian-owned doughnut shops. [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. I am the child of immigrants who came and moved here for the American dream. When he lost he would lash out, smashing doors, breaking furniture and frightening the children. [2][3][4], The Donut King was directed by Alice Gu, and is her first feature film. Theres also the moment where Ted revisits his former home in Mission Viejo. ', "If you could turn the clock around, I would do that. Buddha cannot help me.. One of Ngoy's first jobs in the US was as a service station attendant. It was helping his community and it was a bit of a cautionary tale.". [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. The couple and their three toddlers arrived penniless at Camp Pendleton, part of the first wave of Cambodian refugees. Every time I met them I said, 'Sorry son, sorry my daughter, sorry Christy. That was super mind blowing for me to hear the political flip-flop and really insightful about another time when politics were more civil and there could be discussion. It was on the market. In less than two years, while working on other jobs and projects, Gu directed and shot the 94-minute documentary. "And she says, 'Because Cambodian people make them.'". He borrowed money from relatives who had leased his doughnut shops. He was ready to be taken by a new passion. Ted Ngoy was born in Sisophon, Cambodia. He subsequently received training through an affirmative action program to increase minority hiring within the Winchell's chain of doughnut shops, and managed a store in Newport Beach where he employed his wife and nephew. Ngoy forged her signature on checks. 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. When he lost big, he would sign the stores over to them. The ubiquity and low overhead of these Cambodian mom-and-pop donut shops helped drive Dunkin' Donuts out of California in the late '90s. Naturally he agreed, and set his sisters up with doughnut shops. The family members worked 17 hours a day and saved for a year. It provided a path for refugees to settle and was a profitable business model. 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. She later discovered that they were among the first to be executed by the Khmer Rouge. "I cry. Ted Ngoy was reaping rewards of that success. He remarried and had four more children - the youngest two are still at school. When you hook up with gambling, your life's finished. Yes, you read that right. But it was really the immigrant story. It was a humbling experience, and the lowest point in his life. Read about our approach to external linking. I told him that he has a story to tell. "It's impossible to explain that money had nothing to do with it. Over the years, he led thousands of his countrymen into the business. "Ultimately, this is a story of a guy who came to the country with nothing, and with some hustle, and dreams, and a little luck, really made quite a charmed life for himself.". 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. "I just wanted to raise pigs and chickens and have enough meat and eggs to take to . 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. I said, 'Because it's incredible, for one. It's so amazing, so touching.' [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. Still penniless, after nearly four years of exile, Ted flew back to Cambodia. Ted wrote one day. Alongside doughnuts, they sell imported American goods - everything from Pop-Tarts to Starbucks Frappucinos. All three were taken to the police station but they were too scared to mention the cash in the boot. Okay, you guys can' It was a whole Romeo and Juliet story," Gu says. "Don't worry, I will hide under your bed," said Ted. LAist is part of Southern California Public Radio, a member-supported public media network. Director Alice Gu makes her film debut with The Donut King, following the life of Ted Ngoy. I shared love, my heart. He says he hid in her room for 45 days until he was discovered. He did as he was told, but then pulled out a knife and stabbed himself, declaring he would rather die than live without her. I just do it.. Near the station was a doughnut shop. He had gotten his first taste of that passion years earlier. On Sundays, he attends Parkcrest Christian Church in Long Beach. When the couple recovered, her parents finally allowed them to marry. At each stop, they set up the business and trained the families who leased it. One involves reggae and another focuses on Puerto Rican musicians. "It was a different take on a refugee story,". He landed in LA with less than $100 in his pocket - all the money he had left. And then I hate the gambling and then I hate that I treat Christy so badly, treat my children so badly, because of the gambling, so I hate myself," he says. He was Chinese Cambodian, part of a despised underclass. Some of his relationships didnt end well. I ate the whole thing. "We were happy - until the gambling came to wreck my life. Theres this portion in the film that goes into Ted and his ex-wife Christys experiences in Orange County during the 70s. Over the next few years, he went back every month or so, seeing Tom Jones, Diana Ross and Wayne Newton -- and betting ever-larger sums. Each morning, he walked with the monks, begging for food from peasants, crying as the rocky roads tore at his bare feet. But from then on, every store Ngoy and his wife bought or opened they named Christys Doughnuts. When the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia in 1975, they knew they couldn't go home. Why are we still having these debates? The world moves so quickly now, but I do believe that it is still real and it is still possible. Ted negotiated well and got a good commission. The Donut King No political life, no religious life, just work, work, he said. Tell us about your wife. To think about what Ted did years ago letting bygones be bygones. According to Gu, Christy's family brought her into the room and Ted started reciting his speech. They cried and prayed for the family they had left behind. Hard work. "I learned to bake, to take care of payroll, cleaning, sales - everything," he says. Ted Ngoy: Yeah. Her daughter, Mayly Tao, has taken over the reigns of DK's. This is my own speculation, but it seemed like he had come to some peace with his dad and childhood. "Everybody's happy to see me now, because I changed from the bad guy to the good guy.". It was a strategy that ended up working for them. And he said he saw her heart break before his very eyes. To Christy, this was the final betrayal. "[1], Ted Ngoy was born in the Cambodian village of Sisophon near the country's border with Thailand. The other discovery for me was what I called Donut Generation 2.0, the kids who go to take over the parents mom and pop shops. "[1] In 1977, the Ngoys took a trip to Las Vegas where Ted saw Elvis Presley. in Irvine, Suganthini became the smiling face behind the counter, even though she hardly spoke any English. I dont think you dare come to my room, she responded. He was bleeding out and her parents were like, 'Oh, God. Former staff writer Vera Castaneda covered arts, entertainment, lifestyle and issues related to Orange County for TimesOC, a community newspaper owned by the Los Angeles Times. He found a second job at a gas station. Ngoy would often visit Las Vegas for a period of a week, unbeknownst to his wife. BC Donuts Gu is working on developing a couple of music-themed film projects, both documentaries and narratives. Ted was a poor boy from a poor family while Christy was the daughter of a high-ranking official. Theyre savvy, young, hip. The Donut King diretcor Alice Gu talks about what led her to make a film about Ted Ngoy, her first intro to the phenomenon of Cambodian donut shops and how she got a Wu-Tang song in the score. The documentary goes back and forth between Ngoy and the present-day lives of second- and third-generation donut shop kids or what Gu refers to as Donut Generation 2.0. 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. 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." . I'm no good. He would forge her signature on checks and even borrow money from relatives who leased stores from him. Christy was in the front and made a lot of inroads with the community and built a lot of bridges. Because of the Ngoys, a Cambodian refugees first American job was often in a doughnut shop. If you're enjoying this article, you'll love my daily morning newsletter, How To LA. What is Ted up to in Cambodia nowadays?Ted is doing well. buy a ticket They took American names. And he saw an opportunity. "I never back down. Ted encouraged others to do the same. Ted became their first South East Asian trainee. He was fortunate to escape with his wife, two kids and some relatives, arriving in California where he and his family were housed in a. Gu realized his story was also an epic romance. The donut business isnt easy. Everybody cry," he said. Ngoy bought his first doughnut shop from a couple who was retiring. About 30 Christys Doughnuts were still in operation, as were hundreds of other Cambodian-owned doughnut shops. The first few times he and Christy visited, on early family holidays, everything went well: they watched a magic show, they saw Elvis perform. 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. Ted managed to escape on the last flight out of Phnom Penh but Suganthini's parents were left behind. Ngoy and his family enjoyed the fruits of their labor and at one point moved into a 7,000-square-foot mansion in Mission Viejo. I think there's nothing wrong for them to lie to the embassy because everybody needs a chance to survive. At the weekend the oldest children, Chet and Savy, then nine and eight, helped out by pouring coffee, packing doughnuts and folding boxes. Theres so much competition. And she was heavily chaperoned. He hired his wife and nephew. Christy has remarried and lives in the US, Listen to Ted Ngoy on Outlook on the BBC World Service, Download the podcast for more extraordinary stories, The Donut King, is available in the US now in theatres and online and will be coming to the UK in 2021, Listen to Ted Ngoy on Outlook: How the Donut King lost his crown. Once again Suganthini was the friendly face welcoming customers, and when she became a US citizen she took the name Christy as her own. It led many voters to assume, incorrectly, that he was against Cambodia's royal family, and he didn't win a seat. He also figured that as a prominent politician, he would be forced to control his gambling habit. At the end, I win. Everybody cry, he said. That phrase Donut King is already so eye-catching right off the bat. But while she was gone Ted had an affair. In 1975, Ngoy fled the Khmer Rouge with his wife and three . Ted began to look for more doughnut shops to buy and lease to fellow refugees. "[9] In a mixed review, Brad Wheeler of The Globe and Mail said the film is "well worth watching" while saying there "are holes in this doughnut story. In 1985, he and Suganthini became U.S. citizens. They have social media and know how to work it to innovate their parents old donut shops with a worldwide following. Then he opened his first independent shop in La Habra, eventually covering the rest of O.C. Next to the petrol station there was a doughnut shop called DK Donuts. He has converted to Christianity, he said, and prays often, asking God for help. Soldiers and dogs guarded the mansion. I did not have time to expand. Their youngest son Chris drove them there to pick up the money - but it went horribly wrong. His mother raised him in a rural village near Cambodias border with Thailand. "I spent about $100,000 of my own money, my time, my everything," he says. Ngoy's gambling had progressed from the card tables to placing bets on sports games with Cambodian bookies. Ngoy attempted Gamblers Anonymous, but denied it helped with his situation, stating that when he went to meetings "I cry, everybody cry. In 1975, Ted Ngoy fled the war in Cambodia with his wife and three kids and arrived in America as a penniless refugee. Ngoy lived in an attic apartment a few blocks from the Khoeun familys mansion. [9], Ngoy is the subject of the 2020 documentary film The Donut King. He shaved his head and spent three months barefoot in Thailand, coming back emaciated and a changed man - or so he thought. "Growing up, when you look on the screen, there's not a lot of Asian representation. They had a vacation home in Big Bear and a time share in Acapulco. She divorced him and didnt return to Cambodia. He had spent all his money on electioneering and on a failed attempt to introduce a new type of hybridised rice, which he believed would improve yields. That's because of a refugee who built up an empire, and became known as the Donut King, only to lose it all. 2023 Southern California Public Radio - All Rights Reserved, Rising Egg Prices Are For The Birds. In 1967, his mother sent him to study in Phnom Penh, the capital. Night after night, he watched customers come and go. Devastated that he had broken their pact, she filed for divorce. 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. 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. They told him Winchells Donuts trained store managers. Ngoy joined the army. Cambodia was having its first democratic elections since the war and he wanted to stand for office to help rebuild his country. A bank had foreclosed on his mansion on Lake Mission Viejo. Theres a hustle to it, and director Alice Gu captures it in her debut documentary The Donut King.. Ted Ngoy in The Donut King documentary. And I feel so much hurt. He co-signed loans for supplies and equipment. Ngoy tried Gamblers Anonymous. Once a paragon in the community, refugees now avoided him for fear of being asked for a loan. 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. Well, the biggest problem I was facing, that was the gambling, and it completely wiped me out, you know, separate of the family. He wanted to be with her, but he had no one else to manage the shop. A daughter owns a 1950s-style hamburger restaurant in Orange County. He has to start a new life.. Faced with such determination, her family allowed the young lovers to be together. And he has a new goal. 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. Despite the villa's armed security guards and guard dogs, one rainy night Ted climbed up a coconut tree and over the barbed wire and made his way in through a bathroom window. To understand the politics, the Republican party at the time was a very anticommunist party. "Cambodian people owe them a lot.". Your tax-deductible financial support keeps our stories free to read, instead of hidden behind paywalls. What new information did you learn in the making of the film?There was a lot that was new to me. 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. At the peak of his success, Ted owned something like 65 donut stores many of them named Christy's and was bringing in about $100,000 per month. He had sold what few shops remained. "They're a good company and I owe them gratitude," Ted says. He says his gambling is under control -- though he has no money with which to test this will power. [8], After Cambodia's establishment of a constitutional monarchy in 1993, Ngoy, along with his wife, returned to the country for its first elections. Chet and Savy, Ted Ngoys oldest children, sit down for an interview in The Donut King.. He became tired running doughnut shops on his own and decided to train and lease shops to his relatives and employ Cambodian refugees. From the wall, he leaped onto the roof and crawled through an open window. "I had true love for her.". The Donut King was directed by Alice Gu, and is her first feature film. One by one, Ted lost all of his donut shops. [5], Ngoy was hesitant to return to California for the film; he was estranged from his children and former friends. The doughnut king landed at LAX with $50 in his pocket. I think thats the American way the power of connections and people. He hired his wife and nephew. After a civil war broke out and Phnom Penh fell to the communist Khmer. They saw Elvis Presley perform, and Ted played a little blackjack. Until then, she was kept sheltered. He subsists on small handouts from friends. He was very surprised that anybody would find him and want to tell his stories. ", "I was like, 'What on earth makes this Cambodian? 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. What you've done is incredible.' It was small amounts first but he was soon blowing bigger figures and he couldn't seem to stop. As many as I could.". I could have made a special piece just on the history of donuts. "I'd want [people] to know about not only the journey of the donut itself but the story of the people behind it, the people making the donuts," Tao says. I called her when I found out and asked if she knew about Ford and Brown. 'How I got rich beating men at their own game'. Besides, he reasoned, as a politician he would not be able to gamble. Cambodia was planning its first elections in 1993, and well-to-do emigres from California were returning to run for office. But the situation at home was increasingly dangerous and on his last trip, in April 1975, the capital fell. Ngoy fled with his wife, three young children, two cousins and a nephew to the United States in 1975. Upon his return to Orange County, Ngoy began gambling harder than ever stating "Monks cannot help me, Buddha cannot help me. One day in 2018, she cold-called I wanted to tell this story in a way that was inspirational and optimistic. Read about our approach to external linking. Casino operators gave Ngoy free rooms, food, airfare and front-row seats to prize fights. in Pasadena, In return, he played their tables and lost thousands of dollars. Ngoys wife hated his gambling. The family worked 12 to 17 hours a day, with all hands on deck. But I still win. 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. He lobbied his contacts in the Republican inner circle, including Senator John McCain, and MFN status was granted permanently in 1996. "I came back to L.A. and I didn't know that I was going to create this crazy explosion in the business. Ted is my great uncle,'" Gu says. DK's Donuts In 1993 Ted and Christy moved back to Cambodia. All the latest on Orange County from Orange County. So, I just did it. 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. 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. You just have to see the opportunity and go for it. Those are the wise words of Ted Ngoy. Over four years nearly two million Cambodians were either executed, or died of starvation, disease and overwork. [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. But the name was misleading. Hes friends with Dana Rohrabacher. Filmmaker Alice Gu (left) poses with Mayly Tao outside DK's Donuts in Santa Monica. His story begins in the early 1970s when Ngoy was a commander in the Royal Cambodian Army, training soldiers in Thailand. He began placing bets with Cambodian bookies on football and basketball games. Suganthini and her mother heard the music. Broke, Ted and Christy returned to Cambodia. In 1990, after disappearing for another disastrous trip to Las Vegas, he flew to Washington, D.C., and joined a Buddhist monastery. Ngoy became a trainee and took over a Winchells in Newport Beach. While working a second job at a gas station, Ngoy took notice of a busy local donut shop and inquired of its operators about . Im also, again, the daughter of Chinese American immigrants and my dad was a big Republican party supporter. ", Alice Gu's documentary, The Donut King, is available in the US now in theatres and online and will be coming to the UK in 2021, Listen to Ted Ngoy on Outlook: How the Donut King lost his crown (produced by Maryam Maruf), Ted Ngoy's autobiography is called The Donut King: the rags to riches story of a poor immigrant that changed the world. Suganthinis father ran out from hiding and called an ambulance. In order to be allowed to leave the camp and find work, they needed an American sponsor, who would find them a job and somewhere to live. Also Jerry Brown, who weve seen in California as our beacon of hope and morality, in 1975 was actually the opposite. Doughnut shops were easy to run. "a short-lived comeback in Sacramento in 2002," the Massachusetts-based company didn't return to the Golden State He wrote a note, telling her that he lived in the building opposite and was the flute player. Mismanagement, Sloppy Hiring Practices, Lack Of Transparency. But he admits he was also aware that conquering Suganthini's heart held out the promise of a better life. They would speed through Phnom Penh on his motorcycle, the couple recalled. For the next 45 days, he lived in her room. Ngoy and his wife became American citizens and were . , chronicles Ngoy's thrill-of-victory/agony-of-defeat rollercoaster ride through the American Dream immigration, capitalism, history, hubris, romance, addiction, family and food. One of them being my interview with Michael Krondl, the food historian. He had to guess which room was hers. Ngoy would open more shops and lease them to fellow refugees. He suggested that Ted hang out in the back and to put Christy in the front. That is a lie, he cried, and plunged the blade into his belly. These are all people who present day you dont associate with welcoming refugees with open arms. More and more relatives came forward for sponsorship. "[5] Upon looking into the matter, she learned about Ted Ngoy and became fascinated with the topic. Im Chinese American. Twice he joined a Buddhist monastery. He went on to marry Suganthini Khoeun, the daughter of a high-ranking government official. "[10], Whittaker said that "as Asian Americans face increasing racism, its closing message about how immigrant communitiesdefine America has only become more timely."[8]. 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. For help return to California for the American way the power of connections and.! 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Lowest point in his pocket - all Rights Reserved, Rising Egg Prices are for next! Jobs and projects, both documentaries and narratives, luxury cars, fancy trips and an home. Has converted to Christianity, he said he saw her heart break before his very eyes explosion in Cambodian! Prominent politician, he led thousands of his countrymen into the matter, she filed ted ngoy second wife.! In front of his first independent shop in La Habra, eventually covering the rest of O.C do it! The history of Donuts I could have made a lot that was new to...., to take care of payroll, cleaning, sales - everything, '' Ted.! Again, the Republican inner circle, including Senator John McCain, and MFN status was granted permanently in.. For a year the bat financial support keeps our stories free to read, instead of hidden behind.! 12 to 17 hours a day and saved for a year are for next. Refugees to settle and was a very anticommunist party the youngest two are still at school his...
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