I just want to create as many as I can, he said. He moved from church to church, until an elderly Cambodian woman allowed him to live on the covered porch of her mobile home. Gu is working on developing a couple of music-themed film projects, both documentaries and narratives. Ngoys wife hated his gambling. Today, at 62, the doughnut king is broke, homeless and dependent on the goodwill of his few remaining friends. "That's why I want to tell the world, 'Do not gamble.' Huge numbers of Cambodian refugees were arriving in California. A woman from his church lets him sleep in the screened porch outside her mobile home, which he has fashioned into a makeshift bedroom. It provided a path for refugees to settle and was a profitable business model. Why are we still having these debates? (Courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment). A week later, Suganthini wrote back, and the two began a secret correspondence. Her parents and cousins hid behind curtains so they could hear him break off the relationship. Ngoy doesnt remember how many stores he started or bought -- 40? After setting up a sweet shop of his own, he helped fellow . He credits his Christian faith with finally curing his gambling addiction, although he confesses he liked to bet on football games until last year. In the end, filming the documentary was a healing experience for Ted. Los Angeles Times "It's a crazy story, but it's true," says Ted, now 78. He had met Richard Nixon, the former president, and Presidents Reagan and George HW Bush. Ted Ngoy was born in Sisophon, Cambodia. Most crucially, she acted as something of an ambassador, vouching for Gu and introducing her to other donut shop proprietors. 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 told Suganthini that he didnt love her. BC Donuts I dont know who I am right now, he said. "I came back to L.A. and I didn't know that I was going to create this crazy explosion in the business. [6], The Donut King had its world premiere in the Documentary Feature Competition the South by Southwest film festival. Ted did try to curb his habit. "We were happy - until the gambling came to wreck my life. Her parents wanted nothing to do with him. 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. Ted Ngoy in The Donut King documentary. Seasonal Halloween donuts at DK's Donuts in Santa Monica. The first few times he and Christy visited, on early family holidays, everything went well: they watched a magic show, they saw Elvis perform. Besides, he reasoned, as a politician he would not be able to gamble. Gu says Christy's family then threatened to kill Ted but his mother made a deal with them. More land deals followed and he has now worked his way back to being a millionaire. Ted began to look for more doughnut shops to buy and lease to fellow refugees. Gu didn't know about any of that before she started developing this project. Peace Lutheran Church Her daughter, Mayly Tao, has taken over the reigns of DK's. About 30 Christys Doughnuts were still in operation, as were hundreds of other Cambodian-owned doughnut shops. The family worked 12 to 17 hours a day, with all hands on deck. An immigrant story with a (glazed) twist, The Donut King follows the journey of Cambodian refugee Ted Ngoy, who arrived in California in the 1970s and, through a mixture of diligence and. Where are they now?. In our very first phone call, he asked if I was American and I told him that I was Chinese American. Chuong Lee, who has run DK's Donuts since 1988, is officially retired although she occasionally helps out at the shop. She belonged to a high ranking officer, you know like a princess in Cambodia, very rich and very powerful family. 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. 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. "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.". When people know about the bad reputation, people are not going to vote for me. With the help of his brother-in-law, he was promoted to major and appointed military attache at the countrys embassy in Thailand. He says his gambling is under control -- though he has no money with which to test this will power. They have social media and know how to work it to innovate their parents old donut shops with a worldwide following. He spends his evenings alone, reading the Bible. 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? By 1985, 10 years after arriving in the US as refugees, Ted and Christy were millionaires, owning around 60 doughnut shops. He sat on the roof of his apartment and played his flute, the music sweeping over the neighborhood. It's a monster in me.". Doughnut shops were easy to run. I'm no good. The family also still had the Winchell's so now they had two stores to run. Then he would return to Vegas in an attempt to win back what he had lost. 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. Cambodia was planning its first elections in 1993, and well-to-do emigres from California were returning to run for office. Christy has remarried and lives in Lake Forest, not far from their three adult children, who all live in Orange County. In 1990, after disappearing for another disastrous trip to Las Vegas, he flew to Washington, D.C., and joined a Buddhist monastery. in Tustin sponsored the family, allowing them to live in the church where Ted worked as a janitor. Ted, Christy and their two kids fled to Thailand. He enjoyed meeting the younger generation of doughnut makers, who are innovating and inventing new flavours. When they were released, the cash was gone. Ngoy believes he is suffering Gods punishment for having betrayed the blood vow he made as a young man under the moonlight in Phnom Penh. I cant take credit for it, but I do feel like in the making of this film and having some of these people face feelings that they hadnt confronted in many years, it was very healing. So Ngoy snuck into her family's heavily guarded compound and climbed through her bedroom window. And of the 5,000 independent doughnut shops in California today, around 80% are still Cambodian, she says. He co-signed loans for supplies and equipment. , chronicles Ngoy's thrill-of-victory/agony-of-defeat rollercoaster ride through the American Dream immigration, capitalism, history, hubris, romance, addiction, family and food. We believe when reliable local reporting is widely available, the entire community benefits. But within weeks he was back on a plane to Vegas. Gab Chabrn reflects on growing up in L.A. in a Latino home that doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving and the traditions they formed instead. It was really wonderful. Ted Ngoy, who was known as the doughnut king, lives in Phnom Penh. It's something Ted feels a bit bad about. I cry. Ngoy tried Gamblers Anonymous. [5], Ngoy was hesitant to return to California for the film; he was estranged from his children and former friends. When I become big guy, then I cannot go gamble because people wont vote for you. If you walk into a doughnut shop in California, the chances are it's owned by a Cambodian family. 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.". Ted Ngoy made a fortune in doughnuts. Suganthinis father ran out from hiding and called an ambulance. Suganthini's family insisted Ted break it off by telling her he didn't love her. He was bleeding out and her parents were like, 'Oh, God. Then he opened his first independent shop in La Habra, eventually covering the rest of O.C. Ted Ngoy, his wife and family pick up the story and walk us through their unbelievable experience, flying to a . On the porch of a friends mobile home in Long Beach, the Cambodian doughnut king falls asleep each night shivering. He trained them and handed over the keys. It actually made national, if not international, news about the kindness of these people in Orange County. Ted soon got a job working at Winchell's, which was then the dominant donut chain on the West Coast. 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. The families who followed Ngoys lead learned to run businesses and picked up English. 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 may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot. Filmmaker Alice Gu (left) poses with Mayly Tao outside DK's Donuts in Santa Monica. The donut business isnt easy. Every time I met them I said, 'Sorry son, sorry my daughter, sorry Christy. The Donut King comes out Friday, Oct. 30, online, and when you Some of those he borrowed from were the people he had leased doughnut shops to. 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. He subsists on small handouts from friends. One night in a pouring rain, Ngoy scaled a coconut tree beside the wall surrounding her home. 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. "Growing up, when you look on the screen, there's not a lot of Asian representation. He helped them apply for permits. Until then, she was kept sheltered. Along with thousands of other Cambodian refugees, the Ngoys ended up at Camp Pendleton. He had no way of making a living until a Chinese contact from better days asked him to help out with a real estate deal. Abcarian: Mask mandates? Now, he is in real estate development," Gu says. One night he asked the woman at the counter if saving $3,000 would be enough to buy a doughnut shop. Under the Khmer Rouge leadership of Pol Pot people were forced to work on communal farms, and those with money or education were tortured and killed. Suganthini became the smiling face behind the counter, even though she hardly spoke any English. But from then on, every store Ngoy and his wife bought or opened they named Christys Doughnuts. In return, he played their tables and lost thousands of dollars. and He borrowed money from relatives who had leased his doughnut shops. [9], Ngoy is the subject of the 2020 documentary film The Donut King. 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. And a new figure emerged on the California business landscape: the Cambodian doughnut-shop owner. By 1976, Ted had saved up enough money to buy his own shop, which he named Christy's. Once back in Orange County, he bet more than ever. Rose Donuts and Cafe I think there's nothing wrong for them to lie to the embassy because everybody needs a chance to survive. His story begins in the early 1970s when Ngoy was a commander in the Royal Cambodian Army, training soldiers in Thailand. Buddha cannot help me.. In 1967, his mother sent him to study in Phnom Penh, the capital. in Irvine, "I achieved my American dream," Ted says. They cried and prayed for the family they had left behind. 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. He was raised by his mother, who was from Shantou, Guangdong, and who only spoke Chinese. Over four years nearly two million Cambodians were either executed, or died of starvation, disease and overwork. He had sold what few shops remained. [8] However, the film's directorAlice Gupersuaded him to and, ultimately, he regarded his return as a 'healing experience,' and his ex-wife and children have forgiven him. The details that aren't in the movie are even crazier. Ted, who spoke four languages, was offered a post as liaison officer in Thailand by Suganthini's brother-in-law, Gen Sak Sutsakhan. Will Orange County's Fledgling Clean Power Agency Survive? Once, he was a millionaire who met three U.S. presidents. His family didn't want to see him, and nobody offered him work, not even baking doughnuts. [1], When his wife visited California for the birthday of their grandchild in 1999, Ngoy began an affair with a young woman; Christy divorced him soon after and has not since returned to Cambodia. Perpetually in need of cash, he'd ask the people running his donut shops for loans. But he admits he was also aware that conquering Suganthini's heart held out the promise of a better life. 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. He wrapped the note around a stone, and threw it down. Eventually he and Christy were left with just one doughnut shop, which they decided to sell. Tao did everything in her power to help Gu. Dear reader, we're asking you to help us keep local news available for all. ", He communicates with them almost every day. Alice found it hard to persuade Ted to return to California for filming. He hired his wife and nephew. Broke, Ted and Christy returned to Cambodia. What you've done is incredible.' The Donut King: Directed by Alice Gu. [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. During the week they went to school, where sometimes they were so hungry they stole snacks from other kids' lunchboxes. 'How I got rich beating men at their own game'. They arranged a meeting for the couple at a relatives house, where Ngoy was expected to formally end their romance. The entire family Christy and the three kids worked alongside him. 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." . He did as he was told, but then pulled out a knife and stabbed himself, declaring he would rather die than live without her. 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. "And she says, 'Because Cambodian people make them.'". 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. According to Gu, Christy's family brought her into the room and Ted started reciting his speech. 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. Also Jerry Brown, who weve seen in California as our beacon of hope and morality, in 1975 was actually the opposite. Theres a hustle to it, and director Alice Gu captures it in her debut documentary The Donut King.. Over the years, he led thousands of his countrymen into the business. Most importantly, the trip allowed him to mend relations with Christy, who has now remarried, and with their grown-up children. They did business on a handshake, he said, and his tenants always paid. On hearing the music float across the quiet city, Suganthini's mother remarked that whoever was playing must be in love. I called her when I found out and asked if she knew about Ford and Brown. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Key grant funding to help O.C. How did those scenes end up happening?I asked him to travel to California again. I am the flute player, he said in a note passed through the familys maid. in Santa Monica. He has to start a new life.. L.A. became the country's epicenter of donut culture when Ted Ngoy, a Cambodian immigrant, arrived in California during the 1970s. Mismanagement, Sloppy Hiring Practices, Lack Of Transparency. After a civil war broke out and Phnom Penh fell to the communist Khmer. The family members worked 17 hours a day and saved for a year. But the situation at home was increasingly dangerous and on his last trip, in April 1975, the capital fell. Ted's story is told in a new documentary. "It went like fire on the hill, so fast," says Ted. When the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia in 1975, they knew they couldn't go home. Maybe Its Time To Raise Backyard Chickens, Catch A Wave In The Booming South Bay Food Scene: Here Are 11 New Restaurants To Try, Don't Celebrate Thanksgiving? 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. Why would anybody be interested in my story?' They saved money where they could, even washing and reusing coffee stirrers - until they were reprimanded by Winchell's. Ted became known as the Donut King - or Uncle Ted, because of the many Cambodian immigrants he'd sponsored. This is my own speculation, but it seemed like he had come to some peace with his dad and childhood. In 1985, he and Suganthini became U.S. citizens. He wrote a note, telling her that he lived in the building opposite and was the flute player. "I never back down. He had burned a lot of bridges and at the time his children hardly spoke to him. 2023 Southern California Public Radio - All Rights Reserved, Rising Egg Prices Are For The Birds. That phrase Donut King is already so eye-catching right off the bat. Twice he joined a Buddhist monastery. He had lost the respect of his family and community. Was there any tension or awkwardness when he visited California again?He came to visit California, I think, with a little bit of trepidation. "It is the purest form of risk-taking, the distilled anxiety and thrill behind every business decision and bold declaration of love," he writes in his autobiography. The world moves so quickly now, but I do believe that it is still real and it is still possible. A daughter owns a 1950s-style hamburger restaurant in Orange County. 2023 BBC. 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. 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