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. If you can dream it, they're probably mixing it somewhere on property. Phnom Penh Post 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. "It went like fire on the hill, so fast," says Ted. Gu is working on developing a couple of music-themed film projects, both documentaries and narratives. 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. Most crucially, she acted as something of an ambassador, vouching for Gu and introducing her to other donut shop proprietors. But he admits he was also aware that conquering Suganthini's heart held out the promise of a better life. I say, Ted, who are you? I really dont know.. He hosted Dan Quayle and Pete Wilson at his house. At a news conference, he dissolved his party and accused the government of corruption. He began placing bets with Cambodian bookies on football and basketball games. Ngoy would open more shops and lease them to fellow refugees. Eager to learn the business, Ngoy approached the shop owners. Peace Lutheran Church in Tustin hired Ngoy as a janitor. Christy Ngoy now owns a Peruvian restaurant in Irvine. 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 learned to bake, to take care of payroll, cleaning, sales - everything," he says. She was lucky that Mayly Tao, whose mom, Chuong Lee, owns the shop, answered the phone. Ngoy showed them baking and bookkeeping. You will end up destroying the whole family and no more relationship with the world, just finished. Ngoy lived in an attic apartment a few blocks from the Khoeun familys mansion. He is wealthy again. So he named his own political party the Free Development Republican Party. Long hours. Ted is my great uncle,'" Gu says. Okay, you guys can' It was a whole Romeo and Juliet story," Gu says. Every evening, he sat by his open window and played the flute. He remarried and had four more children - the youngest two are still at school. He had $50,000 riding on many Sundays. But within weeks he was back on a plane to Vegas. This is an incredible story of how he helped people. [3] Ngoy worked at various jobs, including as a travel agent and tour guide, before joining the military in 1970. What new information did you learn in the making of the film?There was a lot that was new to me. Ngoy tried Gamblers Anonymous. Ted now had a new passion - politics. For a year and a half, I struggled with how I was going to get access to that Mission Viejo mansion. "But what shall we do in the morning? Six weeks later, Gu and her producer, Jos Nuez, were on a plane to Cambodia where they spent three days interviewing Ngoy and shooting B-roll. He was born Bun Tek Ngoy. "I came back to L.A. and I didn't know that I was going to create this crazy explosion in the business. 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. Upon deeper glance, it was so personal for me. In saffron robes and shaved head, the doughnut king spent a month meditating. I am the child of immigrants who came and moved here for the American dream. Ted became known as the Donut King - or Uncle Ted,. It smelled delicious and when he first tasted one it reminded him of something from home - a fried pastry, also circular, called nom kong. Suganthini replied, "Well be careful, if you don't jump into my room, you'll jump into my mum's room.". Then he pulled a knife. Huge numbers of Cambodian refugees were arriving in California. He is nicknamed the "Donut King." He is nicknamed the "Donut King." It was love at first bite. 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. I thought I would just get an exterior scene for context. Ted soon got a job working at Winchell's, which was then the dominant donut chain on the West Coast. When there was an overrun of pink doughnut boxes Ted bought them cut-price, and the pink boxes became his trademark. Filmmaker Alice Gu (left) poses with Mayly Tao outside DK's Donuts in Santa Monica. Where Im going, I dont know. But he was more than well-off; he was respected. Then he would return to Vegas in an attempt to win back what he had lost. [6] Gu persuaded him to and, ultimately, he regarded his return as a 'healing experience,' and his ex-wife and children have forgiven him. In 1993 Ted and Christy moved back to Cambodia. His family didn't want to see him, and nobody offered him work, not even baking doughnuts. Ted Ngoy stands in front of his first independent donut shop in La Habra, named after his wife Christy Ngoy. He was, however, invited to become a government adviser on commerce and agriculture. They did business on a handshake, he said, and his tenants always paid. Beautiful views aren't the only thing drawing Angelenos to the region. Eventually he and Christy were left with just one doughnut shop, which they decided to sell. This is going to happen.'". Hes friends with Dana Rohrabacher. Mag's Donuts 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. TED NGOY HAD an unrelenting obsession during his 1975 plane ride from Southeast Asia to Southern California. Christy was in the front and made a lot of inroads with the community and built a lot of bridges. He also figured that as a prominent politician, he would be forced to control his gambling habit. I think thats the American way the power of connections and people. 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? 50? All the latest on Orange County from Orange County. In English, Mandarin and Cambodian with English subtitles; Not rated, Playing: Regency South Coast Village, Santa Ana, and in limited release where theaters are open; available via virtual cinemas, including Laemmle Theatres. Cambodia was planning its first elections in 1993, and well-to-do emigres from California were returning to run for office. 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. People made fun of his accent. [8], Author Ryka Aoki describes Ngoy as legend in our Asian-American community and inspiration for her award-winning novel Light From Uncommon Stars for both his stealing books process and the legacy of Cambodian-American donut shops in Southern California. 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. Suganthinis parents hoped she would marry well. When they were released, the cash was gone. Gu's documentary, The family were housed in a hastily erected refugee camp on a marine training base, Camp Pendleton. The two had met as teenage classmates in Phnom Penh. It was hurtful. To Christy, this was the final betrayal. "You can't find any prettier woman besides her.". Over the years, he says he sponsored more than 100 Cambodian families that wanted to come to the U.S. [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. Most importantly, the trip allowed him to mend relations with Christy, who has now remarried, and with their grown-up children. Ngoy was one. He suggested that Ted hang out in the back and to put Christy in the front. "I cry. Ngoy had become an example to other Cambodian immigrants, who began to follow his business model for their own entrepreneurial endeavors. Hard work. "I achieved my American dream," Ted says. 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. Suganthini and her mother heard the music. 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." . 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? 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. 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. Alongside doughnuts, they sell imported American goods - everything from Pop-Tarts to Starbucks Frappucinos. He and his family barely escaped and were among. He says to me, Alice, making money its so easy. "After cry, go back gambling," he told one interviewer. One night, he saw Suganthini on her balcony, and decided it was time to make his move. To understand the politics, the Republican party at the time was a very anticommunist party. Her father was a high-ranking government official. The entire family Christy and the three kids worked alongside him. Suganthinis parents kept her locked in her room for days. 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. He went on to marry Suganthini Khoeun, the daughter of a high-ranking government official. Since many of them had gotten their start in the business and the United States thanks to Ngoy, they were happy to help. The son of a peddler had no chance with such a girl, no right even to think of loving her. "I just wanted to raise pigs and chickens and have enough meat and eggs to take to . It's something Ted feels a bit bad about. As many as I could.". Hes really funny. Whenever Ted won, the family would rejoice with him. That is because I had a buttermilk bar about 30 seconds out of the fryer with fresh glaze on it. Don't die. They saved money where they could, even washing and reusing coffee stirrers - until they were reprimanded by Winchell's. They married and started a family, and life was good until civil war broke out in 1970, between the government and the communist Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot. Cambodia was poor and under-developed after years of war. I could have made a special piece just on the history of donuts. The Donut King [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. Refugees who had sought his advice now avoided him, fearing he would ask for a loan. 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. One of Ngoy's first jobs in the US was as a service station attendant. That is a lie, he cried, and plunged the blade into his belly. The past I cannot change, but I learned the heavy way. It was here that Ngoy had his first taste of gambling while placing bets at the blackjack tables. And it was actually a donut that I refused at first from Mayly Tao, the Donut Princess. "a short-lived comeback in Sacramento in 2002," the Massachusetts-based company didn't return to the Golden State 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 year of running two shops they had saved $40,000 and Ted decided to expand. It also reminds us that several U.S. presidents welcomed a flood of refugees with open arms. At loose ends, she returned to Los Angeles and, once again, started helping with the family business. When he was unable to pay back his debt, he would sign over his store to them. A week later, Suganthini wrote back, and the two began a secret correspondence. Ngoy's epic rags-to-riches-to-rags story has been chronicled before (in the Why would anybody be interested in my story?' You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot. Los Angeles Times The family also still had the Winchell's so now they had two stores to run. 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. 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. 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. Buddha cannot help me.. That's a disaster," he says. , some of the dough (see what we did there?) Suganthini became the smiling face behind the counter, even though she hardly spoke any English. A woman from his church lets him sleep in the screened porch outside her mobile home, which he has fashioned into a makeshift bedroom. On the porch of a friends mobile home in Long Beach, the Cambodian doughnut king falls asleep each night shivering. He credits his Christian faith with finally curing his gambling addiction, although he confesses he liked to bet on football games until last year. He took a chance and opened a bedroom door - and there was Suganthini, fast asleep. "I never back down. Twice he joined a Buddhist monastery. According to Tao, the servants caught on to Ted's presence after a few days but didn't say anything. In 1975, Ngoy fled the Khmer Rouge with his wife and three . Im also, again, the daughter of Chinese American immigrants and my dad was a big Republican party supporter. called 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. In the early 1990s, it was reported that California had 2,400 Cambodian-owned doughnut shops. People love her and shes beautiful. 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. In 1985, he and Suganthini became U.S. citizens. 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. His mother raised him in a rural village near Cambodias border with Thailand. An owner could keep costs low by employing his family. Also Jerry Brown, who weve seen in California as our beacon of hope and morality, in 1975 was actually the opposite. One of them being my interview with Michael Krondl, the food historian. At 16, she had no friends, could not talk to boys and was forbidden to leave home alone. He had to guess which room was hers. 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. Their fairy tale romance is so distant, she said, its as if it happened to someone else. 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 stranger who crept into her room more than 35 years ago is a stranger again. 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. It actually made national, if not international, news about the kindness of these people in Orange County. 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. "Using money to provide for others is a feeling as powerful as any drug," he later wrote. Boozy Dole Whips. Her parents wanted nothing to do with him. 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. Dear reader, we're asking you to help us keep local news available for all. He says he hid in her room for 45 days until he was discovered. He had no home and no money, and his country had been overrun by a gang of pitiless thugs. Through doughnuts, many Cambodians stepped out of isolation and into the American mainstream. They pricked their fingers and squeezed drops of blood into a cup of water. Ted Ngoy: Yeah. She was hooked. I say, Ted I dont think its that easy at all. And hell respond, Ive been rich three times. But the situation at home was increasingly dangerous and on his last trip, in April 1975, the capital fell. 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. In 1975, Ted Ngoy fled the war in Cambodia with his wife and three kids and arrived in America as a penniless refugee. He wrote a note, telling her that he lived in the building opposite and was the flute player. He was raised by his mother, who was from Shantou, Guangdong, and who only spoke Chinese. , chronicles Ngoy's thrill-of-victory/agony-of-defeat rollercoaster ride through the American Dream immigration, capitalism, history, hubris, romance, addiction, family and food. ", But in the end, he says, he beat it. [8], After Cambodia's establishment of a constitutional monarchy in 1993, Ngoy, along with his wife, returned to the country for its first elections. She ended up threatening to starve herself, saying, "If you won't let me be with him, I'm not going to eat.". But it was really the immigrant story. Ted and Christy are divorced. I said, 'Because it's incredible, for one. "This story sheds light on refugees in a positive way, about what happens when they're given an opportunity," she says. 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. But one night, he had an idea. He trained them and handed over the keys. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. When the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia in 1975, they knew they couldn't go home. In Cambodia, Ngoy formed the Free Development Republican Party. 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. Still penniless, after nearly four years of exile, Ted flew back to Cambodia. "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. 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. The families who followed Ngoys lead learned to run businesses and picked up English. By the mid-1980s, he was a millionaire. Ted Ngoy was reaping rewards of that success. 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. Your tax-deductible financial support keeps our stories free to read, instead of hidden behind paywalls. "[5] Upon looking into the matter, she learned about Ted Ngoy and became fascinated with the topic. Some of his relationships didnt end well. The details that aren't in the movie are even crazier. That really broke the ice for us. He ran to the shop across the street where he bought a donut. By 2002 Ted was broke. He helped them apply for permits. The whole community banded together and they all agreed to sell him out of donuts every morning by 9 a.m. The Donut King is a 2020 American documentary film which tells the life story of California donut shop owner Ted Ngoy. She thought Ted was joking, but he was serious. When people know about the bad reputation, people are not going to vote for me. What you've done is incredible.' . This documentary tells Ted Ngoy's story that is one of fate, love, survival, hard knocks, and redemption. Not many professional gamblers are bipolar women, but Cat Hulbert was one of the best - and she delighted in winning money from men. The couple had flash cars, bought a million-dollar mansion with a pool and an elevator, and went on holidays abroad. When he lost he would lash out, smashing doors, breaking furniture and frightening the children. The donut business isnt easy. One night he asked the woman at the counter if saving $3,000 would be enough to buy a doughnut shop. "She was powerful, like your royal princess," says Ted. A map of Christys Donuts, Winchells and Dunkin Donuts across California during the height of Ted Ngoys entrepreneurship in the 1970s through the 1990s. 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. Upon his return to Orange County, Ngoy began gambling harder than ever stating "Monks cannot help me, Buddha cannot help me. [1], In 2013, he was living in Phnom Penh working in real estate. Her name was Suganthini Khoeun. I cry. "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.". And he said he saw her heart break before his very eyes. Ted was the consummate schmoozer and salesman. 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. She said he would be throwing his money away. Oh, and stop for a donut and say "hi.". In 1975, Ngoy fled the Khmer Rouge with his wife and three children to Camp Pendleton. "It's a crazy story, but it's true," says Ted, now 78. 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