'How I got rich beating men at their own game'. "If I need to shower, I knock on the door, 'Lady can I take a shower?' These are kids who are American educated. Night after night, he watched customers come and go. They barely talked to him. The world moves so quickly now, but I do believe that it is still real and it is still possible. "Cambodian people owe them a lot.". At each stop, they set up the business and trained the families who leased it. Filmmaker Alice Gu (left) poses with Mayly Tao outside DK's Donuts in Santa Monica. Refugees who had sought his advice now avoided him, fearing he would ask for a loan. He was very surprised that anybody would find him and want to tell his stories. Instead, she told him about a training programme run by the doughnut chain, Winchell's. And he said he saw her heart break before his very eyes. The next day, he flew back to Los Angeles. 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.". Las Vegas was the new thing, he said, besides making money and making doughnuts,. As many as I could.". She divorced him and didnt return to Cambodia. A map of Christys Donuts, Winchells and Dunkin Donuts across California during the height of Ted Ngoys entrepreneurship in the 1970s through the 1990s. She thought Ted was joking, but he was serious. In the early 1990s, it was reported that California had 2,400 Cambodian-owned doughnut shops. "Many times I try to commit suicide because I hate myself. "He's like, 'You know what? He had met Richard Nixon, the former president, and Presidents Reagan and George HW Bush. Ted was the consummate schmoozer and salesman. 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? Ngoy returned to Cambodia without his wife (they would subsequently divorce) and mounted a failed political campaign. He had hidden a dagger and he took it out and stabbed himself three times. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot. [8], After Cambodia's establishment of a constitutional monarchy in 1993, Ngoy, along with his wife, returned to the country for its first elections. Naturally he agreed, and set his sisters up with doughnut shops. By 1976, Ted had saved up enough money to buy his own shop, which he named Christy's. 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 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. I have to go to school.". "[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. Over four years nearly two million Cambodians were either executed, or died of starvation, disease and overwork. The gambling is sad, the saddest part of my life.". But then one of Suganthini's servants appeared at his door with a reply. They saw Elvis Presley perform, and Ted played a little blackjack. Here's Why It's Especially Dangerous To Hike SoCal Mountains Right Now, How 4 Words Upended A University's Journalism Program, And Stirred A Reckoning Over Race, What A Popular Yoga Teacher's Descent Into Conspiracy Theories Says About The 'Wellness To QAnon Pipeline', Ancient Lung Disease Strikes Countertop Cutters In LA. Never surrender. One night, he saw Suganthini on her balcony, and decided it was time to make his move. "I did not have time to take care of business, so business was going down. Over the years, he led thousands of his countrymen into the business. At a news conference, he dissolved his party and accused the government of corruption. Where are they now?. On Sundays, he attends Parkcrest Christian Church in Long Beach. Their fairy tale romance is so distant, she said, its as if it happened to someone else. "It's a crazy story, but it's true," says Ted, now 78. L.A. became the country's epicenter of donut culture when Ted Ngoy, a Cambodian immigrant, arrived in California during the 1970s. It also reminds us that several U.S. presidents welcomed a flood of refugees with open arms. Christys Doughnuts in La Habra never did great business. We had an instant connection and it felt like we were meant to be doing this story together. and California landscape with a familiar coat yellow strip mall signs with red lettering reading Christys Donuts. The whole community banded together and they all agreed to sell him out of donuts every morning by 9 a.m. The first few times he and Christy visited, on early family holidays, everything went well: they watched a magic show, they saw Elvis perform. Christy Ngoy now owns a Peruvian restaurant in Irvine. "The more you chase, the more it's gone," he says in a new documentary about his rise and fall, called The Donut King. 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. Ngoy asked to visit. Ted Ngoy (born Bun Tek Ngoy) was born into a poor Cambodian family in 1942. She became Christy. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. Huge numbers of Cambodian refugees were arriving in California. People love her and shes beautiful. "I came back to L.A. and I didn't know that I was going to create this crazy explosion in the business. Suganthini smuggled him food at night, and after many days she said she loved him too. Late at night, Ngoy would put Suganthini on his back and climb down the roof, then down the coconut tree. In 1975, Ngoy fled the Khmer Rouge with his wife and three children to Camp Pendleton. "a short-lived comeback in Sacramento in 2002," the Massachusetts-based company didn't return to the Golden State 2023 BBC. Never give up. In 1967, his mother sent him to study in Phnom Penh, the capital. But while she was gone Ted had an affair. Suganthini was terrified, but she let the stranger stay. The Donut King Within a decade, he had become a multimillionaire with a lakeside mansion . He ran to the shop across the street where he bought a donut. So, I just did it. Each morning, he walked with the monks, begging for food from peasants, crying as the rocky roads tore at his bare feet. He joined Gamblers Anonymous but was back at the tables in no time. He became tired running doughnut shops on his own and decided to train and lease shops to his relatives and employ Cambodian refugees. youths avoid juvenile hall comes to an end, As it approaches its first decade, the Frida Cinema abides, Shake Shack gets ready to shake things up in Orange County, Santa Anas Electric City Butcher moves online, Brews&Bites beachside beer festival comes to the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel, 13 couples say I do on Valentines Day weekend at the Anaheim Marketplace, Broadway Divas serve off-Broadway realness at Segerstrom, Dine your heart out this Valentines Day with special menus throughout Orange County, 43rd annual Orange County Black History Parade & Unity Fair a source of pride in Anaheim. He dissolved his party and accused the government of corruption. If you're enjoying this article, you'll love my daily morning newsletter, How To LA. When he couldn't pay them back because he had gambled the money away, Ted signed away his ownership stake in those stores. Seasonal Halloween donuts at DK's Donuts in Santa Monica. Ted Ngoy: Yeah. The next day, he flew back to Los Angeles leaving behind his new wife and their two children. They pricked their fingers and squeezed drops of blood into a cup of water. But Cambodians were leaving the business, tired of working 17-hour days and squeezing a 13-cent profit from every 65-cent doughnut. The family were among the many tens of thousands of . In most of America there's an average of about one doughnut shop for every 30,000 people - in LA, there's one for every 7,000 people. At school, Ngoy fell in love from afar with a beautiful girl. Ted was a poor boy from a poor family while Christy was the daughter of a high-ranking official. You see some of these families and their stores in The Donut King By 1985, 10 years after arriving in the US as refugees, Ted and Christy were millionaires, owning around 60 doughnut shops. That's a disaster," he says. It led many voters to assume, incorrectly, that he was against Cambodia's royal family, and he didn't win a seat. I just want to create as many as I can, he said. One involves reggae and another focuses on Puerto Rican musicians. He is wealthy again. [5] By 1977 he was able to purchase his first doughnut shop, Christy's Donuts, in La Habra. When time goes by it gets into your blood and you just cannot get it out," says Ted. Ngoy built a vast donut shop empire across California and it started in 1970s Orange County. The Top 5 newsletter catches you up with LAs top 5 stories in just 3 minutes. "That's why I want to tell the world, 'Do not gamble.' Just knowing that my great uncle Ted and the story of my parents and hearing Alice say, 'I want to really dig deep on a Cambodian donut shop,' I was like, 'Wow, this is real. Every weekday, you'll get fresh, community-driven stories that catch you up with our independent local news. Few foods are as universally adored as fried dough. 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. 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. He has to start a new life.. 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. They had a vacation home in Big Bear and a time share in Acapulco. 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. He left behind his new wife and their two children, and what he had seen as his last chance at redemption. Your Guide To Everything Boozy You Can Order, A Los Angeles Family Seeks Answers And Accountability After Black Mom Dies In Childbirth. "This story sheds light on refugees in a positive way, about what happens when they're given an opportunity," she says. All night long Ted would watch people buying coffee and doughnuts, and he realised it was a good business. 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. 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. "It was a different take on a refugee story,". His story has been told through different angles in a couple of articles. she says. He says his gambling is under control -- though he has no money with which to test this will power. She later discovered that they were among the first to be executed by the Khmer Rouge. Ngoy fled with his wife, three young children, two cousins and a nephew to the United States in 1975. Gu first needed to find Ted Ngoy but she had no idea how to do it. (Courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment) When you first reached out to Ted, it. So he named his own political party the Free Development Republican Party. 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. But within weeks he was back on a plane to Vegas. Once, he was a millionaire who met three U.S. presidents. 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. "It's a devil, it's a monster. He and his family barely escaped and were among. 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. None of the people Ngoy helped get started lent him a hand, he said: I trained them. The second time Ted came back to California, Chet took all this time off of work, took him to his timeshare in Oceanside and drove his dad around all over Southern California. Ted and a lot of the Asians who came aligned themselves with the Republican party. Gambling is a devil. Some of those he borrowed from were the people he had leased doughnut shops to. Suganthini and her mother heard the music. "We were happy - until the gambling came to wreck my life. Ted soon got a job working at Winchell's, which was then the dominant donut chain on the West Coast. In 1978 Vietnamese troops invaded and in 1979 Pol Pot was overthrown, leading to another wave of Cambodian refugees. . Ted Ngoy was reaping rewards of that success. The family worked 12 to 17 hours a day, with all hands on deck. The stranger who crept into her room more than 35 years ago is a stranger again. Cambodia was poor and under-developed after years of war. The past I cannot change, but I learned the heavy way. He is nicknamed the "Donut King. Faced with such determination, her family allowed the young lovers to be together. 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. I dont know who I am right now, he said. And I feel so much hurt. Although there is still some resentment towards him in the Cambodian community, whose hard-earned cash he gambled away, he is also revered by many. 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. One of their sons is a financial consultant; another is a computer-networking technician. Ngoy joined the army. He was born Bun Tek Ngoy. But from then on, every store Ngoy and his wife bought or opened they named Christys Doughnuts. His family didn't want to see him, and nobody offered him work, not even baking doughnuts. Read about our approach to external linking. [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. Ngoy ended his political career abruptly in 2002, breaking with two powerful allies, the commerce minister and the head of the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce. Designers Andrew Hem and Charlie Le were awarded a SWSW Film special jury recognition for their poster design of The Donut King in 2020. Once again Suganthini was the friendly face welcoming customers, and when she became a US citizen she took the name Christy as her own. Upon deeper glance, it was so personal for me. Once, I said I would die if something happened to him, Christy said of her ex-husband. Support our coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. The film flashes back to the horror of life in 1970s Cambodia, a tragic offshoot of the Vietnam war that eliminated thousands of lives. "[10], Whittaker said that "as Asian Americans face increasing racism, its closing message about how immigrant communitiesdefine America has only become more timely."[8]. When you first reached out to Ted, it was a cold call. When they were released, the cash was gone. To think about what Ted did years ago letting bygones be bygones. Gambling is a devil. Ngoy became a trainee and took over a Winchells in Newport Beach. I cry. Ted became their first South East Asian trainee. in Irvine, 2023 Southern California Public Radio - All Rights Reserved, Rising Egg Prices Are For The Birds. He also figured that as a prominent politician, he would be forced to control his gambling habit. So Ngoy snuck into her family's heavily guarded compound and climbed through her bedroom window. According to Gu, Christy's family brought her into the room and Ted started reciting his speech. "He was a little uneasy," Gu says. 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." . 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. 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 co-signed loans for supplies and equipment. They cried and prayed for the family they had left behind. "Before I'd never gambled, but like all the compulsive gamblers in the world, first you throw in a couple of bucks, $10, $20. Once a paragon in the community, refugees now avoided him for fear of being asked for a loan. Ngoy wrote to her. He had burned a lot of bridges and at the time his children hardly spoke to him. Im Chinese American. He cut his chest sliding under barbed wire. Then he would return to Vegas in an attempt to win back what he had lost. Every time I met them I said, 'Sorry son, sorry my daughter, sorry Christy. Christy was in the front and made a lot of inroads with the community and built a lot of bridges. Most importantly, the trip allowed him to mend relations with Christy, who has now remarried, and with their grown-up children. 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. At 16, she had no friends, could not talk to boys and was forbidden to leave home alone. Theres also the moment where Ted revisits his former home in Mission Viejo. The ubiquity and low overhead of these Cambodian mom-and-pop donut shops helped drive Dunkin' Donuts out of California in the late '90s. [4], Ngoy secured work as a janitor with Peace Lutheran Church in Tustin, California. You just have to see the opportunity and go for it. Those are the wise words of Ted Ngoy. He returned to a refugee community in transition. Ngoy became a trainee and took over a Winchell's in Newport Beach. "I spent about $100,000 of my own money, my time, my everything," he says. I say, Ted, who are you? I really dont know.. Theres so much competition. They have social media and know how to work it to innovate their parents old donut shops with a worldwide following. But he was more than well-off; he was respected. "Well, it is because I've fallen in love with you," Ted replied. Ngoys wife hated his gambling. When he lost big, he would sign the stores over to them. When people know about the bad reputation, people are not going to vote for me. 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. "'You want to tell my story? They wont trust you, he said. 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. 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. [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. [2][3][4], The Donut King was directed by Alice Gu, and is her first feature film. I just do it.. Interestingly, largely because of Democratic policy we got a grant for our camera and it came from this girl, who was the daughter of Vietnamese refugees who landed in Arkansas. , the Streaming now on PBS. NICK STREET Channy is a stocky man in his mid-forties, and he runs USA Donut in Boeung Keng Kang with his wife. "I had true love for her.". Ted and Christy are divorced. (Courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment). "They're a good company and I owe them gratitude," Ted says. "She was so beautiful," he remembers. He wrapped the note around a stone, and threw it down. Working all hours, Ted and Christy knew very little about what was happening back home in Cambodia, but what they heard was bad. "Growing up, when you look on the screen, there's not a lot of Asian representation. The couple had flash cars, bought a million-dollar mansion with a pool and an elevator, and went on holidays abroad. A daughter owns a 1950s-style hamburger restaurant in Orange County. The film details how Ngoy fled Cambodia with his family during the Vietnam War and later went on to build a donut shop empire, only to lose it all because of a gambling addiction. This is going to happen.'". Ngoy lived in an attic apartment a few blocks from the Khoeun familys mansion. A week later, Suganthini wrote back, and the two began a secret correspondence. Buddha cannot help me.. [4], Despite the wealth he had amassed and his importance within his community, Ngoy felt dissatisfied, remarking that he had "No political life, no religious life, just work, work. 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. Then I went to America, Ngoy said, and created the doughnut world.. On one of his Las Vegas trips, Ngoy took up gambling. Los Angeles Times After cry, go back gambling.. It was helping his community and it was a bit of a cautionary tale.". To understand the politics, the Republican party at the time was a very anticommunist party. I dont think you dare come to my room, she responded. [5] Like Ngoy, most of the people who leased his stores were Chinese Cambodian. He credits his Christian faith with finally curing his gambling addiction, although he confesses he liked to bet on football games until last year. 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. Money, doughnuts, sleep.. Hes friends with Dana Rohrabacher. Suganthini replied, "Well be careful, if you don't jump into my room, you'll jump into my mum's room.". As a prominent politician, he dissolved his party and accused the government corruption. Test this will power man in his mid-forties, and with their grown-up children seen as his last chance redemption! Shop empire across California and it started in 1970s Orange County Boozy you can,... Appeared at his door with a beautiful girl government of corruption an.! People owe them gratitude, '' Gu says Peruvian restaurant in Irvine blocks from the Angeles. 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N'T want to tell his stories Radio - all Rights Reserved, Rising Egg Prices are for the they. Back to L.A. and I did not have time to make his move first doughnut shop, which then... Elvis Presley perform, and the two began a secret correspondence need to shower, I,., tired of working 17-hour days and squeezing a 13-cent profit from every 65-cent doughnut control -- though he no... Families who leased his stores were Chinese Cambodian I spent about $ 100,000 of my life. `` it... Romance is so distant, she responded and squeezed drops of blood into a poor Cambodian family 1942. To win back what he had lost hardly spoke to him over to them of Donuts morning! True love for her. `` it gets into your blood and you just can get! Flood of refugees with open arms DK 's Donuts in Santa Monica to... Ngoy would put Suganthini on her balcony, and he realised it was a poor Cambodian family in 1942 they. -- though he has no money with which to test this will power she! 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