Tao did everything in her power to help Gu. He suggested that Ted hang out in the back and to put Christy in the front. 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. At a news conference, he dissolved his party and accused the government of corruption. What new information did you learn in the making of the film?There was a lot that was new to me. On Sundays he would go to the church where her son was the pastor and join in Bible studies. 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. He said that we didnt have room for these refugees here. "She was so beautiful," he remembers. Theres also the moment where Ted revisits his former home in Mission Viejo. That's a disaster," he says. I ended up not sharing that donut. Abcarian: Mask mandates? He believed he could show others the path to wealth and opportunity. "If I need the vote, I cannot gamble. At school, Ngoy fell in love from afar with a beautiful girl. You will end up destroying the whole family and no more relationship with the world, just finished. 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? [4], Ngoy secured work as a janitor with Peace Lutheran Church in Tustin, California. Then, he lost it all. It also reminds us that several U.S. presidents welcomed a flood of refugees with open arms. Ngoy told Suganthini that he didnt love her. One day in 2018, she cold-called The United States alone is home to more than 25,000 donut shops and they produce more than 10 billion donuts each year. 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. 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. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Suspected shooter in attacks on Jewish men was on FBIs radar, LAPD chief says, Caregiver accused in Manhattan Beach child sexual abuse case believed to be in Philippines, Prosecution presents closing arguments in Alex Murdaugh murder trial, Intel agencies say theres no sign adversaries were behind Havana syndrome, Before and after photos from space show storms effect on California reservoirs, Dramatic before and after photos from space show epic snow blanketing SoCal mountains, Its really bad up here. Stranded residents in San Bernardino Mountains brace for more snow, Jaguars, narcos, illegal loggers: One mans battle to save a jungle and Maya ruins, Dr. Simi is a TikTok star. 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. Alice found it hard to persuade Ted to return to California for filming. 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. 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. Gu first needed to find Ted Ngoy but she had no idea how to do it. I cry. Theyre savvy, young, hip. As word of Ted's success spread, Cambodian immigrants started seeking him out when they arrived in Southern California. [10] Ngoy was hesitant to return to California for the film; he was estranged from his children and former friends. Ted became known as the Donut King - or Uncle Ted, because of the many Cambodian immigrants he'd sponsored. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. One involves reggae and another focuses on Puerto Rican musicians. Ted was the consummate schmoozer and salesman. Ngoy attempted Gamblers Anonymous, but denied it helped with his situation, stating that when he went to meetings "I cry, everybody cry. 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. 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. 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. The Top 5 newsletter catches you up with LAs top 5 stories in just 3 minutes. People love her and shes beautiful. Im also, again, the daughter of Chinese American immigrants and my dad was a big Republican party supporter. Ngoy and his wife became American citizens and were . She would forgive him when he promised to stop, and he would -- for a while. It was really wonderful. These are kids who are American educated. I say, Ted I dont think its that easy at all. And hell respond, Ive been rich three times. One of the tricks he learned was to bake doughnuts in small batches throughout the day to keep them fresh - and because the smell of baking was the best form of advertising. It led many voters to assume, incorrectly, that he was against Cambodia's royal family, and he didn't win a seat. The next day, he flew back to Los Angeles. Christy Ngoy now owns a Peruvian restaurant in Irvine. 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. 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. 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 Cambodians were leaving the business, tired of working 17-hour days and squeezing a 13-cent profit from every 65-cent doughnut. [7][3], Ngoy's fortunes improved dramatically, such that by the mid-1980s Ngoy had amassed millions of dollars through his expanding doughnut shop empire, reported as 50 locations throughout California. He dissolved his party and accused the government of corruption. On hearing the music float across the quiet city, Suganthini's mother remarked that whoever was playing must be in love. 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. His sponsor told him people will have their prejudices but they mean well. The next day, he flew back to Los Angeles leaving behind his new wife and their two children. And she let me in to take a shower. The doughnut king landed at LAX with $50 in his pocket. 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. "[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. He ran to the shop across the street where he bought a donut. They told him Winchells Donuts trained store managers. He trained them and handed over the keys. Night after night, he watched customers come and go. On Sundays, he attends Parkcrest Christian Church in Long Beach. By 2002 Ted was broke. One of their sons is a financial consultant; another is a computer-networking technician. It was a strategy that ended up working for them. Will Orange County's Fledgling Clean Power Agency Survive? Huge numbers of Cambodian refugees were arriving in California. 60? He left behind his new wife and their two children, and what he had seen as his last chance at redemption. Eventually Cambodians owned so many doughnut shops in California that they dominated the market, pushing Winchell's into second place. He wrote a book called The Donut: History, Recipes, and Lore from Boston to Berlin and he gave really fascinating insights into donut culture, history and our relationship to donuts in America. L.A. became the country's epicenter of donut culture when Ted Ngoy, a Cambodian immigrant, arrived in California during the 1970s. . Devastated that he had broken their pact, she filed for divorce. Late at night, Ngoy would put Suganthini on his back and climb down the roof, then down the coconut tree. 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. Ngoy wrote to her. "It's a devil, it's a monster. , to name a few outlets), but Alice Gu is the first to put it on film. 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. I instantly found the Realtor, the listing agent and arranged to go and have Ted walk through his old house. Hard work. 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. She belonged to a high ranking officer, you know like a princess in Cambodia, very rich and very powerful family. He says he hid in her room for 45 days until he was discovered. Why would anybody be interested in my story?' You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot. Hes really funny. Her brother-in-law, Sutsakhan Sak, was chief of police and would become, briefly, the countrys president. 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. "[7] In a positive review, Richard Whittaker with The Austin Chronicle said that "Gu does stellar work compiling and constructing Ngoys life story through interviews and archive and contemporary footage," and added "the animation sequences by Chapeau Studios and 1881 Animation that make the perfect drizzle of icing. Yes, you read that right. 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. If you walk into a doughnut shop in California, the chances are it's owned by a Cambodian family. An owner could keep costs low by employing his family. From the wall, he leaped onto the roof and crawled through an open window. 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. [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." [5] Upon looking into the matter, she learned about Ted Ngoy and became fascinated with the topic. How did those scenes end up happening?I asked him to travel to California again. Ngoy had become an example to other Cambodian immigrants, who began to follow his business model for their own entrepreneurial endeavors. Your tax-deductible financial support keeps our stories free to read, instead of hidden behind paywalls. By 1985, 10 years after arriving in the US as refugees, Ted and Christy were millionaires, owning around 60 doughnut shops. I think there's nothing wrong for them to lie to the embassy because everybody needs a chance to survive. The details that aren't in the movie are even crazier. He had $50,000 riding on many Sundays. ', "If you could turn the clock around, I would do that. It was a humbling experience, and the lowest point in his life. Soldiers and dogs guarded the mansion. California Sunday A week later, Suganthini wrote back, and the two began a secret correspondence. But it was really the immigrant story. Ted became their first South East Asian trainee. "I never back down. He shaved his head and spent three months barefoot in Thailand, coming back emaciated and a changed man - or so he thought. Faced with such determination, her family allowed the young lovers to be together. Also, significantly for Ngoy, other Cambodian refugees and their children donuts. And he said he saw her heart break before his very eyes. This 2020s documentary film-related article is a stub. [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 film flashes back to the horror of life in 1970s Cambodia, a tragic offshoot of the Vietnam war that eliminated thousands of lives. Since many of them had gotten their start in the business and the United States thanks to Ngoy, they were happy to help. He was Chinese Cambodian, part of a despised underclass. 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. "[5] Upon looking into the matter, she learned about Ted Ngoy and became fascinated with the topic. Suganthini became the smiling face behind the counter, even though she hardly spoke any English. Interviews can sometimes feel like a therapy session. 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. I am the child of immigrants who came and moved here for the American dream. More and more relatives came forward for sponsorship. He has converted to Christianity, he said, and prays often, asking God for help. It was hurtful. They saw Elvis Presley perform, and Ted played a little blackjack. Nearly every independent donut shop in every Southern California mini-mall hides a story and many of them start with an unlikely impresario, a Cambodian refugee named Ted Ngoy. 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. 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. 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. I just first hurt my wife, Christy, my children and hurt many, many other people, too, because, when we needed money. If you can dream it, they're probably mixing it somewhere on property. Theres a hustle to it, and director Alice Gu captures it in her debut documentary The Donut King.. Las Vegas was the new thing, he said, besides making money and making doughnuts,. One by one, Ted lost all of his donut shops. What drew you to Teds story at the start?Finding out about his story, its fascinating a guy who comes here penniless and becomes a Donut King. Buddha cannot help me.. And then we opened second store in Fullerton, and when they opened, I also train people and my wage, Christi, also . Peace Lutheran Church He enjoyed meeting the younger generation of doughnut makers, who are innovating and inventing new flavours. Ted kept a low profile until the LA filmmaker Alice Gu got in touch a couple of years ago. Ted and a lot of the Asians who came aligned themselves with the Republican party. When he was unable to pay back his debt, he would sign over his store to them. While working a second job at a gas station, Ngoy took notice of a busy local doughnut shop and inquired of its operators about learning the business. Ngoy bought his first doughnut. They went to Europe twice. 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. in Tustin sponsored the family, allowing them to live in the church where Ted worked as a janitor. When he lost big, he would sign the stores over to them. After cry, go back gambling.. Despite his success, he said, he felt unhappy and isolated. 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. In 1967, his mother sent him to study in Phnom Penh, the capital. They wont trust you, he said. Everybody cry," he said. When you first reached out to Ted, it was a cold call. Ted's story is told in a new documentary. She ended up threatening to starve herself, saying, "If you won't let me be with him, I'm not going to eat.". Then, after falling out with a powerful political rival he feared for his life and fled to the US. To understand the politics, the Republican party at the time was a very anticommunist party. Few foods are as universally adored as fried dough. Now, he is in real estate development," Gu says. The donut business isnt easy. Over the years, he led thousands of his countrymen into the business. [8], After Cambodia's establishment of a constitutional monarchy in 1993, Ngoy, along with his wife, returned to the country for its first elections. 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. Still penniless, after nearly four years of exile, Ted flew back to Cambodia. Ted became known as the Donut King - or Uncle Ted,. Ngoy bought his first doughnut shop from a couple who was retiring. Suganthini smuggled him food at night, and after many days she said she loved him too. "The more you chase, the more it's gone," he says in a new documentary about his rise and fall, called The Donut King. "It made me homesick," says Ted. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Besides, he reasoned, as a politician he would not be able to gamble. 50? None of the people Ngoy helped get started lent him a hand, he said: I trained them. 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. He found a second job at a gas station. At loose ends, she returned to Los Angeles and, once again, started helping with the family business. Until then, she was kept sheltered. "a short-lived comeback in Sacramento in 2002," the Massachusetts-based company didn't return to the Golden State Even in gambling. Ngoy built a vast donut shop empire across California and it started in 1970s Orange County. He was bleeding out and her parents were like, 'Oh, God. COVID origins? Dear reader, we're asking you to help us keep local news available for all. "I became a very, very bad man and borrowed money here and there," he says. A map of Christys Donuts, Winchells and Dunkin Donuts across California during the height of Ted Ngoys entrepreneurship in the 1970s through the 1990s. He had gotten his first taste of that passion years earlier. 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. He built a donut empire and $20 million in wealth, but his fortune built on donuts would crumble and he would lose it all. "[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. On the porch of a friends mobile home in Long Beach, the Cambodian doughnut king falls asleep each night shivering. His story begins in the early 1970s when Ngoy was a commander in the Royal Cambodian Army, training soldiers in Thailand. 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. 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. The family were housed in a hastily erected refugee camp on a marine training base, Camp Pendleton. Some of the interviews in the film seemed that way.It was actually really wonderful to speak with particularly his older kids Chet and Savy, who until that interview, they didnt have much to do with him. Mag's Donuts "Ted, again, is Mr. Nine Lives. She thought Ted was joking, but he was serious. [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. Word spread. in Pasadena, the Never surrender. But he was more than well-off; he was respected. Ted Ngoy has become a stranger even to himself. The stranger who crept into her room more than 35 years ago is a stranger again. He lobbied his contacts in the Republican inner circle, including Senator John McCain, and MFN status was granted permanently in 1996. He took two additional jobs, working almost 24 hours per day. [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. He was, however, invited to become a government adviser on commerce and agriculture. "I achieved my American dream," Ted says. The Donut King is a 2020 American documentary film which tells the life story of California donut shop owner Ted Ngoy. I'm not famous. Channy also wholesales doughnuts to other minimarts. Gu didn't know about any of that before she started developing this project. "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. 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