I ate the whole thing. No political life, no religious life, just work, work, he said. After cry, go back gambling." 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. More and more relatives came forward for sponsorship. I have to go to school.". . [3] Ngoy worked at various jobs, including as a travel agent and tour guide, before joining the military in 1970. He took a chance and opened a bedroom door - and there was Suganthini, fast asleep. When the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia in 1975, they knew they couldn't go home. All the latest on Orange County from Orange County. 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. 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. When you get to the table, youre so emotional, evil in your body, he said. Thank you for investing in your neighborhood. Ted Ngoy: Well, when I was in a high school in a French school, my wife's Suganthini. Gu says Christy's family then threatened to kill Ted but his mother made a deal with them. Money, doughnuts, sleep.. Ngoy would often visit Las Vegas for a period of a week, unbeknownst to his wife. Designers Andrew Hem and Charlie Le were awarded a SWSW Film special jury recognition for their poster design of The Donut King in 2020. Ted Ngoy has become a stranger even to himself. But he was more than well-off; he was respected. 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. By the mid-1980s, he was a millionaire. They had a vacation home in Big Bear and a time share in Acapulco. 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. 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. Suganthini's family insisted Ted break it off by telling her he didn't love her. But then one of Suganthini's servants appeared at his door with a reply. Read about our approach to external linking. Despite never really being a huge success under the previous owners, Christy's became popular under the ownership of the Ngoys. By 1976, Ted had saved up enough money to buy his own shop, which he named Christy's. Now, he is in real estate development," Gu says. "But many of them were not related, they just lived in the same village or heard of my name. At the height of his success in the US he had been an ardent Republican, and an enthusiastic fundraiser for the party. Working all hours, Ted and Christy knew very little about what was happening back home in Cambodia, but what they heard was bad. With the help of his brother-in-law, he was promoted to major and appointed military attache at the countrys embassy in Thailand. I just want to create as many as I can, he said. 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. He helped them apply for permits. "It's impossible to explain that money had nothing to do with it. "Cambodian people owe them a lot.". Heres a list, Greek transportation minister resigns over train collision as death toll keeps rising, Ohios senators to unveil rail safety bill in wake of East Palestine derailment, After months of pounding, Ukrainian official says military may pull back from Bakhmut, Elizabeth Holmes cites her new baby as a reason she should avoid prison for Theranos scam. Once back in Orange County, he bet more than ever. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. Ted Ngoy (born Bun Tek Ngoy; 1942) is a Cambodian American entrepreneur and former owner of a chain of doughnut shops in California. 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 also apologised to many of those he hurt. 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. Where Im going, I dont know. "That's why I want to tell the world, 'Do not gamble.' Interviews can sometimes feel like a therapy session. Then he would return to Vegas in an attempt to win back what he had lost. Ngoy forged her signature on checks. The donut business isnt easy. His story begins in the early 1970s when Ngoy was a commander in the Royal Cambodian Army, training soldiers in Thailand. These are all people who present day you dont associate with welcoming refugees with open arms. The families who followed Ngoys lead learned to run businesses and picked up English. 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. After a civil war broke out and Phnom Penh fell to the communist Khmer. In 1993 Ted and Christy moved back to Cambodia. You will end up destroying the whole family and no more relationship with the world, just finished. Also, significantly for Ngoy, other Cambodian refugees and their children donuts. The family were among the many tens of thousands of . That phrase Donut King is already so eye-catching right off the bat. California Sunday An immigrant story unlike any other, Alice Gu's "The Donut King" follows the twisty, unexpected journey of Cambodia refugee Ted Ngoy, who arrived in California in the 1970s and, through a. Soon, Cambodians began copying the Ted Ngoy business model. Ngoy had become an example to other Cambodian immigrants, who began to follow his business model for their own entrepreneurial endeavors. While he was recovering in hospital, Suganthini also made an attempt on her life. 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. Im Chinese American. One by one, Ted lost all of his donut shops. 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. Also Jerry Brown, who weve seen in California as our beacon of hope and morality, in 1975 was actually the opposite. He believed he could show others the path to wealth and opportunity. A woman from his church lets him sleep in the screened porch outside her mobile home, which he has fashioned into a makeshift bedroom. If you're enjoying this article, you'll love my daily morning newsletter, How To LA. In 1975, Ngoy fled the Khmer Rouge with his wife and three children to Camp Pendleton. 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. Everybody cry, he said. "[1] He says his Christian faith ultimately helped him abandon the habit. Ted did try to curb his habit. 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. Then he opened his first independent shop in La Habra, eventually covering the rest of O.C. A map of Christys Donuts, Winchells and Dunkin Donuts across California during the height of Ted Ngoys entrepreneurship in the 1970s through the 1990s. Today, at 62, the doughnut king is broke, homeless and dependent on the goodwill of his few remaining friends. I am the flute player, he said in a note passed through the familys maid. Ted Ngoy By 1985, 10 years after arriving in the US as refugees, Ted and Christy were millionaires, owning around 60 doughnut shops. He returned to a refugee community in transition. Ted Ngoy: Yeah. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. He has found his way to be wealthy again. At school, Ngoy fell in love from afar with a beautiful girl. "If I need the vote, I cannot gamble. When you hook up with gambling, your life's finished. And she said she knew a lot of people in her parents generation who are lifelong Republicans and thats why they hate the Democratic party. For a year and a half, I struggled with how I was going to get access to that Mission Viejo mansion. Chuong Lee, who has run DK's Donuts since 1988, is officially retired although she occasionally helps out at the shop. 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. , some of the dough (see what we did there?) 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. 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." . [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. But while she was gone Ted had an affair. The stranger who crept into her room more than 35 years ago is a stranger again. Bush, met former Presidents Reagan and Nixon, and urged other Asian immigrants to support the GOP. I shared love, my heart. He had gotten his first taste of that passion years earlier. in Santa Monica. He wrapped the note around a stone, and threw it down. Over four years nearly two million Cambodians were either executed, or died of starvation, disease and overwork. This 2020s documentary film-related article is a stub. "He was afraid of being shunned and feeling lonely - but I forced him!" Those are the sounds of a man in love, her mother said. 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. Long-lost ship found at the bottom of Lake Huron, confirming story of tragic collision, TikTok to set default daily time limit of up to 60 minutes for minors, 19 cafes that make L.A. a world-class coffee destination, The chance of a lifetime: Five friends ski the tallest mountain in Los Angeles, TikTok faces bans in a number of countries over security fears. Ted had met Ronald Reagan, George Bush Sr., [Richard] Nixon. Christy was in the front and made a lot of inroads with the community and built a lot of bridges. Everybody went to the gold mine, Ngoy said. We believe when reliable local reporting is widely available, the entire community benefits. A daughter owns a 1950s-style hamburger restaurant in Orange County. And she was heavily chaperoned. The Donut King was directed by Alice Gu, and is her first feature film. The United States alone is home to more than 25,000 donut shops and they produce more than 10 billion donuts each year. Ngoy bought his first doughnut. His mother raised him in a rural village near Cambodias border with Thailand. He was a fraud, he said. Gambling is a devil. In this condensed and edited conversation, Gu talks about the American dream, Cambodian American Republicans, 1970s Orange County and the best donut she ate during filming. The film flashes back to the horror of life in 1970s Cambodia, a tragic offshoot of the Vietnam war that eliminated thousands of lives. Most importantly, the trip allowed him to mend relations with Christy, who has now remarried, and with their grown-up children. At 35, Ngoy had already climbed out of poverty and into privilege once. , the called Phnom Penh Post But he admits he was also aware that conquering Suganthini's heart held out the promise of a better life. Peace Lutheran Church in Tustin hired Ngoy as a janitor. He joined Gamblers Anonymous but was back at the tables in no time. They told him Winchells Donuts trained store managers. I am the child of immigrants who came and moved here for the American dream. The Top 5 newsletter catches you up with LAs top 5 stories in just 3 minutes. He is nicknamed the "Donut King." He is nicknamed the "Donut King." [5], Ngoy was hesitant to return to California for the film; he was estranged from his children and former friends. "He was a little uneasy," Gu says. "It was a different take on a refugee story,". He also sponsored more than 100 Cambodian refugee families and established a path of financial opportunity for them in America. LAist.com/radio. , chronicles Ngoy's thrill-of-victory/agony-of-defeat rollercoaster ride through the American Dream immigration, capitalism, history, hubris, romance, addiction, family and food. 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. "You can't find any prettier woman besides her.". 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. A cinematographer who has worked on commercials and movies with Rory Kennedy, Werner Herzog and Stacy Peralta, she stumbled onto the subject after her nanny brought her some "Cambodian donuts. Ngoy asked to visit. He lobbied his contacts in the Republican inner circle, including Senator John McCain, and MFN status was granted permanently in 1996. He hired his wife and nephew. He is working in real estate. "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. In 1975, Ted Ngoy fled the war in Cambodia with his wife and three kids and arrived in America as a penniless refugee. After a civil war broke out and Phnom Penh fell to the gold mine, Ngoy fell in,! 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