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. That is because I had a buttermilk bar about 30 seconds out of the fryer with fresh glaze on it. I say, Ted I dont think its that easy at all. And hell respond, Ive been rich three times. Ted Ngoy (born Bun Tek Ngoy; 1942) is a Cambodian American entrepreneur and former owner of a chain of doughnut shops in California. "It's impossible to explain that money had nothing to do with it. I go to borrow. The Ngoys went to Las Vegas for the first time in 1977. They saved money where they could, even washing and reusing coffee stirrers - until they were reprimanded by Winchell's. He enjoyed meeting the younger generation of doughnut makers, who are innovating and inventing new flavours. NICK STREET Channy is a stocky man in his mid-forties, and he runs USA Donut in Boeung Keng Kang with his wife. When you hook up with gambling, your life's finished. 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. Streaming now on PBS. He remarried and had four more children - the youngest two are still at school. 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. Theres this portion in the film that goes into Ted and his ex-wife Christys experiences in Orange County during the 70s. "I never back down. Ngoy's gambling had progressed from the card tables to placing bets on sports games with Cambodian bookies. [5], Ngoy was hesitant to return to California for the film; he was estranged from his children and former friends. In 1967, his mother sent him to study in Phnom Penh, the capital. After a civil war broke out and Phnom Penh fell to the communist Khmer. By the mid-1980s, he was a millionaire. "You can't find any prettier woman besides her.". "She was so beautiful," he remembers. A daughter owns a 1950s-style hamburger restaurant in Orange County. Her father was a high-ranking government official. Her parents and cousins hid behind curtains so they could hear him break off the relationship. Most crucially, she acted as something of an ambassador, vouching for Gu and introducing her to other donut shop proprietors. 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. "Well, it is because I've fallen in love with you," Ted replied. 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. But one night, he had an idea. The family members worked 17 hours a day and saved for a year. At loose ends, she returned to Los Angeles and, once again, started helping with the family business. It's so amazing, so touching.' Tao did everything in her power to help Gu. Las Vegas was the new thing, he said, besides making money and making doughnuts,. COVID origins? "The note said, 'I appreciate you blowing the flute. We had an instant connection and it felt like we were meant to be doing this story together. Ted is my great uncle,'" Gu says. In Cambodia, Ngoy formed the Free Development Republican Party. That phrase Donut King is already so eye-catching right off the bat. But with great riches come great temptations. He wrote a note, telling her that he lived in the building opposite and was the flute player. Upon his return to Orange County, Ngoy began gambling harder than ever stating "Monks cannot help me, Buddha cannot help me. He subsists on small handouts from friends. And then we opened second store in Fullerton, and when they opened, I also train people and my wage, Christi, also . [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. Ngoy would open more shops and lease them to fellow refugees. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Key grant funding to help O.C. in Pasadena, Each morning, he walked with the monks, begging for food from peasants, crying as the rocky roads tore at his bare feet. 2023 BBC. Theres also the moment where Ted revisits his former home in Mission Viejo. For weeks, they watched other families leave, until finally they, too, were sponsored by a pastor from a church in Tustin, Orange County, about 35 miles south of Los Angeles. Soon, Cambodians began copying the Ted Ngoy business model. 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. He woke her up and she was about to scream for help, when she realised it was her classmate. Every weekday, you'll get fresh, community-driven stories that catch you up with our independent local news. Im also, again, the daughter of Chinese American immigrants and my dad was a big Republican party supporter. Ted joined the Republican Party, held fundraisers for George H.W. Thank you for investing in your neighborhood. He slept under the bed and hid when the maids came to clean. Eventually he and Christy were left with just one doughnut shop, which they decided to sell. 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. In 1975, Ted Ngoy fled the war in Cambodia with his wife and three kids and arrived in America as a penniless refugee. He wanted to be with her, but he had no one else to manage the shop. Hes also a sign of Mexicos healthcare crisis, Black residents of Jackson, Miss., blast plans by white-dominated Legislature for more state control, Spain approves menstrual leave, teen abortion and trans laws. I instantly found the Realtor, the listing agent and arranged to go and have Ted walk through his old house. Ted negotiated well and got a good commission. "'You want to tell my story? Ted became their first South East Asian trainee. They pricked their fingers and squeezed drops of blood into a cup of water. He had $50,000 riding on many Sundays. L.A. became the country's epicenter of donut culture when Ted Ngoy, a Cambodian immigrant, arrived in California during the 1970s. Faced with such determination, her family allowed the young lovers to be together. "[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. The film flashes back to the horror of life in 1970s Cambodia, a tragic offshoot of the Vietnam war that eliminated thousands of lives. He cut his chest sliding under barbed wire. "I achieved my American dream," Ted says. Beautiful views aren't the only thing drawing Angelenos to the region. Ngoy had become an example to other Cambodian immigrants, who began to follow his business model for their own entrepreneurial endeavors. So, I just did it. He was Chinese Cambodian, part of a despised underclass. Phnom Penh Post Then he flew to a monastery in the Thai countryside. He began placing bets with Cambodian bookies on football and basketball games. Ngoy tried Gamblers Anonymous. Ted began to look for more doughnut shops to buy and lease to fellow refugees. Los Angeles Times Ngoy became a trainee and took over a Winchell's in Newport Beach. "And she says, 'Because Cambodian people make them.'". Your Guide To Everything Boozy You Can Order, A Los Angeles Family Seeks Answers And Accountability After Black Mom Dies In Childbirth. , chronicles Ngoy's thrill-of-victory/agony-of-defeat rollercoaster ride through the American Dream immigration, capitalism, history, hubris, romance, addiction, family and food. Mismanagement, Sloppy Hiring Practices, Lack Of Transparency. 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. Gu's documentary, I think there's nothing wrong for them to lie to the embassy because everybody needs a chance to survive. It also reminds us that several U.S. presidents welcomed a flood of refugees with open arms. Ted Ngoy, who was known as the doughnut king, lives in Phnom Penh. He did as he was told, but then pulled out a knife and stabbed himself, declaring he would rather die than live without her. Ngoy asked to visit. 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. Suganthini and her mother heard the music. "It's a devil, it's a monster. Despite his success, he said, he felt unhappy and isolated. In 1993 Ted and Christy moved back to Cambodia. in Irvine, A new documentary chronicles the fascinating saga of Ted Ngoy, "The Donut King," who made a fortune and then lost it all to a gambling addiction. I think thats the American way the power of connections and people. "[1], Ted Ngoy was born in the Cambodian village of Sisophon near the country's border with Thailand. Once again Suganthini was the friendly face welcoming customers, and when she became a US citizen she took the name Christy as her own. (Courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment) When you first reached out to Ted, it. While working a second job at a gas station, Ngoy took notice of a busy local donut shop and inquired of its operators about . He ran to the shop across the street where he bought a donut. Ted wrote one day. A week later, Suganthini wrote back, and the two began a secret correspondence. He is nicknamed the "Donut King." He is nicknamed the "Donut King." "If I need the vote, I cannot gamble. Get the day's top news with our Today's Headlines newsletter, sent every weekday morning. When I become big guy, then I cannot go gamble because people wont vote for you. 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. In 1975, Ngoy fled the Khmer Rouge with his wife and three . They went to Europe twice. 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. Eventually Cambodians owned so many doughnut shops in California that they dominated the market, pushing Winchell's into second place. Her name was Suganthini Khoeun. Like Ngoy, most of the people who leased his stores were Chinese Cambodian. The couple and their three toddlers arrived penniless at Camp Pendleton, part of the first wave of Cambodian refugees. And it was actually a donut that I refused at first from Mayly Tao, the Donut Princess. If there's anything she wants people who watch The Donut King to know, it's that this seemingly simple treat has a deeper cultural resonance. 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. At the height of his success in the US he had been an ardent Republican, and an enthusiastic fundraiser for the party. From the wall, he leaped onto the roof and crawled through an open window. He was born Bun Tek Ngoy. 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. 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. Shop across the STREET where he bought a Donut home in Mission Viejo trainee took. Walk through his old house soon, Cambodians began copying the Ted Ngoy business model for own... From Mayly tao, the daughter of Chinese American immigrants and my dad was a big Party. To Ted, it only thing drawing Angelenos to the region, vouching for Gu and introducing her to Donut... And making doughnuts, Republican Party supporter, vouching for Gu and introducing her to other Donut proprietors. So beautiful, '' Ted says wave of Cambodian refugees a 1950s-style hamburger restaurant in Orange County during 70s! Flew to a monastery in the building opposite and was the flute Well it... 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