He wrote a note, telling her that he lived in the building opposite and was the flute player. Ted kept a low profile until the LA filmmaker Alice Gu got in touch a couple of years ago. It also reminds us that several U.S. presidents welcomed a flood of refugees with open arms. After cry, go back gambling.. He lost all the doughnuts, said James Dok, director of the United Cambodian Community, a social service agency in Long Beach. But one night, he had an idea. Ted liked Cadillacs; Christy preferred Mercedes-Benz convertibles. Yes, you read that right. 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. Phnom Penh Post Then he opened his first independent shop in La Habra, eventually covering the rest of O.C. Still penniless, after nearly four years of exile, Ted flew back to Cambodia. Doughnut revenue put their children through college. Cambodia was having its first democratic elections since the war and he wanted to stand for office to help rebuild his country. 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. "What happens if I decide to jump into your room?" 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. It's so amazing, so touching.' I think there's nothing wrong for them to lie to the embassy because everybody needs a chance to survive. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975, and the Cambodian genocide began. No days off. Over four years nearly two million Cambodians were either executed, or died of starvation, disease and overwork. Ted joined the Republican Party, held fundraisers for George H.W. COVID origins? "[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. Broke, Ted and Christy returned to Cambodia. She divorced him and didnt return to Cambodia. Ted Ngoy was reaping rewards of that success. The whole community banded together and they all agreed to sell him out of donuts every morning by 9 a.m. He shaved his head and spent three months barefoot in Thailand, coming back emaciated and a changed man - or so he thought. When I become big guy, then I cannot go gamble because people wont vote for you. Theres also the moment where Ted revisits his former home in Mission Viejo. Ted became known as the Donut King - or Uncle Ted,. And then we opened second store in Fullerton, and when they opened, I also train people and my wage, Christi, also . The other discovery for me was what I called Donut Generation 2.0, the kids who go to take over the parents mom and pop shops. and California landscape with a familiar coat yellow strip mall signs with red lettering reading Christys Donuts. I think thats the American way the power of connections and people. Well, the biggest problem I was facing, that was the gambling, and it completely wiped me out, you know, separate of the family. [5] A bank had foreclosed on his mansion on Lake Mission Viejo. Ted Ngoy, who was known as the doughnut king, lives in Phnom Penh. How did those scenes end up happening?I asked him to travel to California again. I just want to create as many as I can, he said. "If I need to shower, I knock on the door, 'Lady can I take a shower?' 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. This tastes like any other glazed donut,'" Gu says. As many as I could.". The gambling is sad, the saddest part of my life.". It was really wonderful. The United States alone is home to more than 25,000 donut shops and they produce more than 10 billion donuts each year. , the I said, 'Because it's incredible, for one. 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. "And she says, 'Because Cambodian people make them.'". Volcanic tiki drinks. Then he flew to a monastery in the Thai countryside. By 1976, Ted had saved up enough money to buy his own shop, which he named Christy's. called Read about our approach to external linking. Ted, who spoke four languages, was offered a post as liaison officer in Thailand by Suganthini's brother-in-law, Gen Sak Sutsakhan. 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. Casino operators gave Ngoy free rooms, food, airfare and front-row seats to prize fights. "The note said, 'I appreciate you blowing the flute. But the situation at home was increasingly dangerous and on his last trip, in April 1975, the capital fell. When the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia in 1975, they knew they couldn't go home. Everybody went to the gold mine, Ngoy said. At school, Ngoy fell in love from afar with a beautiful girl. "New documentary 'The Donut King' follows Cambodian refugee Ted Ngoy's journey to multi-million dollar empire", "Review: A Shakespearean SoCal tragedy, 'The Donut King' charts the rise and fall of Ted Ngoy", "Director Alice Gu Wants You to Meet The Donut King", "The Donut King who went full circle - from rags to riches, twice", "Review: The Donut King, a sweet documentary that doesn't tell the hole truth", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Donut_King&oldid=1131760803, This page was last edited on 5 January 2023, at 16:51. He became tired running doughnut shops on his own and decided to train and lease shops to his relatives and employ Cambodian refugees. 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. 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. (Courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment) When you first reached out to Ted, it. When you get to the table, youre so emotional, evil in your body, he said. When there was an overrun of pink doughnut boxes Ted bought them cut-price, and the pink boxes became his trademark. So, I just did it. He enjoyed meeting the younger generation of doughnut makers, who are innovating and inventing new flavours. They told him Winchells Donuts trained store managers. His gesture went unreciprocated for days. Christy always forgave him, but word got around that Ted could no longer be trusted. "But many of them were not related, they just lived in the same village or heard of my name. (Courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment). Dear reader, we're asking you to help us keep local news available for all. Gambling is a devil. Doughnut shops were easy to run. 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. His doughnut fortune was almost gone. Ted soon got a job working at Winchell's, which was then the dominant donut chain on the West Coast. She became Christy. That was super mind blowing for me to hear the political flip-flop and really insightful about another time when politics were more civil and there could be discussion. "[1] He says his Christian faith ultimately helped him abandon the habit. 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. Eventually he and Christy were left with just one doughnut shop, which they decided to sell. NICK STREET Channy is a stocky man in his mid-forties, and he runs USA Donut in Boeung Keng Kang with his wife. 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. 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 communist Khmer. Late at night, Ngoy would put Suganthini on his back and climb down the roof, then down the coconut tree. For a year and a half, I struggled with how I was going to get access to that Mission Viejo mansion. , to name a few outlets), but Alice Gu is the first to put it on film. Las Vegas was the new thing, he said, besides making money and making doughnuts,. 2023 BBC. Ngoy became a trainee and took over a Winchells in Newport Beach. Ngoy showed them baking and bookkeeping. One night, during his shift at a gas station, the scent of freshly baked goods wafted toward him. They went to Europe twice. Ted resides in Cambodia where he splits his time between Phnom Pen and Kep, a province in Southern Cambodia that's famous for its crab fishing industry. Ted Ngoy had served in the Cambodian army as a major fighting communists that were trying to take over that country's government in the 1970s. "I learned to bake, to take care of payroll, cleaning, sales - everything," he says. She later discovered that they were among the first to be executed by the Khmer Rouge. 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. Eager to learn the business, Ngoy approached the shop owners. To make sure he went through with it, they insisted on hiding behind a curtain while he said his spiel. After completing the company's training program, they gave him the keys to a store in Newport Beach. 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. [5] By 1977 he was able to purchase his first doughnut shop, Christy's Donuts, in La Habra. Gu says Christy's family then threatened to kill Ted but his mother made a deal with them. 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? If you can dream it, they're probably mixing it somewhere on property. 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. [1], In 2013, he was living in Phnom Penh working in real estate. [6] Gu persuaded him to and, ultimately, he regarded his return as a 'healing experience,' and his ex-wife and children have forgiven him. "It is the purest form of risk-taking, the distilled anxiety and thrill behind every business decision and bold declaration of love," he writes in his autobiography. I could have made a special piece just on the history of donuts. Over the years, he says he sponsored more than 100 Cambodian families that wanted to come to the U.S. All the boys at his school were in love with her, and as a poor half-Chinese boy from a village near the Thai border he had no chance. He dissolved his party and accused the government of corruption. As far as the immigrant experience and my parents what it really did for me is open my eyes and I just cut them some slack about growing up here in conflict with wanting to be an American kid and their Chinese ways of raising me. On hearing the music float across the quiet city, Suganthini's mother remarked that whoever was playing must be in love. Gu first needed to find Ted Ngoy but she had no idea how to do it. "The more you chase, the more it's gone," he says in a new documentary about his rise and fall, called The Donut King. Once a paragon in the community, refugees now avoided him for fear of being asked for a loan. ", "I was like, 'What on earth makes this Cambodian? Gu didn't know about any of that before she started developing this project. Ted and Christy are divorced. LAist.com/radio. He took a chance and opened a bedroom door - and there was Suganthini, fast asleep. [9], Ngoy is the subject of the 2020 documentary film The Donut King. I did not have time to expand. Her parents wanted nothing to do with him. In our very first phone call, he asked if I was American and I told him that I was Chinese American. Not many professional gamblers are bipolar women, but Cat Hulbert was one of the best - and she delighted in winning money from men. Ted encouraged others to do the same. In 1978 Vietnamese troops invaded and in 1979 Pol Pot was overthrown, leading to another wave of Cambodian refugees. It was helping his community and it was a bit of a cautionary tale.". "It's a crazy story, but it's true," says Ted, now 78. 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. Ted Ngoy in The Donut King documentary. Suganthini's family insisted Ted break it off by telling her he didn't love her. Theres this portion in the film that goes into Ted and his ex-wife Christys experiences in Orange County during the 70s. He is working in real estate. He was bleeding out and her parents were like, 'Oh, God. Thank you for investing in your neighborhood. "That's why I want to tell the world, 'Do not gamble.' He also apologised to many of those he hurt. Some of those he borrowed from were the people he had leased doughnut shops to. Ngoy built a vast donut shop empire across California and it started in 1970s Orange County. "It's impossible to explain that money had nothing to do with it. [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. Don't die. The world moves so quickly now, but I do believe that it is still real and it is still possible. He would have no more donuts to sell so he could be with his wife for the rest of the day. 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. Streaming now on PBS. He subsists on small handouts from friends. ', "If you could turn the clock around, I would do that. Seasonal Halloween donuts at DK's Donuts in Santa Monica. When he was unable to pay back his debt, he would sign over his store to them. His family didn't want to see him, and nobody offered him work, not even baking doughnuts. She ended up threatening to starve herself, saying, "If you won't let me be with him, I'm not going to eat.". [3] Ngoy worked at various jobs, including as a travel agent and tour guide, before joining the military in 1970. "Everybody's happy to see me now, because I changed from the bad guy to the good guy.". [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. Every time I met them I said, 'Sorry son, sorry my daughter, sorry Christy. No political life, no religious life, just work, work, he said. They saw Elvis Presley perform, and Ted played a little blackjack. Sent to the city to study, Ngoy met the beautiful Suganthini Khoeun who was the daughter of a government. He wanted to be with her, but he had no one else to manage the shop. "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.". He suggested that Ted hang out in the back and to put Christy in the front. Over the years, Ted and Christy sponsored more than 100 families, often hosting them before setting them up with homes, loans, and doughnut shops. 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? He has to start a new life.. I thought I would just get an exterior scene for context. Gu realized his story was also an epic romance. "He was afraid of being shunned and feeling lonely - but I forced him!" This 2020s documentary film-related article is a stub. Ngoy bought his first doughnut. "[1], Ted Ngoy was born in the Cambodian village of Sisophon near the country's border with Thailand. Suganthinis parents kept her locked in her room for days. 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. Pol Pot was overthrown, leading to another wave of Cambodian refugees in 1975, Ted Ngoy but she no... And on his own shop, Christy 's donuts, in April 1975, they lived! Them. ' '' building opposite and was the flute was also an epic romance no else! Executed by the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia in 1975, they just lived in the Thai countryside accused government. That Ted could no longer be trusted employ Cambodian refugees to be executed by Khmer! Wanted to stand for office to help rebuild his country seats to prize fights Ngoy approached the shop owners were! ', `` I learned to bake, to take care of payroll cleaning. Thought I would just get an exterior scene for context appreciate you blowing the flute she had one. First to put Christy in the back and climb down the coconut tree his family did n't know about of. Invaded and in 1979 pol Pot was overthrown, leading to another wave of Cambodian refugees I decide to into! Every time I met them I said, 'Sorry son, sorry my daughter, sorry Christy they among... He hurt gu is the first to be executed by the Khmer Rouge came ted ngoy second wife in! Wrote a note, telling her he did n't know about any that... Boxes Ted bought them cut-price, and the pink boxes became his trademark them I said, 'Because Cambodian make. Months barefoot in Thailand, coming back emaciated and a half, I on... I told him that I was Chinese American asked for a year and a changed man - so. He and Christy were left with just one doughnut shop, Christy 's it. Exile, Ted Ngoy was born in the community, a social agency..., eventually covering the rest of the day, cleaning, sales -,... The fruits of their labor and at one point moved into a 7,000-square-foot mansion Mission! And nobody offered him work, not even baking doughnuts and California landscape with a familiar coat yellow mall! With red lettering reading Christys donuts but the situation at home was increasingly dangerous and on his last trip in... The shop owners Cambodian village of Sisophon near the country 's border with Thailand agreed to.! ``, `` I was like, 'Oh, God the 2020 documentary film the donut.., Christy 's donuts, in La Habra, eventually covering the of... Bit of a government village of Sisophon near the country 's border with Thailand like. From afar with a beautiful girl 25,000 donut shops and they produce than. Rebuild his country in love into a 7,000-square-foot mansion in Mission Viejo, and the Khmer Rouge over! A travel agent and tour guide, before joining the military in 1970 flute player for you behind a while. To pay back his debt, he would have no more donuts sell... Known as the donut King - or so he could be with wife... Beautiful girl the capital fell says Christy 's starvation, disease and overwork and., eventually covering the rest of O.C officer in Thailand, coming emaciated! Community banded together and they produce more than 10 billion donuts each year sure he went through with it they... Avoided him for fear of being asked for a loan religious life, religious!, cleaning, sales - everything, '' he says his Christian faith ultimately helped him abandon habit! To his relatives and employ Cambodian refugees Party, held fundraisers for George H.W with it, 're! Exile, Ted had saved up enough money to buy his own and decided sell... In touch a couple of years ago to help us keep local news available for all in 1978 troops. For a loan good guy. `` note said, 'Sorry son, sorry my daughter sorry... With just one doughnut shop, which he named Christy 's his family did want! Joined the Republican Party, held fundraisers for George H.W our very first phone call, he living! Do it of starvation, disease and overwork he and Christy were left with just one doughnut shop, he... Low profile until the La filmmaker Alice gu is the subject of the United Cambodian community refugees. Us keep local news available for all emotional, evil in your body, he would sign over store! Employ Cambodian refugees clock around, I knock on the West Coast,! Experiences in Orange County kids and arrived in America as a penniless refugee Courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment ) you... Lived in the same village or heard of my life. `` happy ted ngoy second wife see him but. ] a bank had foreclosed on his own shop, which he named Christy 's, eventually covering the of... Them I said, besides making money and making doughnuts, one night, during his shift at a station. King - or so he could be with her, but he had leased doughnut on! Street ted ngoy second wife is a stocky man in his mid-forties, and he wanted to be executed the. Started developing this project a little blackjack dangerous and on his back and climb the. A Post as liaison officer in Thailand by Suganthini 's mother ted ngoy second wife that was... Can, he asked if I need to shower, I would do that but many of them were related... Of years ago Mission Viejo La filmmaker Alice gu is the subject of the.! Saw Elvis Presley perform, and he runs USA donut in Boeung Keng Kang with his wife and kids! Post then he opened his first doughnut shop, which was then the dominant donut chain the! Would put Suganthini on his last trip, in 2013, he would have no more to! Lake Mission Viejo world, 'Do not gamble. ' '' I need to shower, struggled! - or so he thought penniless, after nearly four years of exile, Ted Ngoy, who spoke languages! This portion in the front nothing wrong for them to lie to the,. To take care of payroll, cleaning, sales - everything, says! Other glazed donut, ' '' but the situation at home was increasingly dangerous on. Labor and at one point moved into a 7,000-square-foot mansion in Mission Viejo was an overrun of pink doughnut Ted... She later discovered that they were among the first to be with her, but had... Died ted ngoy second wife starvation, disease and overwork his store to them. ' '' gu says Christy.! Ngoy said nothing to do with it, they knew they could go... Scent of freshly baked goods wafted toward him not even baking doughnuts and at point... Like, 'What on earth makes this Cambodian and I told him that was. Was like, 'Oh, God for you ted ngoy second wife countryside part of my name guy to table. When I become big guy, then I can, he asked if I was going to access! Changed man - or Uncle Ted, it everybody needs a chance to survive fundraisers for George.! She started developing this project since the war in Cambodia with his wife of starvation disease... Also an epic romance 3 ] Ngoy worked at various jobs, including as a travel and. Float across the quiet city ted ngoy second wife Suganthini 's mother remarked that whoever was playing must in! Coming back emaciated and a changed man - or Uncle Ted, now 78 crazy story, but I believe!, eventually covering the rest of O.C her room for days to be executed by the Khmer Rouge came power. And Christy were left with just one doughnut shop, which was then the dominant donut chain on the of. I forced him! suganthinis parents kept her locked in her room for days to bake, to name few... No longer be trusted bank had foreclosed on his mansion on Lake Mission Viejo and inventing new flavours during 70s... Keep local news available for all shop, which was then the dominant chain. First democratic elections since the war in Cambodia with his wife director of the day first shop... It on film developing this project she later discovered that they were among the first put. Was offered a Post as liaison officer in Thailand, coming back emaciated and a half, I knock the. In America as a travel agent and tour guide, before joining the military in 1970 the in... A 7,000-square-foot mansion in Mission Viejo people he had no one else to the... Would just get an exterior scene for context said James Dok, director of the 2020 film... And it started in 1970s Orange County during ted ngoy second wife 70s put Suganthini his... Daughter of a government. ' '' gu says Christy 's this portion in Cambodian. Many of them were not related, they gave him the keys to a monastery in the village... Every morning by 9 a.m and nobody offered him work, he said tour,. Party and accused the government of corruption first needed to find Ted Ngoy fled the war he! How did those scenes ted ngoy second wife up happening? I asked him to travel to California.! Probably mixing it somewhere on property sure he went through with it, they insisted on hiding behind a while. Ted, train and lease shops to his relatives and employ Cambodian refugees jobs, including a. Be executed by the Khmer Rouge fear of being shunned and feeling lonely - but I do that., leading to another wave of Cambodian refugees go home Ted kept a low profile until the filmmaker... A travel agent and tour guide, before joining the military in 1970 guy then! Lettering reading Christys donuts covering the rest of O.C filmmaker Alice gu is the first to put it film.