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.". Since many of them had gotten their start in the business and the United States thanks to Ngoy, they were happy to help. But it was really the immigrant story. All that money paid for expensive clothes, luxury cars, fancy trips and an opulent home in Mission Viejo. Monks cannot help me, he said. He had burned a lot of bridges and at the time his children hardly spoke to him. He said hes Chinese Cambodian and we spoke Mandarin for a couple of minutes. By 1976, Ted had saved up enough money to buy his own shop, which he named Christy's. He has found his way to be wealthy again. [8], After Cambodia's establishment of a constitutional monarchy in 1993, Ngoy, along with his wife, returned to the country for its first elections. [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. This is going to happen.'". She later discovered that they were among the first to be executed by the Khmer Rouge. 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. "Before I'd never gambled, but like all the compulsive gamblers in the world, first you throw in a couple of bucks, $10, $20. Okay, you guys can' It was a whole Romeo and Juliet story," Gu says. Ted, who spoke four languages, was offered a post as liaison officer in Thailand by Suganthini's brother-in-law, Gen Sak Sutsakhan. But from then on, every store Ngoy and his wife bought or opened they named Christys Doughnuts. Boozy Dole Whips. "Using money to provide for others is a feeling as powerful as any drug," he later wrote. 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. Las Vegas was the new thing, he said, besides making money and making doughnuts,. He left behind his new wife and their two children, and what he had seen as his last chance at redemption. The following month, US President Gerald Ford insisted the US should welcome 130,000 refugees from Vietnam and Cambodia, telling any critics: "We're a country built by immigrants from all areas of the world, and we've always been a very humanitarian nation.". 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. Ngoy doesnt remember how many stores he started or bought -- 40? She would forgive him when he promised to stop, and he would -- for a while. A map of Christys Donuts, Winchells and Dunkin Donuts across California during the height of Ted Ngoys entrepreneurship in the 1970s through the 1990s. 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. 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. He built a donut empire and $20 million in wealth, but his fortune built on donuts would crumble and he would lose it all. Volcanic tiki drinks. Ted soon got a job working at Winchell's, which was then the dominant donut chain on the West Coast. 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? "You can't find any prettier woman besides her.". Gu's documentary, 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. But he was more than well-off; he was respected. The next day, he flew back to Los Angeles leaving behind his new wife and their two children. Ted Ngoy stands in front of his first independent donut shop in La Habra, named after his wife Christy Ngoy. The Ngoys went to Las Vegas for the first time in 1977. But within weeks he was back on a plane to Vegas. 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. He says to me, Alice, making money its so easy. 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. Chet and Savy, Ted Ngoys oldest children, sit down for an interview in The Donut King.. Theres a hustle to it, and director Alice Gu captures it in her debut documentary The Donut King.. 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. The Donut King was directed by Alice Gu, and is her first feature film. Ted liked Cadillacs; Christy preferred Mercedes-Benz convertibles. Before sunrise, they would climb back into her room. 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. "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.". . "I came back to L.A. and I didn't know that I was going to create this crazy explosion in the business. COVID origins? And I feel so much hurt. Where Im going, I dont know. Perpetually in need of cash, he'd ask the people running his donut shops for loans. 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. Even in gambling. Every evening, he sat by his open window and played the flute. [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. Every time I met them I said, 'Sorry son, sorry my daughter, sorry Christy. Once a paragon in the community, refugees now avoided him for fear of being asked for a loan. If you're enjoying this article, you'll love my daily morning newsletter, How To LA. When I become big guy, then I cannot go gamble because people wont vote for you. Theyre savvy, young, hip. Then he would return to Vegas in an attempt to win back what he had lost. They saw Elvis Presley perform, and Ted played a little blackjack. He wanted to be with her, but he had no one else to manage the shop. He was raised by his mother, who was from Shantou, Guangdong, and who only spoke Chinese. 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. After a year of running two shops they had saved $40,000 and Ted decided to expand. Not many professional gamblers are bipolar women, but Cat Hulbert was one of the best - and she delighted in winning money from men. 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. On hearing the music float across the quiet city, Suganthini's mother remarked that whoever was playing must be in love. "It's a crazy story, but it's true," says Ted, now 78. ', "If you could turn the clock around, I would do that. He remarried and had four more children - the youngest two are still at school. I say, Ted, who are you? I really dont know.. "It went like fire on the hill, so fast," says Ted. in Santa Monica. What was it like?I spoke with him and he was in Cambodia. LAist.com/radio. He had $50,000 riding on many Sundays. 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. Over the years, he led thousands of his countrymen into the business. Ngoy bought stores in Fullerton, Anaheim, Anaheim Hills and Buena Park over the next year. I shared love, my heart. I always thought of it as a Plan B to come back and now, it has become the Plan A and more," Tao says. [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. Suganthini replied, "Well be careful, if you don't jump into my room, you'll jump into my mum's room.". Never give up. Hes really funny. [5], Ngoy was hesitant to return to California for the film; he was estranged from his children and former friends. He landed in LA with less than $100 in his pocket - all the money he had left. Her parents and cousins hid behind curtains so they could hear him break off the relationship. He hired his wife and nephew. He wrote a note, telling her that he lived in the building opposite and was the flute player. Ted did try to curb his habit. Ted began to look for more doughnut shops to buy and lease to fellow refugees. "[10], Whittaker said that "as Asian Americans face increasing racism, its closing message about how immigrant communitiesdefine America has only become more timely."[8]. [8], Author Ryka Aoki describes Ngoy as legend in our Asian-American community and inspiration for her award-winning novel Light From Uncommon Stars for both his stealing books process and the legacy of Cambodian-American donut shops in Southern California. Will Orange County's Fledgling Clean Power Agency Survive? But on a later trip Ted had a go on the blackjack tables, and soon he was hooked on the glamour and the adrenaline. The Donut King is told through archival footage, animation, and interviews with family members alongside Ted Ngoy, who has tried to make peace with those who he's hurt including Mel Allison, a 91-year-old baker still at it at Winchell's. Ted became known as the Donut King - or Uncle Ted,. He cut his chest sliding under barbed wire. Her parents wanted nothing to do with him. Ngoy became a trainee and took over a Winchells in Newport Beach. Cambodia was planning its first elections in 1993, and well-to-do emigres from California were returning to run for office. Don't die. Near the station was a doughnut shop. I am the child of immigrants who came and moved here for the American dream. Alongside doughnuts, they sell imported American goods - everything from Pop-Tarts to Starbucks Frappucinos. By the mid-1980s, he was a millionaire. From the wall, he leaped onto the roof and crawled through an open window. In 1975, Ngoy fled the Khmer Rouge with his wife and three children to Camp Pendleton. Ted Ngoy made a fortune in doughnuts. [5] People love her and shes beautiful. Support our coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Ngoy forged her signature on checks. It actually made national, if not international, news about the kindness of these people in Orange County. "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. Ted Ngoy was born in Sisophon, Cambodia. I just want to create as many as I can, he said. Ted Ngoy was reaping rewards of that success. In 1978 Vietnamese troops invaded and in 1979 Pol Pot was overthrown, leading to another wave of Cambodian refugees. 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. He had sold what few shops remained. It was small amounts first but he was soon blowing bigger figures and he couldn't seem to stop. I did not have time to expand. Sent to the city to study, Ngoy met the beautiful Suganthini Khoeun who was the daughter of a government. Tao did everything in her power to help Gu. Interviews can sometimes feel like a therapy session. The families who followed Ngoys lead learned to run businesses and picked up English. He became tired running doughnut shops on his own and decided to train and lease shops to his relatives and employ Cambodian refugees. Thank you for investing in your neighborhood. Ted Ngoy (born Bun Tek Ngoy; 1942) is a Cambodian American entrepreneur and former owner of a chain of doughnut shops in California. Ngoy also involved himself in American politics, joining the Republican Party and hosting fundraisers for George H. W. Bush and encouraged fellow Cambodian immigrants to support the GOP. In the end, filming the documentary was a healing experience for Ted. A bank had foreclosed on his mansion on Lake Mission Viejo. "The note said, 'I appreciate you blowing the flute. He lost all the doughnuts, said James Dok, director of the United Cambodian Community, a social service agency in Long Beach. Gu realized his story was also an epic romance. She became Christy. 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. The film flashes back to the horror of life in 1970s Cambodia, a tragic offshoot of the Vietnam war that eliminated thousands of lives. They did business on a handshake, he said, and his tenants always paid. None of the people Ngoy helped get started lent him a hand, he said: I trained them. But the name was misleading. 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. He trained them and handed over the keys. Ted encouraged others to do the same. As word of Ted's success spread, Cambodian immigrants started seeking him out when they arrived in Southern California. Christys Doughnuts in La Habra never did great business. Then when dinner is ready, she knocks on the door and I open the door to have dinner.". She was hooked. [1], In 2013, he was living in Phnom Penh working in real estate. TED NGOY HAD an unrelenting obsession during his 1975 plane ride from Southeast Asia to Southern California. 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." . 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. Today, at 62, the doughnut king is broke, homeless and dependent on the goodwill of his few remaining friends. In less than two years, while working on other jobs and projects, Gu directed and shot the 94-minute documentary. Over the years, Ted and Christy sponsored more than 100 families, often hosting them before setting them up with homes, loans, and doughnut shops. More and more relatives came forward for sponsorship. "[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. Filmmaker Alice Gu (left) poses with Mayly Tao outside DK's Donuts in Santa Monica. in Pasadena, "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. When he lost he would lash out, smashing doors, breaking furniture and frightening the children. It was love at first bite. With Chuong Pek Lee, Susan Lim, Ted Ngoy, Daewon Song. He wrapped the note around a stone, and threw it down. 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