He slept under the bed and hid when the maids came to clean. Alice found it hard to persuade Ted to return to California for filming. The couple had flash cars, bought a million-dollar mansion with a pool and an elevator, and went on holidays abroad. He helped them apply for permits. [8], After Cambodia's establishment of a constitutional monarchy in 1993, Ngoy, along with his wife, returned to the country for its first elections. LAist.com/radio. Yes, you read that right. [5] He says he hid in her room for 45 days until he was discovered. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. 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. They told him Winchells Donuts trained store managers. "I cry. Once again Suganthini was the friendly face welcoming customers, and when she became a US citizen she took the name Christy as her own. He wanted to buy more, but he was exhausted running the five he owned. They arranged a meeting for the couple at a relatives house, where Ngoy was expected to formally end their romance. One night, he saw Suganthini on her balcony, and decided it was time to make his move. Gab Chabrn reflects on growing up in L.A. in a Latino home that doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving and the traditions they formed instead. Never give up. Okay, you guys can' It was a whole Romeo and Juliet story," Gu says. I instantly found the Realtor, the listing agent and arranged to go and have Ted walk through his old house. Alongside doughnuts, they sell imported American goods - everything from Pop-Tarts to Starbucks Frappucinos. "Many times I try to commit suicide because I hate myself. Streaming now on PBS. He took a real estate class but said he couldnt retain the details. Then Ngoy would fly to Las Vegas without telling her, sometimes staying as long as a week. Ted liked Cadillacs; Christy preferred Mercedes-Benz convertibles. He had burned a lot of bridges and at the time his children hardly spoke to him. "I learned to bake, to take care of payroll, cleaning, sales - everything," he says. Chet and Savy, Ted Ngoys oldest children, sit down for an interview in The Donut King.. I am the child of immigrants who came and moved here for the American dream. "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 wrapped the note around a stone, and threw it down. , the She became Christy. They made a blood pact, promising to be forever faithful. 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. "But what shall we do in the morning? When I become big guy, then I cannot go gamble because people wont vote for you. Seasonal Halloween donuts at DK's Donuts in Santa Monica. 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. "Don't worry, I will hide under your bed," said Ted. The Cambodians worked hard and because the whole family pitched in, they did not have to pay out any wages. He found a second job at a gas station. The Ngoys helped hundreds of refugees find housing and apply for Social Security cards. and California landscape with a familiar coat yellow strip mall signs with red lettering reading Christys Donuts. A day before he left, his eldest son said if you have $3.2 million you can buy it. Today, at 62, the doughnut king is broke, homeless and dependent on the goodwill of his few remaining friends. He co-signed loans for supplies and equipment. Most crucially, she acted as something of an ambassador, vouching for Gu and introducing her to other donut shop proprietors. And she was heavily chaperoned. He has to start a new life.. He hired his wife and nephew. (Elina Shatkin/LAist). He began placing bets with Cambodian bookies on football and basketball games. Ted Ngoy: Yeah. Ted managed to escape on the last flight out of Phnom Penh but Suganthini's parents were left behind. Ngoy returned to Cambodia without his wife (they would subsequently divorce) and mounted a failed political campaign. Im also, again, the daughter of Chinese American immigrants and my dad was a big Republican party supporter. Then I went to America, Ngoy said, and created the doughnut world.. Support our coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. When he lost he would lash out, smashing doors, breaking furniture and frightening the children. Ngoy wrote to her. Hes friends with Dana Rohrabacher. It's a monster in me.". But on a later trip Ted had a go on the blackjack tables, and soon he was hooked on the glamour and the adrenaline. and 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. It led many voters to assume, incorrectly, that he was against Cambodia's royal family, and he didn't win a seat. Then when dinner is ready, she knocks on the door and I open the door to have dinner.". But with great riches come great temptations. NICK STREET Channy is a stocky man in his mid-forties, and he runs USA Donut in Boeung Keng Kang with his wife. Theres this portion in the film that goes into Ted and his ex-wife Christys experiences in Orange County during the 70s. The film details how Ngoy fled Cambodia with his family during the Vietnam War and later went on to build a donut shop empire, only to lose it all because of a gambling addiction. She was lucky that Mayly Tao, whose mom, Chuong Lee, owns the shop, answered the phone. 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. 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. The two had met as teenage classmates in Phnom Penh. To think about what Ted did years ago letting bygones be bygones. But he admits he was also aware that conquering Suganthini's heart held out the promise of a better life. An owner could keep costs low by employing his family. "And she says, 'Because Cambodian people make them.'". 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. 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. He believed he could show others the path to wealth and opportunity. Since many of them had gotten their start in the business and the United States thanks to Ngoy, they were happy to help. Naturally he agreed, and set his sisters up with doughnut shops. "I did not have time to take care of business, so business was going down. Now, he is in real estate development," Gu says. 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. 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 I need to shower, I knock on the door, 'Lady can I take a shower?' Gu says Christy's family then threatened to kill Ted but his mother made a deal with them. Perpetually in need of cash, he'd ask the people running his donut shops for loans. Then, he lost it all. Cambodia was poor and under-developed after years of war. [5] By 1977 he was able to purchase his first doughnut shop, Christy's Donuts, in La Habra. According to Gu, Christy's family brought her into the room and Ted started reciting his speech. But then Ted discovered that the tiny room where he lodged, on the fourth floor of a walk-up apartment block, overlooked Suganthini's villa. Ted wrote one day. That's because of a refugee who built up an empire, and became known as the Donut King, only to lose it all. Ted Ngoy, who was known as the doughnut king, lives in Phnom Penh. buy a ticket It smelled delicious and when he first tasted one it reminded him of something from home - a fried pastry, also circular, called nom kong. Ted was dismayed. 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. We had an instant connection and it felt like we were meant to be doing this story together. 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. Then he opened his first independent shop in La Habra, eventually covering the rest of O.C. With the help of his brother-in-law, he was promoted to major and appointed military attache at the countrys embassy in Thailand. Suganthini smuggled him food at night, and after many days she said she loved him too. 2023 BBC. Although there is still some resentment towards him in the Cambodian community, whose hard-earned cash he gambled away, he is also revered by many. After a civil war broke out and Phnom Penh fell to the communist Khmer. While Ted was immersed in Cambodian politics, Christy flew to the US for the birth of a grandchild. Ngoy forged her signature on checks. Gu's documentary, When he couldn't pay them back because he had gambled the money away, Ted signed away his ownership stake in those stores. On hearing the music float across the quiet city, Suganthini's mother remarked that whoever was playing must be in love. When Christy returned to California for the birthday of a grandchild in 1999, Ngoy met a young woman and brought her to live in his house. 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. Suganthini became the smiling face behind the counter, even though she hardly spoke any English. 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. TED NGOY HAD an unrelenting obsession during his 1975 plane ride from Southeast Asia to Southern California. 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. Never surrender. At a news conference, he dissolved his party and accused the government of corruption. He lobbied his contacts in the Republican inner circle, including Senator John McCain, and MFN status was granted permanently in 1996. When there was an overrun of pink doughnut boxes Ted bought them cut-price, and the pink boxes became his trademark. He left behind his new wife and their two children, and what he had seen as his last chance at redemption. "He was afraid of being shunned and feeling lonely - but I forced him!" Suganthini's family insisted Ted break it off by telling her he didn't love her. 50? It really helped put some perspective on the journey to get here from somewhere else and the struggles that people go through when they arrive in a new, strange and foreign land. In less than two years, while working on other jobs and projects, Gu directed and shot the 94-minute documentary. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Key grant funding to help O.C. "This friendly voice picks up the phone, a young voice in that perfectly American accented English. He has found his way to be wealthy again. I could have made a special piece just on the history of donuts. Through doughnuts, many Cambodians stepped out of isolation and into the American mainstream. Where Im going, I dont know. By 2005, after a failed political career in Cambodia, Ngoy was penniless and living on the porch of a fellow Parkcrest Christian Church parishioner's mobile home. Ngoy became a trainee and took over a Winchells in Newport Beach. In 1990, after disappearing for another disastrous trip to Las Vegas, he flew to Washington, D.C., and joined a Buddhist monastery. "Ted, again, is Mr. Nine Lives. When people know about the bad reputation, people are not going to vote for me. Ted Ngoy: Well, when I was in a high school in a French school, my wife's Suganthini. Faced with such determination, her family allowed the young lovers to be together. That phrase Donut King is already so eye-catching right off the bat. And that's what he did. In 1978 Vietnamese troops invaded and in 1979 Pol Pot was overthrown, leading to another wave of Cambodian refugees. He returned to a refugee community in transition. Ted was the consummate schmoozer and salesman. We believe when reliable local reporting is widely available, the entire community benefits. Ngoy and his wife became American citizens and were . Boozy Dole Whips. None of the people Ngoy helped get started lent him a hand, he said: I trained them. He also figured that as a prominent politician, he would be forced to control his gambling habit. No political life, no religious life, just work, work, he said. Christy always forgave him, but word got around that Ted could no longer be trusted. They wont trust you, he said. [1], In 2013, he was living in Phnom Penh working in real estate. She said he would be throwing his money away. He subsequently received training through an affirmative action program to increase minority hiring within the Winchell's chain of doughnut shops, and managed a store in Newport Beach where he employed his wife and nephew. Every weekday, you'll get fresh, community-driven stories that catch you up with our independent local news. I thought it was so profound that this was the very same community that just a couple of decades earlier were making fun of somebody who worked at the counter and had an accent. But he was more than well-off; he was respected. 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