After cry, go back gambling.. I was addicted to a feeling, and money was simply the needle that delivered the toxic dose," he writes in his autobiography, also called The Donut King. Like Ngoy, most of the people who leased his stores were Chinese Cambodian. She was hooked. "I became a very, very bad man and borrowed money here and there," he says. Then he opened his first independent shop in La Habra, eventually covering the rest of O.C. When they were released, the cash was gone. He says to me, Alice, making money its so easy. He took a real estate class but said he couldnt retain the details. 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. Once again Suganthini was the friendly face welcoming customers, and when she became a US citizen she took the name Christy as her own. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. After completing the company's training program, they gave him the keys to a store in Newport Beach. After setting up a sweet shop of his own, he helped fellow . The Cambodians worked hard and because the whole family pitched in, they did not have to pay out any wages. Ngoy's epic rags-to-riches-to-rags story has been chronicled before (in the I go to borrow. The doughnut king landed at LAX with $50 in his pocket. These are all people who present day you dont associate with welcoming refugees with open arms. He became Ted. Ngoy wrote to her. He is working in real estate. In the end, filming the documentary was a healing experience for Ted. in San Clemente and, of course, DK's Donuts in Santa Monica. Her daughter, Mayly Tao, has taken over the reigns of DK's. Channy also wholesales doughnuts to other minimarts. No days off. By the mid-1980s, he was a millionaire. Instead, she told him about a training programme run by the doughnut chain, Winchell's. "After cry, go back gambling," he told one interviewer. 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. 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. A woman from his church lets him sleep in the screened porch outside her mobile home, which he has fashioned into a makeshift bedroom. "Ted, again, is Mr. Nine Lives. Ngoy ended his political career abruptly in 2002, breaking with two powerful allies, the commerce minister and the head of the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce. Then he flew to a monastery in the Thai countryside. You cannot resist against it.. Cambodia was planning its first elections in 1993, and well-to-do emigres from California were returning to run for office. He had no home and no money, and his country had been overrun by a gang of pitiless thugs. Why would anybody be interested in my story?' Still homeless, he moved to the coastal town of Kep, on the Gulf of Thailand. One night in a pouring rain, Ngoy scaled a coconut tree beside the wall surrounding her home. Las Vegas was the new thing, he said, besides making money and making doughnuts,. Theres so much competition. 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. [1], When his wife visited California for the birthday of their grandchild in 1999, Ngoy began an affair with a young woman; Christy divorced him soon after and has not since returned to Cambodia. Christy would search for him in the casinos, the children in tow. Ted Ngoy was reaping rewards of that success. Ted did try to curb his habit. Whenever Ted won, the family would rejoice with him. 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. Ted wrote one day. Gu didn't know about any of that before she started developing this project. Once back in Orange County, he bet more than ever. I shared love, my heart. He has converted to Christianity, he said, and prays often, asking God for help. What drew you to Teds story at the start?Finding out about his story, its fascinating a guy who comes here penniless and becomes a Donut King. And it was actually a donut that I refused at first from Mayly Tao, the Donut Princess. One night under a full moon, they knelt and prayed. Ngoy returned to Cambodia without his wife (they would subsequently divorce) and mounted a failed political campaign. Boozy Dole Whips. Near the station was a doughnut shop. He was, however, invited to become a government adviser on commerce and agriculture. He paid for their airfare and, when they arrived, "Uncle Ted" let them stay at his house while he taught them the ropes of the donut business. Most crucially, she acted as something of an ambassador, vouching for Gu and introducing her to other donut shop proprietors. 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. They made a blood pact, promising to be forever faithful. He was bleeding out and her parents were like, 'Oh, God. When time goes by it gets into your blood and you just cannot get it out," says Ted. One night, he. He wanted to be with her, but he had no one else to manage the shop. the I told them I'm very sorry 1,000 times. Inspired by the economic success of Taiwan, Ted decided to lobby the US for "most favoured nation" status, which would open the door to foreign investment. California Sunday Ted managed to escape on the last flight out of Phnom Penh but Suganthini's parents were left behind. The couple and their three toddlers arrived penniless at Camp Pendleton, part of the first wave of Cambodian refugees. This is an incredible story of how he helped people. It was love at first bite. Ngoy became a trainee and took over a Winchells in Newport Beach. In return, he played their tables and lost thousands of dollars. For a year and a half, I struggled with how I was going to get access to that Mission Viejo mansion. And then I hate the gambling and then I hate that I treat Christy so badly, treat my children so badly, because of the gambling, so I hate myself," he says. 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. Then, he lost it all. Over four years nearly two million Cambodians were either executed, or died of starvation, disease and overwork. But the name was misleading. [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. It led many voters to assume, incorrectly, that he was against Cambodia's royal family, and he didn't win a seat. He landed in LA with less than $100 in his pocket - all the money he had left. Ngoy doesnt remember how many stores he started or bought -- 40? They wont trust you, he said. "But what shall we do in the morning? In order to be allowed to leave the camp and find work, they needed an American sponsor, who would find them a job and somewhere to live. His sponsor told him people will have their prejudices but they mean well. He was a fraud, he said. At each stop, they set up the business and trained the families who leased it. Ted joined the Republican Party, held fundraisers for George H.W. I dont think you dare come to my room, she responded. [4], Despite the wealth he had amassed and his importance within his community, Ngoy felt dissatisfied, remarking that he had "No political life, no religious life, just work, work. Ted and a lot of the Asians who came aligned themselves with the Republican party. So I decided to change.". Ted was dismayed. "I spent about $100,000 of my own money, my time, my everything," he says. In less than two years, while working on other jobs and projects, Gu directed and shot the 94-minute documentary. Ngoy tried Gamblers Anonymous. At 16, she had no friends, could not talk to boys and was forbidden to leave home alone. I said, 'Because it's incredible, for one. DK's Donuts (Courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment) When you first reached out to Ted, it. Over the years, Ted and Christy sponsored more than 100 families, often hosting them before setting them up with homes, loans, and doughnut shops. Ted became their first South East Asian trainee. Driving back with $85,000 cash in the boot of the car, they were stopped by the police; they had fallen behind with payments, so the car showed up as stolen. 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. Buddha cannot help me.. It smelled delicious and when he first tasted one it reminded him of something from home - a fried pastry, also circular, called nom kong. 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. I ended up not sharing that donut. In 1990, after disappearing for another disastrous trip to Las Vegas, he flew to Washington, D.C., and joined a Buddhist monastery. With the help of his brother-in-law, he was promoted to major and appointed military attache at the countrys embassy in Thailand. Ngoy's gambling had progressed from the card tables to placing bets on sports games with Cambodian bookies. He did as he was told, but then pulled out a knife and stabbed himself, declaring he would rather die than live without her. 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. Then he would return to Vegas in an attempt to win back what he had lost. And that's what he did. You see some of these families and their stores in The Donut King Ted Ngoy, his wife and family pick up the story and walk us through their unbelievable experience, flying to a . He also apologised to many of those he hurt. That phrase Donut King is already so eye-catching right off the bat. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. His mother raised him in a rural village near Cambodias border with Thailand. The families who followed Ngoys lead learned to run businesses and picked up English. In 1975, Ted Ngoy fled the war in Cambodia with his wife and three kids and arrived in America as a penniless refugee. "I did not have time to take care of business, so business was going down. And he has a new goal. Over the years, he says he sponsored more than 100 Cambodian families that wanted to come to the U.S. 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. Don't die. 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. L.A. became the country's epicenter of donut culture when Ted Ngoy, a Cambodian immigrant, arrived in California during the 1970s. Volcanic tiki drinks. 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. With Chuong Pek Lee, Susan Lim, Ted Ngoy, Daewon Song. In 1975, Ngoy fled the Khmer Rouge with his wife and three . Ngoy bought stores in Fullerton, Anaheim, Anaheim Hills and Buena Park over the next year. By 2002 Ted was broke. [5] She reached out to Ngoy and other Cambodian families who ran donut shops, and within six weeks began principal photography. According to Gu, Christy's family brought her into the room and Ted started reciting his speech. 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. [10] Ngoy was hesitant to return to California for the film; he was estranged from his children and former friends. 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. The Ngoys went to Las Vegas for the first time in 1977. In Cambodia, Ngoy formed the Free Development Republican Party. LAist.com/radio. "This friendly voice picks up the phone, a young voice in that perfectly American accented English. That's because of a refugee who built up an empire, and became known as the Donut King, only to lose it all. I gave her my spiel, and she said, 'Well, you've called the right person. Yes, you read that right. Bush, met former Presidents Reagan and Nixon, and urged other Asian immigrants to support the GOP. The film flashes back to the horror of life in 1970s Cambodia, a tragic offshoot of the Vietnam war that eliminated thousands of lives. 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