ted ngoy second wife

. [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. Ted Ngoy stands in front of his first independent donut shop in La Habra, named after his wife Christy Ngoy. "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 hired his wife and nephew. Besides, he reasoned, as a politician he would not be able to gamble. [8], After Cambodia's establishment of a constitutional monarchy in 1993, Ngoy, along with his wife, returned to the country for its first elections. Until then, she was kept sheltered. The family members worked 17 hours a day and saved for a year. 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. He had to guess which room was hers. Her name was Suganthini Khoeun. in Irvine, 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. Ngoy fled with his wife, three young children, two cousins and a nephew to the United States in 1975. Alongside doughnuts, they sell imported American goods - everything from Pop-Tarts to Starbucks Frappucinos. More and more relatives came forward for sponsorship. Once, I said I would die if something happened to him, Christy said of her ex-husband. Instantly acquiring the rank of Major, Ted and his young family moved to Bangkok, and every month he travelled back to Cambodia to collect the wages for his soldiers. Broke, Ted and Christy returned to Cambodia. Ted Ngoy in The Donut King documentary. He shaved his head and spent three months barefoot in Thailand, coming back emaciated and a changed man - or so he thought. They went to Europe twice. That is a lie, he cried, and plunged the blade into his belly. "Before I'd never gambled, but like all the compulsive gamblers in the world, first you throw in a couple of bucks, $10, $20. [9], Ngoy is the subject of the 2020 documentary film The Donut King. "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. 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. 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. And it was actually a donut that I refused at first from Mayly Tao, the Donut Princess. Streaming now on PBS. When he couldn't pay them back because he had gambled the money away, Ted signed away his ownership stake in those stores. For the next 45 days, he lived in her room. The Ngoys went to Las Vegas for the first time in 1977. Also, significantly for Ngoy, other Cambodian refugees and their children donuts. 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. Some of those he borrowed from were the people he had leased doughnut shops to. And he said he saw her heart break before his very eyes. Once back in Orange County, he bet more than ever. Through doughnuts, many Cambodians stepped out of isolation and into the American mainstream. I dont think you dare come to my room, she responded. Eager to learn the business, Ngoy approached the shop owners. Beautiful views aren't the only thing drawing Angelenos to the region. Los Angeles Times The Donut King is a documentary directed by Alice Gu that covers the life of Ted Ngoy, one of the primary reasons behind the Cambodian American donut shop boom. buy a ticket Eventually Cambodians owned so many doughnut shops in California that they dominated the market, pushing Winchell's into second place. 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. "[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. He began placing bets with Cambodian bookies on football and basketball games. Why would anybody be interested in my story?' Chet and Savy, Ted Ngoys oldest children, sit down for an interview in The Donut King.. They have social media and know how to work it to innovate their parents old donut shops with a worldwide following. It was on the market. 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. He has found his way to be wealthy again. 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. Ngoy had become an example to other Cambodian immigrants, who began to follow his business model for their own entrepreneurial endeavors. Ngoy was one. Ted soon got a job working at Winchell's, which was then the dominant donut chain on the West Coast. Every evening, he sat by his open window and played the flute. Every time I met them I said, 'Sorry son, sorry my daughter, sorry Christy. 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.". This is going to happen.'". When they were released, the cash was gone. And I feel so much hurt. He began to disappear off to Las Vegas for days, losing $5,000, $7,000 a game, and neglecting his family and his doughnut empire. 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. We believe when reliable local reporting is widely available, the entire community benefits. It actually made national, if not international, news about the kindness of these people in Orange County. In 1993 Ted and Christy moved back to Cambodia. The details that aren't in the movie are even crazier. called Christy's parents said they would let Ted live if he told Christy that he was a dog who had romanced other girls and had never loved her. I just first hurt my wife, Christy, my children and hurt many, many other people, too, because, when we needed money. 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. None of the people Ngoy helped get started lent him a hand, he said: I trained them. She thought it might have been a tall tale, "But when I was in Cambodia, [Ted] lifted his shirt and I saw the puncture wounds," Gu adds. Ngoy showed them baking and bookkeeping. 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. 60? I'm not famous. The donut business isnt easy. Interviews can sometimes feel like a therapy session. He subsists on small handouts from friends. Ted Ngoy (born Bun Tek Ngoy; 1942) is a Cambodian American entrepreneur and former owner of a chain of doughnut shops in California. He was, however, invited to become a government adviser on commerce and agriculture. It was hurtful. "I came back to L.A. and I didn't know that I was going to create this crazy explosion in the business. Then he would return to Vegas in an attempt to win back what he had lost. That's because of a refugee who built up an empire, and became known as the Donut King, only to lose it all. Where are they now?. She later discovered that they were among the first to be executed by the Khmer Rouge. He had burned a lot of bridges and at the time his children hardly spoke to him. As word of Ted's success spread, Cambodian immigrants started seeking him out when they arrived in Southern California. 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. Ted Ngoy was reaping rewards of that success. From the wall, he leaped onto the roof and crawled through an open window. 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. Then he pulled a knife. In 1978 Vietnamese troops invaded and in 1979 Pol Pot was overthrown, leading to another wave of Cambodian refugees. Once, he enjoyed the warmth of family and the respect of his community. Not many professional gamblers are bipolar women, but Cat Hulbert was one of the best - and she delighted in winning money from men. "When Alice called me, she described something that I have always wanted to tell but never thought that it would get picked up anywhere," Tao says. 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. Theres so much competition. Never give up. 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. "I had true love for her.". He wanted to be with her, but he had no one else to manage the shop. Im Chinese American. It was a humbling experience, and the lowest point in his life. [2], In 1967, Ngoy was sent by his mother to study in the capital, Phnom Penh, where he met and married Suganthini Khoeun, the daughter of a high-ranking government official. If you walk into a doughnut shop in California, the chances are it's owned by a Cambodian family. "It made me homesick," says Ted. Ted Ngoy By 1985, 10 years after arriving in the US as refugees, Ted and Christy were millionaires, owning around 60 doughnut shops. I thought I would just get an exterior scene for context. His doughnut fortune was almost gone. A week later, Suganthini wrote back, and the two began a secret correspondence. Suganthini and her mother heard the music. Christys Doughnuts in La Habra never did great business. He had lost the respect of his family and community. A day before he left, his eldest son said if you have $3.2 million you can buy it. , to name a few outlets), but Alice Gu is the first to put it on film. You cannot resist against it.. 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. One of the tricks he learned was to bake doughnuts in small batches throughout the day to keep them fresh - and because the smell of baking was the best form of advertising. 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. By 1976, Ted had saved up enough money to buy his own shop, which he named Christy's. Doing this film was really an exploration for me of understanding where you come from. She said he would be throwing his money away. At a news conference, he dissolved his party and accused the government of corruption. When the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia in 1975, they knew they couldn't go home. Distraught, she took an overdose of sleeping pills and fell into a coma. Once, he was a poor boy who carried away one of Cambodias wealthiest daughters. "Using money to provide for others is a feeling as powerful as any drug," he later wrote. and California landscape with a familiar coat yellow strip mall signs with red lettering reading Christys Donuts. They had lost their beautiful home and their chain of shops, but still had enough money to live comfortably. Ted managed to escape on the last flight out of Phnom Penh but Suganthini's parents were left behind. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. He is nicknamed the "Donut King. Thank you for investing in your neighborhood. LAist is part of Southern California Public Radio, a member-supported public media network. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975, and the Cambodian genocide began. It was really wonderful. I never loved you.' 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. One night, during his shift at a gas station, the scent of freshly baked goods wafted toward him. Soon, Cambodians began copying the Ted Ngoy business model. Gu's documentary, It smelled delicious and when he first tasted one it reminded him of something from home - a fried pastry, also circular, called nom kong. Christy would search for him in the casinos, the children in tow. Today, at 62, the doughnut king is broke, homeless and dependent on the goodwill of his few remaining friends. Over the years, he says he sponsored more than 100 Cambodian families that wanted to come to the U.S. It's something Ted feels a bit bad about. 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 family members worked 17 hours a day and saved for a year. She would forgive him when he promised to stop, and he would -- for a while. TED NGOY HAD an unrelenting obsession during his 1975 plane ride from Southeast Asia to Southern California. Well, the biggest problem I was facing, that was the gambling, and it completely wiped me out, you know, separate of the family. Don't die. According to Gu, Christy's family brought her into the room and Ted started reciting his speech. It was small amounts first but he was soon blowing bigger figures and he couldn't seem to stop. These are kids who are American educated. In the end, filming the documentary was a healing experience for Ted. He borrowed money from relatives who had leased his doughnut shops. Ted became their first South East Asian trainee. His sponsor told him people will have their prejudices but they mean well. "Well, it is because I've fallen in love with you," Ted replied. Rose Donuts and Cafe "We were happy - until the gambling came to wreck my life. Despite the villa's armed security guards and guard dogs, one rainy night Ted climbed up a coconut tree and over the barbed wire and made his way in through a bathroom window. Like Ngoy, most of the people who leased his stores were Chinese Cambodian. 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. Mag's Donuts "Some of them were cousins, uncles, nieces," says Ted. 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. If you can dream it, they're probably mixing it somewhere on property. They arranged a meeting for the couple at a relatives house, where Ngoy was expected to formally end their romance. 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. He built a donut empire and $20 million in wealth, but his fortune built on donuts would crumble and he would lose it all. Dear reader, we're asking you to help us keep local news available for all. The gambling is sad, the saddest part of my life.". Sent to the city to study, Ngoy met the beautiful Suganthini Khoeun who was the daughter of a government. And he has a new goal. These are all people who present day you dont associate with welcoming refugees with open arms. Cambodian Americans control an estimated 80 percent of the donut market in California thanks largely to one man- Ted Ngoy, otherwise known as The Donut King. And he saw an opportunity. in Pasadena, "I spent about $100,000 of my own money, my time, my everything," he says. Ted began to look for more doughnut shops to buy and lease to fellow refugees. 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