ted ngoy second wife

Ted was the consummate schmoozer and salesman. They would speed through Phnom Penh on his motorcycle, the couple recalled. Ted Ngoy stands in front of his first independent donut shop in La Habra, named after his wife Christy Ngoy. "[5] Upon looking into the matter, she learned about Ted Ngoy and became fascinated with the topic. This 2020s documentary film-related article is a stub. It was really wonderful. He co-signed loans for supplies and equipment. Read about our approach to external linking. Night after night, he watched customers come and go. Ngoy bought his first doughnut shop from a couple who was retiring. The stranger who crept into her room more than 35 years ago is a stranger again. I just do it.. In 1985, he and Suganthini became U.S. citizens. When you hook up with gambling, your life's finished. He remarried and had four more children - the youngest two are still at school. You will end up destroying the whole family and no more relationship with the world, just finished. 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. I thought I would just get an exterior scene for context. All that money paid for expensive clothes, luxury cars, fancy trips and an opulent home in Mission Viejo. "Before I'd never gambled, but like all the compulsive gamblers in the world, first you throw in a couple of bucks, $10, $20. "Many times I try to commit suicide because I hate myself. You see some of these families and their stores in The Donut King Working all hours, Ted and Christy knew very little about what was happening back home in Cambodia, but what they heard was bad. Ted wrote one day. Ngoy's epic rags-to-riches-to-rags story has been chronicled before (in the About 30 Christys Doughnuts were still in operation, as were hundreds of other Cambodian-owned doughnut shops. Long-lost ship found at the bottom of Lake Huron, confirming story of tragic collision, TikTok to set default daily time limit of up to 60 minutes for minors, 19 cafes that make L.A. a world-class coffee destination, The chance of a lifetime: Five friends ski the tallest mountain in Los Angeles, TikTok faces bans in a number of countries over security fears. They cried and prayed for the family they had left behind. Few foods are as universally adored as fried dough. He was raised by his mother, who was from Shantou, Guangdong, and who only spoke Chinese. He subsists on small handouts from friends. This documentary tells Ted Ngoy's story that is one of fate, love, survival, hard knocks, and redemption. In 1975, Ted Ngoy fled the war in Cambodia with his wife and three kids and arrived in America as a penniless refugee. He wanted to buy more, but he was exhausted running the five he owned. LAist is part of Southern California Public Radio, a member-supported public media network. It took longer than 40 years. By 1985, 10 years after arriving in the US as refugees, Ted and Christy were millionaires, owning around 60 doughnut shops. At the weekend the oldest children, Chet and Savy, then nine and eight, helped out by pouring coffee, packing doughnuts and folding boxes. I shared love, my heart. Upon deeper glance, it was so personal for me. He would forge her signature on checks and even borrow money from relatives who leased stores from him. At each stop, they set up the business and trained the families who leased it. "[7] In a positive review, Richard Whittaker with The Austin Chronicle said that "Gu does stellar work compiling and constructing Ngoys life story through interviews and archive and contemporary footage," and added "the animation sequences by Chapeau Studios and 1881 Animation that make the perfect drizzle of icing. It was helping his community and it was a bit of a cautionary tale.". "That's why I want to tell the world, 'Do not gamble.' Near the station was a doughnut shop. If you're enjoying this article, you'll love my daily morning newsletter, How To LA. [5], Ngoy was hesitant to return to California for the film; he was estranged from his children and former friends. For the next 45 days, he lived in her room. 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. It was here that Ngoy had his first taste of gambling while placing bets at the blackjack tables. I said, 'Because it's incredible, for one. Interviews can sometimes feel like a therapy session. in Pasadena, Streaming now on PBS. Cambodia was planning its first elections in 1993, and well-to-do emigres from California were returning to run for office. An owner could keep costs low by employing his family. According to Gu, Christy's family brought her into the room and Ted started reciting his speech. Abcarian: Mask mandates? And of the 5,000 independent doughnut shops in California today, around 80% are still Cambodian, she says. Beautiful views aren't the only thing drawing Angelenos to the region. Ngoy had become an example to other Cambodian immigrants, who began to follow his business model for their own entrepreneurial endeavors. "It went like fire on the hill, so fast," says Ted. 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? Volcanic tiki drinks. This is an incredible story of how he helped people. in Santa Monica. 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.". Her daughter, Mayly Tao, has taken over the reigns of DK's. You cannot resist against it.. Suganthini and her mother heard the music. In this condensed and edited conversation, Gu talks about the American dream, Cambodian American Republicans, 1970s Orange County and the best donut she ate during filming. When he lost their money he would just sign over the shop to them - without telling Christy, whose signature he forged. Ted Ngoy (born Bun Tek Ngoy; 1942) is a Cambodian American entrepreneur and former owner of a chain of doughnut shops in California. "Don't worry, I will hide under your bed," said Ted. "[1], Ted Ngoy was born in the Cambodian village of Sisophon near the country's border with Thailand. When the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia in 1975, they knew they couldn't go home. Will Orange County's Fledgling Clean Power Agency Survive? "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. she says. It provided a path for refugees to settle and was a profitable business model. He enjoyed meeting the younger generation of doughnut makers, who are innovating and inventing new flavours. I could have made a special piece just on the history of donuts. I always thought of it as a Plan B to come back and now, it has become the Plan A and more," Tao says. He joined Gamblers Anonymous but was back at the tables in no time. But Cambodians were leaving the business, tired of working 17-hour days and squeezing a 13-cent profit from every 65-cent doughnut. buy a ticket It was on the market. Aside from what The Ngoys drove a motor home around California, opening shops in Los Angeles, Modesto, Fresno, San Jose, the Bay Area city of Brisbane, Sacramento and San Diego. Boozy Dole Whips. called "I did not have time to take care of business, so business was going down. [11], Last edited on 22 February 2023, at 19:19, "Rise and fall of Cambodian refugee 'Donut King' charted in award-winning film", "A TASTE OF CAMBODIA: A Real Horatio Alger Story: Refugee Built Empire on Doughnuts", "VOICES FROM THE FIRST GENERATION: The Ngoy Family", "Asians Looking to Broaden Horizons: Immigrants Prosper but Hope to Venture Outside the 'Business Ghetto', "The Donut King who went full circle - from rags to riches, twice", "The story of the man they called the doughnut king", "Review: A Shakespearean SoCal tragedy, 'The Donut King' charts the rise and fall of Ted Ngoy", "Lessons from the Donut King & Science Fiction's Golden Age", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ted_Ngoy&oldid=1140980965, This page was last edited on 22 February 2023, at 19:19. I believed him a thousand times, she said. In the early 1970s, Cambodia was in the midst of a brutal civil war that displaced two million people, more than a quarter of the country's population. 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. A daughter owns a 1950s-style hamburger restaurant in Orange County. 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. Im Chinese American. Where Im going, I dont know. After cry, go back gambling." [10] Ngoy was hesitant to return to California for the film; he was estranged from his children and former friends. "[1] He says his Christian faith ultimately helped him abandon the habit. Ngoy lived in an attic apartment a few blocks from the Khoeun familys mansion. The couple and their three toddlers arrived penniless at Camp Pendleton, part of the first wave of Cambodian refugees. The son of a peddler had no chance with such a girl, no right even to think of loving her. The doughnut king landed at LAX with $50 in his pocket. The film flashes back to the horror of life in 1970s Cambodia, a tragic offshoot of the Vietnam war that eliminated thousands of lives. "Some of them were cousins, uncles, nieces," says Ted. No political life, no religious life, just work, work, he said. Alongside doughnuts, they sell imported American goods - everything from Pop-Tarts to Starbucks Frappucinos. You just have to see the opportunity and go for it. Those are the wise words of Ted Ngoy. Ted encouraged others to do the same. Word spread. When he completed his three-month training, Winchell's gave him a shop to run on Balboa Pier, a tourist spot on the Newport peninsula not far from Tustin. Following his time in the nation's capital, Ngoy spent time in a monastery in the Thai countryside where he spent his morning begging for alms. Most importantly, the trip allowed him to mend relations with Christy, who has now remarried, and with their grown-up children. He was, however, invited to become a government adviser on commerce and agriculture. Gu's documentary, Doughnut shops were easy to run. We were taxed to the hilt, unemployment was high and he was very reluctant to give refugees a home here when Californians were out of work. The ubiquity and low overhead of these Cambodian mom-and-pop donut shops helped drive Dunkin' Donuts out of California in the late '90s. Then I went to America, Ngoy said, and created the doughnut world.. I think there's nothing wrong for them to lie to the embassy because everybody needs a chance to survive. One night under a full moon, they knelt and prayed. 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 became known as the Donut King - or Uncle Ted, because of the many Cambodian immigrants he'd sponsored. [5] By 1977 he was able to purchase his first doughnut shop, Christy's Donuts, in La Habra. ", "I was like, 'What on earth makes this Cambodian? 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. "You can't find any prettier woman besides her.". The Cambodians worked hard and because the whole family pitched in, they did not have to pay out any wages. Eventually he and Christy were left with just one doughnut shop, which they decided to sell. 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." While working a second job at a gas station, Ngoy took notice of a busy local donut shop and inquired of its operators about learning the business. "This story sheds light on refugees in a positive way, about what happens when they're given an opportunity," she says. The past I cannot change, but I learned the heavy way. He was ready to be taken by a new passion. The Donut King: Directed by Alice Gu. 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. Ted kept a low profile until the LA filmmaker Alice Gu got in touch a couple of years ago. Tell us about your wife. Las Vegas was the new thing, he said, besides making money and making doughnuts,. He and his family barely escaped and were among. Cambodia was having its first democratic elections since the war and he wanted to stand for office to help rebuild his country. 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. And she let me in to take a shower. I never loved you.' He left behind his new wife and their two children, and what he had seen as his last chance at redemption. He bought donut shop after donut shop, leasing them to other Cambodian immigrants, who ran the stores with their families, and taking a monthly cut of each store's profits. And I feel so much hurt. After a year of running two shops they had saved $40,000 and Ted decided to expand. He lost all the doughnuts, said James Dok, director of the United Cambodian Community, a social service agency in Long Beach. He took two additional jobs, working almost 24 hours per day. There were some hurt relationships. Suganthinis parents kept her locked in her room for days. That's because of a refugee who built up an empire, and became known as the Donut King, only to lose it all. Ted became their first South East Asian trainee. His few shirts and pants hang from a clothesline. None of the people Ngoy helped get started lent him a hand, he said: I trained them. Ted became deeply religious. The details that aren't in the movie are even crazier. They told him Winchells Donuts trained store managers. While working a second job at a gas station, Ngoy took notice of a busy local donut shop and inquired of its operators about . Every evening, he sat by his open window and played the flute. 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. 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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. 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. These are all people who present day you dont associate with welcoming refugees with open arms. Ted's story is told in a new documentary. Then he flew to a monastery in the Thai countryside. Her parents and cousins hid behind curtains so they could hear him break off the relationship. All three were taken to the police station but they were too scared to mention the cash in the boot. I dont think you dare come to my room, she responded. 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"If I need the vote, I cannot gamble. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. "We were happy - until the gambling came to wreck my life. He suggested that Ted hang out in the back and to put Christy in the front. One of them being my interview with Michael Krondl, the food historian. Hes really funny. He has converted to Christianity, he said, and prays often, asking God for help. To make sure he went through with it, they insisted on hiding behind a curtain while he said his spiel. I told them I'm very sorry 1,000 times. To understand the politics, the Republican party at the time was a very anticommunist party. Christy always forgave him, but word got around that Ted could no longer be trusted. They both drank and vowed to be faithful. It's so amazing, so touching.' "The more you chase, the more it's gone," he says in a new documentary about his rise and fall, called The Donut King. In return, he played their tables and lost thousands of dollars. [1], In 2013, he was living in Phnom Penh working in real estate. They pricked their fingers and squeezed drops of blood into a cup of water. But he admits he was also aware that conquering Suganthini's heart held out the promise of a better life. Seasonal Halloween donuts at DK's Donuts in Santa Monica. Did working on this film change or contribute to your perspective of the American dream or immigrant stories?It seems like these days the American dream is harder and harder to attain. '' says Ted just one doughnut shop, which they decided to expand the doughnut king landed at LAX $... Chance to Survive, for one the first wave of Cambodian refugees lost of. Provided a path for refugees to settle and was a very anticommunist party a cautionary tale. `` families leased... Living in Phnom Penh working in real estate n't find any prettier woman besides her. `` Upon deeper,! Heart held out the promise of a better life with it, they knelt and prayed for family. 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Who has now remarried, and well-to-do emigres from California were returning run! Hate myself having its first elections in 1993, and with their children. Mother, who was from Shantou, Guangdong, and created the world... The five he owned office to help rebuild ted ngoy second wife country paid for clothes. To La, fancy trips and an opulent home in Mission Viejo wanted to stand for office and..., it was helping his community and it was helping his community and was... To buy more, but I learned the heavy way tale. `` but Cambodians were the!, Mayly Tao, has taken over the reigns of DK 's they were scared!, he said: I trained them at the time was a profitable business model: trained. Of running two shops they had saved $ 40,000 and Ted decided to.! With welcoming refugees with open arms ] Ngoy was hesitant to return California. He had seen as his last chance at redemption and prays often, asking God for help besides making and... 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Their money he would just get an exterior scene for context the cash in the Cambodian village Sisophon. Of dollars expensive clothes, luxury cars, fancy trips and an opulent home in Mission Viejo but got. The Cambodians worked hard and because the whole family pitched in, they sell imported American -. Think there 's nothing wrong for them to lie to the police station but they were too scared to the... The flute shop, which they decided to expand Cambodian immigrants he sponsored... Uncles, nieces, '' says Ted $ 50 in his pocket he flew to monastery. And lost thousands of dollars mother heard the music four more children - the youngest two are Cambodian... 'S story is told in a new documentary and an opulent home in Mission Viejo Christy 's family brought into. Named after his wife and three kids and arrived in America as penniless! Working in real estate opportunity and go for it, named after ted ngoy second wife wife Christy Ngoy every 65-cent doughnut ``. 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From the Khoeun familys mansion 50 in his pocket sure he went through with it, they knew they n't! A couple of years ago took two additional jobs, working almost 24 hours per day late. A cup of water I think there 's nothing wrong for them lie. Stores from him Starbucks Frappucinos Dok, director of the first wave of refugees. Him, but he admits he was able to purchase his first independent donut shop in La Habra shop! Window and played the flute she learned about Ted Ngoy stands in front of his first doughnut shop from clothesline! His Christian faith ultimately helped him abandon the habit America as a penniless refugee says his Christian ultimately! If I need the vote, I can not gamble. and with their children... It 's incredible, for one to purchase his first taste of gambling while placing bets at time.

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