The Brief

At the turn of the 21st century, L.A. was the donut capital of the world, with more donut shops per capita than any other city.

Even now, if you take a stroll, there’s a good chance you’ll pass a small mom-and-pop on many street corners.

But how did donuts become such an integral part of L.A.’s urban landscape?

Well, what if I told you that many current donut shops in L.A. and Orange County can be traced back to just one man.

The man, the myth, the Donut King

Ted Ngoy in "The Donut King" documentary.

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Courtesy Greenwich Entertainment

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In 1975, Ted Ngoy found himself in Camp Pendleton, California, after boarding the last passenger plane out of Cambodia to escape the Khmer Rouge.

Ngoy was part of the first wave of Cambodian refugees to come to the United States as their homeland fell into civil war and genocide.

In Southern California, Ngoy worked three jobs to earn money. One of them was at a gas station that just so happened to be attached to a donut shop.

One night, a co-worker offered Ngoy a donut. He took one bite of the fluffy fried dough and his American Dream was cemented.

As the story goes, Ngoy walked right into the donut shop and asked to buy the place. He was promptly laughed at and told to get a job at Winchell’s — which he did.

“Winchell's had this incredible manager training program, and you could go in, learn to bake donuts, learn the very basics, and within about three, six months, you would be handed the keys to your donut shop,” Alice Gu told guest host Austin Cross on LAist’s live public affairs program AirTalk with Larry Mantle. Gu is the filmmaker behind the documentary, The Donut King, which tells the story of Ngoy.

Gu said Ngoy soon became the manager of a Winchell’s in Newport Beach, but he still wasn’t satisfied.

After saving enough money, he eventually went back to the shop where it all began and made good on his original offer. A year later he bought another shop, and then another one.

“It's the complete embodiment of the American spirit and the American dream,” said Gu. “Within three years of landing in California he became a millionaire.”

A castle on every corner

He wanted to share that wealth with his community.

Ngoy wound up sponsoring many Cambodians who came to the United States during the second refugee wave in the late 70s, and he taught them what he knew: donuts.

“He accumulated all these donut shops, but then he would lease them back to them, so they had a chance at the American Dream themselves,” Gu said.

What started out as helping relatives and close friends became an entire niche industry for the Cambodian community.

“So every single donut shop is connected through six degrees of separation to Ted Ngoy,” Gu said.

Ted Ngoy making donuts in "The Donut King" documentary.

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Courtesy Greenwich Entertainment

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A family affair

A cousin of Ngoy started the company B&H that supplied the flour, sugar, and other goods to the donut shops. Another launched a company to manufacture the iconic pink boxes that Ngoy popularized, said Gu.

Why pink boxes? They were 10 cents cheaper than the standard white ones.

“It really became a complete industry within the Cambodian American community,” Gu said. “At his peak, [Ngoy] estimated that he was worth about 20 million. That's actually closer to a hundred million dollars in today's money.”

The king and all his 'donut kids'

“Ted Ngoy was a celebrity,” said Phung Huynh, an artist and educator in Los Angeles. “He was really a superstar for us, seeing somebody who escaped the genocide and was able to make it.”

Huynh heard about Ted Ngoy all the way in Michigan, where her family landed in 1978 after her father fled the Khmer Rouge by riding a bicycle across the border to Vietnam.

“Like many Cambodian refugees, we all wanted to go to California,” said Huynh. “You hear about Ted Ngoy, you hear about all the refugee communities from Cambodia and Vietnam going to California.”

Michelle Sou in a silkscreened portrait on a donut box by artist Phung Huynh.

In 1981, Huynh and her family moved to L.A.

Many in her immediate family became garment workers, but their lives were still inextricably linked to donuts.

“It was very common for a lot of aunties and uncles and family friends to either work in a donut shop or lease a donut shop. That was just like really a part of the culture,” said Huynh.

Ratana Kim in a silkscreened portrait on a pink donut box by artist Phung Huynh.

Now Huynh focuses her art that speaks to second and third generation Cambodian Americans, the self-anointed “donut kids” whose parents operated the stores. She paints portraits of Cambodian refugees on the pink donut boxes that have defined so many of their lives.

“I think when you go to a donut shop, you see happy people greeting you with these donuts but behind the counter is this really complicated history of genocide, of war, of the younger generation finding their place and sometimes being very disconnected and reconnected with their history,” she said.

It’s donuts all the way down

If you’re wondering which shop you can find the Donut King behind the counter now, you’ll be looking for a while.

Gu said after making his fortune, Ngoy developed a gambling problem and lost every penny — and every one of his shops.

“One by one, he literally bet the shops, and one by one, he lost all of his donut shops. It really was quite Shakespearean, or Icarus, if you will,” Gu said.

He now lives in Cambodia, retired from the donut shop business.

But his legacy continues as second and third generation “donut kids” continue to propel their family businesses into the 21st century.

For example, you can visit DK Donuts in Santa Monica, ran by Ngoy’s niece Mayly Tao for some four decades. Now, she operates Donut Princess LA, where the menu includes more trendy flavors and vibrant decorations, but Ngoy’s story can still be tasted in every bite.

The story first appeared on The LA Local.

Federal agents swarmed MacArthur Park on Wednesday afternoon in a joint operation targeted at suspected drug dealers.

Agents also searched six businesses in the Westlake neighborhood and said that at least 18 people were arrested as part of the investigation, which was called “Operation Free MacArthur Park.”

The suspects are allegedly tied to distributing fentanyl and methamphetamine out of the park, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Agents also raided a home in Calabasas and found 40 pounds of fentanyl believed to be part of the network of drugs distributed to MacArthur Park, according to authorities.

Agents in tactical gear and armored vehicles rolled through the neighborhood shortly after 2 p.m., according to images shared over social media, and an agent used a large saw to cut through a metal security door at a business storefront on Alvarado Street, NBC News reported.

The investigation included six businesses in Westlake and a federal indictment names 25 people, with several who have not been found.

Authorities arrested 18 people in connection to suspected drug trafficking in and around MacArthur Park. The suspects were identified in a news conference Wednesday by federal authorities.

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Hanna Kang

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The LA Local

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The raids began Tuesday evening and are expected to continue, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli announced during a press conference outside the park.

He was flanked by agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Los Angeles Police Department. Armored vehicles lined Alvarado Street and more agents in tactical gear stood under the shade of a nearby tree.

“We’re not leaving,” Essayli said. “We’ll come back as many times as we need to.”

The Los Angeles Police Department announced it provided assistance to its federal partners and clarified the investigation was not related to immigration enforcement.

Anthony Chrysanthis, special agent in charge for the DEA’s field office in Los Angeles, reiterated that the federal agency will return to Westlake.

“We will be watching this place every day, all the time. We’ve been gathering evidence for 60 days,” Chrysanthis said. “Privately, we get phone calls every day. ‘What are you doing about this?’ So, if you live in an area where you see drug activity, you can plan a friendly visit from law enforcement.”

Chrysanthis said the operation at the park was chosen because “this place is symbolic to Los Angeles.”

“The communities have to go back to the people. We have to make our city safe again for all people in Los Angeles. So today the message starts,” he said.

Troy Feller, volunteer with the faith-based organization Dream Center, was handing out lunch to people in the park when agents arrived. Feller saw police and agents wearing tactical gear pull up to the park.

“They started wrapping up the area really quickly. We’re out here every week and we have never seen something like this,” Feller said.

Los Angeles city streets will worsen and repairing them will become more expensive unless the city overhauls its approach to maintenance, according to a report from transportation advocacy group Streets For All.

“We’re looking towards a dire future for the streets of Los Angeles if we continue on the status quo,” said Josh Vredevoogd, who heads creative and research for the organization that spearheaded Measure HLA and co-authored the report published in late April.

The critical condition that L.A.’s streets could find themselves in is the result of underinvestment, opting for smaller-scale treatments and delaying compliance with long-standing federal accessibility laws, according to the report.

One of the potential solutions the report names is changing the city’s charter to mandate a five-year infrastructure plan, and that’s the option local leaders have recently angled toward too.

The context behind the report

The Streets For All report picks up on questions that surfaced late last year when transportation advocates noticed the city had halted resurfacing, which treats a street from curb to curb. While some resurfacing has since resumed, the Bureau of Street Services estimates its current budget will only allow 60 lane miles of resurfacing this fiscal year compared to more than 300 lane miles the prior year.

Part of the reason, city officials have said, is the high price of installing curb ramps. According to federal guidelines, curb ramps must be installed in compliance with ADA standards before a road is resurfaced. They come with a high price tag at $50,000 per curb ramp, according to Streets For All.

The city has instead prioritized “large asphalt repairs” this year. That’s a method of patching when there are structural failures like potholes or extensive cracking, "but the entire street doesn't yet need full resurfacing,” said Dan Halden, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Street Services.

By opting for large asphalt repairs, “City lawyers believe ADA repair requirements are not triggered,” Streets For All’s report says.

The report’s findings 

The group's report says that large asphalt repairs end up costing more per square foot than resurfacing, lead to more expensive repairs later and don’t result in any meaningful improvement to street condition.

Halden said large asphalt repairs are a “standard practice in pavement management.”

The report estimates that by not keeping up with curb ramp standards, L.A. will need to spend $4 billion to address its estimated 80,000 ramp backlog.

How does charter reform fit into this?

For years, advocates, namely Jessica Meaney of Investing in Place, have called on the city to create a long-term infrastructure development and maintenance plan, something major cities throughout the U.S. already have.

Vredevoogd said such a plan, known officially as a Capital Infrastructure Program, could include a streamlined method of street maintenance.

“They repave the street. They fix all the curb ramps. They put in new trees. They add Vision Zero improvements,” he said. “That’s what you see happening with more functional Public Works programs in other cities.”

Earlier this week, Mayor Karen Bass released a Capital Infrastructure Program focused on projects for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic games. Bass’ plan is a one-off, though, and long-term infrastructure planning and budgeting isn’t part of the regular course of city business.

One of the recommendations that came out of the Charter Reform Committee earlier this year is to codify the creation of a five-year-long Capital Infrastructure Program in the city charter. If it succeeds, that recommendation would make a plan similar to what Bass released as part of the regular process of planning and budgeting.

The commission also recommended creating a director of Public Works position that would oversee and implement infrastructure planning.

Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez is the head of the city’s Public Works committee.

Her spokesperson, Chelsea Lucktenberg, said the councilmember sees charter reform “as a key part of the solution” to address the problems identified in Streets For All’s report, including how “our system is set up to prioritize short-term fixes over long-term maintenance.”

What’s happening in the shorter term?

Bass’ office said the mayor’s proposed budget for next fiscal year increases funding for the city’s pavement preservation program by 21% and includes a 45% increase specifically for access ramps.

Councilmembers Hernandez and Katy Yaroslavsky put forward a motion at the end of March asking city departments for an analysis of curb ramp construction, including a comparison with comparable jurisdictions.

Halden, the Bureau of Street Services spokesperson, said the city is “on track” to install 300 curb ramps by this summer, when the current fiscal year ends.

While officials are not concerned about an immediate oil shortfall, California consumers are likely to see another price hike in the coming weeks as the war in Iran strains the global market, lawmakers said on Tuesday at a hearing about the uncertain future of the state’s fuel supply.

The hearing came after the final oil tanker to pass through the Strait of Hormuz arrived at the Port of Long Beach this week — the last shipment from the Middle East expected to reach California for the foreseeable future.

“When this tanker is empty, it’s unclear where the next replacement ship will be coming from,” said Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, D-Irvine, and Utilities and Energy Committee chair at Tuesday’s hearing.

Californians have been feeling the pain at the pump since the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran spiked crude oil prices around the world. Today, drivers pay about $6.13 per gallon compared to the national average of $4.48, according to AAA.

While officials do not foresee California running out of oil, consumers should brace for additional price increases.

High gas prices are listed at a Chevron gas station in Los Angeles on March 9, 2026, as gasoline prices surge amid the ongoing war with Iran.

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Frederic J. Brown

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AFP via Getty Images

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“Based on what we’re hearing from the industry and what we have heard, the pricing will move molecules towards California, but it will come at a price,” Siva Gunda, vice chair of the California Energy Commission, said.

Gunda said the costs will come from a bidding war to divert oil from Asian markets to the West Coast.

Ahead of Tuesday’s hearing, a California Energy Commission spokesperson said in a statement that the price spike is due to “the rapid escalation of crude oil prices because of the Iran War. These elevated prices are not unique to California, and prices are continuing to rise globally.”

However, Jamie Court, the head of Consumer Watchdog, a consumer protection group, said that California legislators, along with the state’s oil refiners, should take more responsibility for high prices. In a statement, Consumer Watchdog said oil refiners have been taking advantage of the current war to make record oil-refining profits, and Court said California Gov. Gavin Newsom “chickened out” of price gouging regulation.

“Trump can be responsible for about 70 cents of this because of the crude oil increase, but the rest of the two extra dollars we’re paying at the pump … are on Newsom,” Court said.

Severin Borenstein, professor and faculty director of The Energy Institute, UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, said in the public hearing that the recent spike is just one part of a larger trend.

While higher gasoline taxes and stronger environmental regulations in California play a role in the comparatively high prices — adding about $0.72 per gallon in taxes and $0.50 per gallon in environmental programs, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration — a refinery fire in Southern California in 2015 led to a “mystery gasoline surcharge” driving up prices. Bornstein said this adds about $0.50 per gallon, on top of oil and refining costs.

The Commission’s Division of Petroleum Market Oversight said in the hearing that it’s also taken steps to deal with “branded” retailers like Chevron that have been overcharging California consumers at the pump.

“Everyone should be getting their gas at the generic brands,” Petrie-Norris said.

KQED’s Sara Hossaini contributed to this report.

Following a year-long inquiry into the admissions policies and practices at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, the Trump administration’s Department of Justice alleges that school leadership “intentionally selected applicants based on their race,” to the detriment of white and Asian applicants.

“UCLA’s admissions process has been focused on racial demographics at the expense of merit and excellence — allowing racial politics to distract the school from the vital work of training great doctors,” said Harmeet K. Dhillon, an assistant attorney general for the DOJ.

In a statement, an unnamed UCLA spokesperson responded that the medical school is complying with all federal and state laws.

“The admissions process at [the] David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA is based on merit and grounded in a rigorous, comprehensive review of each applicant. We are confident in our practices and our mission to maintain access to a high-quality education to all qualified students,” the statement said.

How does UCLA admit medical students?

The school’s website lists the following criteria:

• Undergraduate record
• Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) scores
• Letters of recommendation
• Graduate record (where applicable)
• Life experiences (research, volunteerism, clinical, work, leadership, publications)
• Admission interviews
• AAMC PREview Exam scores (for Traditional MD Program Track applicants only)

The DOJ investigation focused on three items: median GPA scores, MCAT scores and the PREview Exam.

What does the DOJ say about academic scores?

The report looks at median GPA and found that based on materials provided to the DOJ, the scores for some applicant groups were lower than others for the 2023 and 2024 admitted classes. Here’s 2023:

How does race matter in the medical field?

The DOJ investigation also takes issue with “a theory that increasing ‘diversity’ of the healthcare workforce will improve healthcare outcomes for Black and Hispanic patients” that it says was promoted by the program’s director showing an “intent to racially discriminate under the guise of saving lives and conceal her true motive to treat certain applicants unfavorably based on their race.”

The investigation also looks at the PREview Exam, which it says asks open-ended questions about whether applicants are from marginalized backgrounds. “By design, this question asks Black and Hispanic applicants to reveal their race so that DGSOM can know and consider it.”

A number of studies suggest that when patients have doctors of the same race (called “concordance”) it leads to better medical results. A 2018 study of Black men in Oakland suggested doctors and same-race patients had better communication that led to better outcomes, and a 2025 study out of UCLA found Hispanic Medicare patients had a lower readmission rate and length of stay when treated by Hispanic doctors.

What is the Trump administration looking for?

In a press release, the department noted that “medical schools use substantial federal financial assistance to train the next generation of doctors,” and that this fuels its “focus on eradicating illegal race politics from admissions at medical schools.”

Still, the administration has also curtailed that funding. Last year, the Republican-backed “big, beautiful bill” that President Donald Trump signed into law capped federal debt for professional degree students—a move that could push students to borrow from private lenders, which provide far fewer protections for loan repayment and don’t offer loan forgiveness.

A history of lawsuits between Trump and UCLA

The Department of Justice has repeatedly gone after the University of California in Trump’s second term. Earlier this year, the department sued the university over allegations that UCLA officials allowed antisemitism on campus, and unsuccessfully demanded a range of concessions to bring UCLA more in line with its ideology, in addition to more than $1 billion in fines. The administration also tried to freeze the university’s research funding, prompting an effort to have the state of California be a backstop.

What happens now?

The DOJ says it wants to find an agreement with the university “to ensure that admissions practices are brought into legal compliance.” A UCLA spokesperson said the university is reviewing the report, but did not outline next steps.

Disclosure: Julia Barajas is a part-time graduate student at UCLA Law.