Special Report: Moving to the Valley : GLENDALE : Restaurant Owner Made the Right Move

Her business has yet to turn a profit, but Elizabeth Hokenson says she made the right call when she traded in her small-town life in San Luis Obispo County to run the Phone Co. restaurant in Glendale.

“A lot of people say I have a lot of guts,” said the Hokenson, 49, who left the small town of Harmony--population 40--last year. She came to Glendale because her husband, who died in 1991, is buried nearby.

She bought the Phone Co., located near the Galleria, in November. An immigrant from Korea, Hokenson has relatives living and running stores and restaurants in Los Angeles’ Koreatown. But Hokenson wanted to operate her business in a safer community.

“Glendale has less crimes,” said Hokenson, who rents an apartment in Glendale with her younger sister.

She also lauded city officials for their pro-business attitude.

So far though, Hokenson’s business--although it has maintained many customers through the change of ownership--has yet to turn a profit, she said.

She said she hopes the restaurant will become a success so that she can set up a college scholarship foundation named after her husband, Gustave John Hokenson, a research scientist who wanted to open his own school, she said.

“He didn’t finish his dream, so I want to do it for him,” she said.