WORKING THEIR WAY UP IMMIGRANTS BRING STRONG WORK ETHIC, ENTREPRENEUR SPIRIT TO ACHIEVE THE AMERICAN DREAM.

Byline: Evan Pondel Staff Writer

When Healthon Luu fled Cambodia almost three decades ago, hard work meant living in a labor camp and digging trenches with little food to eat.

A can of porridge would have to sustain at least a dozen people. And with little muscle to swing his pickax, Luu ate the leaves from a nearby jungle for sustenance.

For an educated man in his early 20s, a cane and muddy feet replaced the starched shirts and shiny shoes he envisioned wearing at the time.

Today, Luu is still not wearing fancy clothes, searching for answers to those lost years in the shelves of doughnuts he stocks every morning at his Van Nuys store. But what he does know is that hard work has always played a critical role in his ability to survive. And now he has a thriving business to complement his work ethic.

For immigrants throughout Southern California, working long hours and saving every penny is a far better life than the poverty and political strife they faced in their native countries. And for that reason, ``immigrants of all types bring a strong work ethic and spirit of entrepreneurship to Southern California,'' said Abel Valenzuela, associate professor and director of the Center for the Study of Urban Poverty at UCLA. ``Though many immigrants get here and see that the streets are not paved with gold, they do eventually find jobs, whether they're entrepreneurs starting small businesses, or entrepreneurs doing day labor.''

In the last four years, immigrants accounted for all of the net employment gains in the United States, according to the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. During the same period, immigrants represented about 82 percent of the additional 398,000 jobs in Los Angeles, Ventura, San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange counties.

``Immigrants now have the ability to find support for their entrepreneurial ventures, something they didn't have 20 years ago,'' said Cooke Sunno, director of the Asian Pacific Islander small business program, a nonprofit organization that provides grants for immigrants who are starting businesses in Southern California. ``Also helping immigrants' cause is that multiculturalism is now woven into the fabric of our society. And non-immigrants are now venturing into the marketplace of other cultures.''

Pete Ojeda, 61, arrived in the United States three decades ago, understanding that as hard as he worked in Mexico, he could be earning significantly more in this country.

``When I was in Mexico, I was real popular, you know, a good-looking guy. But I also was in very poor condition, financially speaking,'' he said. ``So I decided to come here, with the expectation I would not stand in the line at the welfare office. I believed in hard work and honesty. You know, doing something positive.''

So in the late 1970s, Ojeda purchased a dry cleaning business in Covina for about $38,500. His wife already had experience operating a press, ``and it just seemed like a good opportunity for us.''

With little support though, Ojeda's success petered out in the late 1980s after an investment soured.

He spent the next 15 years working 16 hours a day, six days a week without a vacation. ``And I finally plan on retiring, probably in the next year or so,'' he said. ``When I look back on my life, I know I've worked hard. But now I'd like to go to Europe. I think Germany will be my first stop. And then Italy. I like Portugal, too.''

The extent of Ojeda's success isn't common, although today more immigrants are gaining access to entrepreneurial programs.

Demetrios ``Jimmy'' Loizides opened George's Greek Cafe in 1997 in Long Beach, with $20,000 on his credit cards and an $8,000 loan from the city.

Last year, the Greek Cafe turned its first profit, and Loizides was recently able to open another restaurant in downtown Los Angeles.

``I remember going to my dad's work, and his employer had him washing dishes. It brought tears to my eyes seeing this. And from that day on I thought to myself, Never again,'' said Loizides, whose father is now the ``official greeter'' at the Long Beach restaurant.

Originally from Cypress, they immigrated to Zimbabwe before moving to the U.S. ``But the U.S. has truly been the land of opportunity for us. When I think about this country and everything people do here, I am fortunate we were able to pursue the American dream. We are living it every day,'' Loizides said.

The pursuit of opportunity and success has long been a great lure for potential immigrants. However, a shaky economy could be extinguishing those hopes. As the trade deficit grows deeper, the job market is becoming more difficult to tap for recent immigrants, according to Bruce Brown, an economics professor at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

A dropping U.S. dollar and the shrinking cost of exports is lowering demand for workers in manufacturing plants throughout Southern California. Brown said the result is less opportunity and lower wages for new immigrants.

Even so, Riverside and San Bernardino counties continue to augment their labor force. In October, the counties combined accounted for 26,400 new jobs, a 2.4 percent gain when compared with the same month in 2003. The retail trade sector accounted for a majority of the increase.

``A lot of people are moving into our area because property values and commercial space are less expensive. And many of the new jobs require less skilled workers,'' said Thomas Flournoy, a Riverside-San Bernardino labor market consultant with the Employment Development Department.

Outside the region, the job prospects for newer immigrants remain rather bleak. ``But it's a cycle we've seen before. There are fewer jobs for immigrants, especially when we are close to a recession,'' Brown said.

An influx of immigrants in the last decade is also squeezing the labor market. Even Loizides' potential for success was likely greater in the mid- to late 1990s than it is today, Brown said.

However, with more manufacturing jobs going overseas, the service sector is among the only areas of opportunity. And for that reason, ``many immigrants are opening restaurants and dry cleaners, which require a lot of hard work,'' Brown said. ``But you also have to consider how hard they would be working in their own country.''

``Sometimes I feel tired, getting up at 4 in the morning for work. But when that happens, I just think back to Cambodia,'' said Luu, 47, who puts in about 15 hours of work seven days a week.

Luu came of age when the Communist Khmer Rouge controlled Cambodia in the late 1970s. He was sent to a labor camp in the jungle, where many of the stronger workers carried dead bodies to makeshift graveyards.

After the Communist Vietnamese freed the labor camps, Luu married and fled on foot from Vietnam to Thailand. He eventually found a Cambodian sponsor in Santa Ana who provided the necessary visas to get Luu, his wife and young child out of Thailand.

By the early 1980s, Luu had finally made it to the United States, where he immediately signed up for welfare and enlisted in an electronics course at Santa Ana College.

``A friend of mine was always telling me I should own a business, I just didn't know where to turn,'' he said.

But instead of electronics, Luu turned to doughnuts. He learned how to fry them, glaze them and douse them in chocolate. Whether a cinnamon twist or a buttermilk bar, Luu could separate a good doughnut from the bad. And that's when he started working at Stop in Donuts in Van Nuys.

``The owner offered to give me the place if I paid the monthly payments,'' he said.

And in 1989, Luu took over the doughnut shop, spending about $1,000 a month to cover the costs. Doughnuts became an integral part of his family's life, requiring more time and effort than Luu had ever envisioned. Despite the extra hours, Stop in Donuts not only provided for Luu and his wife, May Khu, it enabled them to send their three children to college, two of whom recently graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles.

``They have always been my priority,'' said Luu, noting he watched his children do their homework every day after school in a booth at his doughnut shop.

``I want them to succeed and have opportunities so they won't have to work like we did.''

Evan Pondel, [phone]

evan.pondel(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Healthon Luu fled a Cambodia labor camp almost three decades ago. He now owns his own doughnut shop in Encino.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer

(2 -- color) After an investment turned sour, Pete Ojeda spent 15 years working 16 hours a day, six days a week, without a vacation.

Bernardo Alps/Staff Photographer