FISH KING

When the Queen of England came to California looking for a royal meal to be served upon her private yacht, Britannia, the call went out to Fish King, a Glendale-based wholesaler and retailer of the finest, freshest seafood and poultry. In fact, for 45 years, The Fish King Seafood and Poultry Company has catered to the discriminating tastes of not only British monarchs, but also local royalty ranging from the late Lucille Ball, Tim Conway, jockey Chris McCarron and newscasters Jess Marlow, and Ann Martin (she especially loves the fresh abalone) as well as a host of others.

Of course, for those who prefer to do the cooking in their own kitchen, Fish King offers a huge selection of every kind of seafood imaginable, including live Maine lobsters, fresh live soft shell crabs, New Zealand orange roughy, Fiji Island albacore, three sizes of grade A shrimp, Seattle butter clams, Canadian Pike, Lake Superior white fish, several types of smoked fish and much more. Fish King also does a brisk business in fresh chicken and turkey.

Hank credits his father, who owned a corner grocery store, with teaching him the importance of customer service and other vital ingredients for success. Hank, a third generation Japanese American, was earning money for college by working part-time at the original Fish King. In 1956, when the owner left the company to run a highly successful shrimp processing business, (Mrs. Friday's Seafood Products), he sold the market to Hank and his Uncle Harry.