Upon arriving in the country, he wanted to start a business, but it would have been too expensive to start a photo lab right away, he said.
Operating an ice cream truck was his temporary way to save money for equipment, but seven years since starting his company, La Palma Ice Cream, a love for children has taken over and Petrosian has no plans to give up the new job.
"Not everybody likes children," he said. "I like children and when they see me they get happy. I like that."
Still, working with children does present some serious safety issues for ice cream truck operators, he said.
Though there have been no ice cream truck-related accidents in Glendale in the past 10 years, any vehicle that attracts children should be a red flag for drivers, Glendale Police Officer John Balian said.
"Kids have a tendency to dart across the street and we want motorists to be aware so no kids get hit by the vehicles," Balian said. "When there's an ice cream truck, there's going to be kids in the neighborhood."
Safety concerns are always on the mind of Petrosian, who has a video camera mounted into the rear door of his custom Dodge truck with a live feed of it routed to a monitor above the steering wheel.
"It's a very dangerous job," he said.
It's a job also made difficult by city regulations for ice cream trucks that limit the distance a truck can be from a school or park, he said.
But in the residential neighborhoods, where young customers tend to come in groups and with parents in tow, business is good, he said.
"Sometimes we eat too much," South Orange Street resident Matilda Nuñes, 6, said. "We have to. It's hot."
