The book
Hawaiian Yellow Pages — for a bigger ʻohana
The masthead is Hawaiian because that is the name of the book. Inside it are Kamaʻāina, Kānaka ʻŌiwi, Pacific Islander, and Island Roots businesses across the U.S. Mainland — and a few rooms abroad — a bigger ʻohana than one blood, and a bigger word than one badge.
Why it exists
One word: Connection.
The culture of Hawaiʻi is a unique mixture of food, music, and language unlike anywhere else — Kānaka, local Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Chinese, Portuguese, Hapa, Haole, and the rest of the kitchen that made the islands taste like home. Many of us were born and raised in that culture, then uprooted to the U.S. Mainland for work, school, or a cheaper roof. The yearning of Hawaiʻi nei, our home, does not clock out: the Pidgin in the parking lot, the songs you grew up on, a plate lunch that is actually a real Hawaiian plate lunch.
Hawaiian Yellow Pages is a book of shops owned by people with a real tie to that culture — so we can find one another, spend time with one another, and support each other’s businesses. Most pages are on the U.S. Mainland. A few live farther out, wherever the ʻohana opened a door.
What we do list
Mainland shops with a real tie to Hawaiʻi’s culture. Kitchens, markets, trucks, catering, hālau, churches, civic clubs, classrooms, and festivals — a shop does not have to be a storefront you can walk into on a Tuesday. A few pages live abroad — Japan and other rooms where kamaʻāina teach, cook, or gather. Tiki rooms and ʻukulele shops that serve this market can take a listing with no owner badge. That is still honest.
Kamaʻāina-owned
Born or raised in Hawaiʻi — local Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Chinese, Portuguese, Okinawan, Puerto Rican, Hapa, Haole, and mixed. The local kitchen.
Kānaka ʻŌiwi–owned
Owned by Kānaka ʻŌiwi: of aboriginal Hawaiian descent, including mixed lineage.
Pacific Islander–owned
Owned by Pacific Islander families of other nations — Samoan, Tongan, CHamoru, Fijian, Marshallese, Māori, and kin across Moananuiākea.
Island Roots
A genuine tie to Hawaiʻi or the Pacific Islands that is not the first three — married in, stationed there, family across the water. Not a weekend vacation.
Use the owner badge that is true. A shop may wear more than one badge on a featured listing. Most of the book is a name, a place, a craft, and a website if they have one. Featured listings carry a story and a photo.
What we do not list
- Businesses and events in Hawaiʻi itself — this is not a Hawaiian islands directory.
- Private emails, home addresses, or anything that would dox a person.
Labels rest on public materials — a site, a news story, a chamber page. If a claim is wrong, we will pull it.
List a business
Basic listings are free. Nothing goes in the book until it is vetted and approved. Or write [email protected].
Operated by a private LLC.