LA is Home to a Growing Native Hawaiian Diaspora

Each year, tens of thousands gather at Alondra Park in Lawndale, California, to celebrate the Ho'olaule'a Festival, the largest Hawaiian cultural event in Los Angeles. The vibrant festival is a powerful symbol of the enduring ties that Native Hawaiians maintain with their heritage — even 2,500 miles from the Islands. Southern California, especially LA County, now hosts the largest concentration of Native Hawaiians outside of Hawaii, a reflection of a decades-long migration driven by economic factors, educational opportunities, and a strong sense of community connection.

As reported by Christine Hitt, the draw of Los Angeles lies in its established Hawaiian cultural infrastructure, including hula schools, civic clubs, music concerts, and aloha festivals. These provide a “Hawaii-adjacent” life for many who feel cultural longing but find comfort in a robust pan-Pacific Islander community. Leaders like Ipo Alkhaldi and Heather Heleloa, both active in community-building and cultural preservation, help connect diasporic Hawaiians through digital platforms and civic engagement. Their work also highlights the evolving nature of Hawaiian identity, which now includes those born and raised on the mainland with varying degrees of connection to Hawaii itself.

While some Native Hawaiians relocate due to Hawaii's high cost of living and limited job prospects, many — like filmmaker Christen Marquez — grapple with broader issues of displacement tied to colonization and historical loss of land. Through storytelling, activism, and cultural expression, Marquez and others are reshaping the narrative of what it means to be Hawaiian in the diaspora. For them, Los Angeles is not just a place of residence — it’s a space where generations of Hawaiians continue to thrive, find solidarity, and preserve their culture far from home.