About Cafe 100, Inc.
In 1946, after Richard Miyashiro was discharged from the Army, he opened a diner in his hometown Hilo and named it “Cafe 100” in tribute to the 100th Infantry Battalion.
He had been a member of the 100th Battalion during World War II. This was a unit comprised of Hawaii-born Japanese-American young men who volunteered to fight for America when there was bigotry against them and their families because of the attack on Pearl Harbor. They were the most highly decorated American unit of its size in all of WWII. Many of his buddies were casualties.
The first Cafe 100 was at the corner of Kamehameha Avenue and Manono Street in what was then Waiakea town. Three months after Miyashiro and his wife Evelyn opened his restaurant, the 1946 tsunami hit Hilo hard. Though the restaurant sustained significant damage, they rebuilt and continued on. Along the way they had three daughters.
After years of renting, the Miyashiros built a brand new, bigger Cafe 100 one block away on Manono Street, just across the Wailoa boat ramp. Opening day was May 2, 1960. Twenty-one days later, the most destructive tsunami struck hilo. It completely destroyed the brand new restaurant. The family lived in a two-story home just behind the restaurant. The wave pushed their home and car (with all five of them in it) up the street into a tall mango tree. The Cafe 100 building had saved them.
The present Cafe, Hilo’s first drive-inn restaurant, opened on August 24, 1964. Hamburgers, french fries, the famous beef stew and other plate lunches could now be taken home to be eaten. The first motto was “Meals in 60 Seconds.” The loco moco family expanded to include the Super Loco, the Kilauea Loco and even a vegetarian (garden burger) loco. Any menu item can become a loco as long as it has rice, gravy and an egg.
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