Encino-Based Company : Creators of Iranian Yellow Pages Let Culture Do Talking

When Sohrab Rostamian moved his family from Iran to Los Angeles in 1979, he was planning a career in agriculture, drawing on the strength of a science degree from Pahlavi University.

But “I found no openings for Iranians with a background in agriculture,” he said. “I thought, ‘Well, I can open a gas station or a liquor store, or I can do something I like.’ ”

Today, Rostamian is co-owner of the Encino-based Iranian Yellow Pages, the largest and oldest Iranian telephone directory in Southern California. Founded in 1980 by Rostamian and Bijan Khalili, a college classmate and fellow immigrant, the annual publication is one of several ethnic phone directories available in Los Angeles County.

Commonplace in businesses owned or operated by Chinese, Korean, Thai, Hungarian, Israeli and Armenian immigrants, such specialized phone books attempt to capitalize on ethnic identity among emerging immigrant groups.

‘Taking Root’ “A publication like this can be a sign that (an immigrant) community is taking root,” said Rostamian. “This is what we hope is happening with the Iranians.”

Rostamian and Khalili publish their Iranian Yellow Pages through their Ketab Corp. At its location in an office building, which doubles as an Iranian bookstore and a library, they are celebrating what they say is their first profitable edition of the book, a slick-looking, 338-page directory.

Rostamian, 35, of Westlake Village, and Khalili, 34, of Van Nuys, were driven from Iran by a revolution led by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who overthrew Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi in August, 1979. Today, the two are part of a group of Iranians living in the San Fernando Valley, one of several Iranian communities scattered through Southern California.

Estimates provided by various immigrant sources of the number of Iranians living in the Southland range from a state government count of 110,000 to unofficial estimates of up to 300,000. Drawn from all segments of Iranian society, the immigrants have long been strongly divided along religious and political lines.

Growing Community Rostamian and Khalili, for example, are members of what they say is a growing community of Iranian Jews centered in Canoga Park and Encino.

Working with membership lists from Iranian support agencies, Rostamian and Khalili began their business in a small office on Ventura Boulevard, selling ads and listings for $880 per page. Each year, the phone books are delivered free to Iranian homes and businesses in Southern California.

The 1981 edition of the Iranian Yellow Pages contained a meager 96 pages and was a money-loser, Rostamian said. The 1982 edition, although still unprofitable, grew to 242 pages. By 1983, it was 330 pages.

The 1984 edition remained about the same size, but by then Rostamian and Khalili had expanded their operation, moving to their present location and opening the bookstore. A group of Iranian salesmen had been hired on a commission basis, a secretary was brought on board and an English-Farsi computer was installed.

Rostamian said he expects the 1985 edition of the phone book to approach 500 pages. He plans to print 25,000 copies of the book, delivering most of them using a mailing list that he said includes 10,000 Iranian homes and businesses across the United States--most of them in Southern California. The rest of the books will be distributed by area Iranian restaurants and businesses.

Rostamian believes that his phone books will reach a large proportion of Southern California’s Iranian community. He also believes that the publication’s recipients accurately reflect the size and scope of the area’s Iranian population.

Covers One-Quarter of Homes The company’s computerized mailing list, for example, includes 1,682 Iranian residences in the San Fernando Valley, 873 homes in the Beverly Hills-Inglewood area, 300 in Pasadena, 198 in Alhambra and 174 in Long Beach. Rostamian guesses that his list covers one-quarter of the Iranian homes in each of these areas.

The book is printed in both Farsi and English on thick yellow paper. It is about three-quarters of an inch thick and, consistent with Farsi, reads from right to left.

The inside pages are filled with advertisements and phone listings, the ads are grouped by type of business, using the Farsi alphabet. In most cases, company names and phone numbers are printed in English, while everything else is in Farsi.

The book also contains a listing of emergency phone numbers, intricate astrological tables, metric conversion charts and full-page maps of Iran and the United States. In a section listing names and numbers of government agencies, a two-page chart lists major Iranian support groups, ranging from the Islamic Center of Los Angeles to an alumni organization called “The Gathering of the former Teachers, Graduates, Employees of Pahlavi University.” (Rostamian is a founder of the alumni group.)

The book also lists area codes for places in the United States and Iran near an elaborate description of overseas dialing methods.

As in most phone books, names of doctors, insurance agents, real estate brokers and attorneys appear in abundance, along with foreign markets, dentists and travel agencies. Unlike most phone books, there are few listings for banks, nightclubs or government agencies.

A few of the more offbeat listings include an ad for a Los Angeles marble dealer and a “Breast Feeding Consultant” who speaks Farsi. Under bookstores, Ketab Corp. is the only listing. Under health clubs, the only entry is for “Perfect Body” of Santa Monica.

Except for massage parlors, Rostamian said the book is open to all advertisers. Although most of the listings name Iranian-owned businesses, non-Iranians, most of them lawyers and doctors, occasionally purchase ads.

Using profits from the Yellow Pages, Rostamian and Khalili hope to expand the Iranian bookstore, which occupies most of the Ketab offices. The store now stocks about 1,500 Iranian titles, from Farsi translations of Sherlock Holmes to political and religious tracts. (Rostamian says the company’s hottest-selling title is an English-language version of a popular Iranian cookbook.)

A 7,000-volume library was recently opened in the rear of the bookstore, and there are plans for a small art gallery.

Rostamian pointed to a small stack of “I love Iran” bumper stickers on display in one of the counters.

“They’re selling pretty well,” he said. “You’d be surprised.”