Little Saigon celebrates 35 years

Following the Fall of Saigon, refugees fleeing the Communist regime in Vietnam were first taken to temporary refugee camps in Camp Pendleton; Fort Chaffee, Arkansas; Eglin Air Force Base, Florida; and Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania. OC Supervisor Andrew Do and his family went to the camp in Arkansas.

Spaghetti replaced pho noodles, and they learned to adapt to the intense heat of Arkansas’ summers.

Then, the family learned of Westminster, and its abundant job prospects, yearlong nice weather and the UC education system. So the family moved, settling down off of Westminster Avenue and Bushard Street.

Here, Do and his family also found community with other Vietnamese refugees who had settled in the area.

“To be able to come here and get that flavor of home, it was transformational in the way that you think about what life means to you, what’s important in your life,” Do said.

He was speaking at a press conference to mark the 35th anniversary since then–Gov. George Deukmejian designated the area as Little Saigon in 1988. The freeway signs placed on the busy 405 Freeway “acknowledged the existence of an ethnic community,” Do said, noting it was at a time when “there was a lot of hostility” against the Vietnamese American population.

And now, words like pho and banh mi have become part of the “American psyche” because of that designation, Do said.

To commemorate the occasion, Do said, his team is “working with our county staff and with our lobbyists at all levels, state and federal, to work to get an official U.S. Department of Interior, historic designation of Little Saigon.”

The county will work with the cities of Westminster, Garden Grove and Fountain Valley to get this recognition because it will help the Little Saigon community to “be an entity and go out there and market itself and to be able to raise funds,” Do said.

With the Olympics happening in Los Angeles in 2028, the historical designation, Do said, will “become known on all of the Olympic brochures and promotionals.”

Westminster Mayor Chi Charlie Nguyen was also present at the press conference, and Do said he would be working with the city to erect an archway over Bolsa Avenue at the south entrance to Little Saigon.

“I have committed $1 million of my own offices’ budget for the construction of the archway,” Do said. “I will also allocate another $500,000 for the artwork that will go on the archway.”

The gateway arch to Little Saigon, Nguyen said, is “a crucial and needed project to beautify the area.”

And Do also said his team will “prepare plans in the near future to build the Vietnamese Cultural Center” in Miles Square Regional Park.

“I believe that to have a cultural center for our community in a regional, county park is the greatest acknowledgment of our presence, of our contributions,” Do said.

Westminster city staffers previously discussed plans to convert Bolsa Avenue from a six-lane roadway to a four-lane roadway, but those plans are still “very preliminary,” Nguyen said.

Eric Corona, a representative from Caltrans, District 12, said the state’s transportation authority will mark the 35 years since Little Saigon was officially designated by installing 10 new signs along the 22 Freeway in Garden Grove. The signs will be brown in color, indicating the cultural interest area.

While Assemblymember Tri Ta, who represents Little Saigon, was not present, his chief of staff Emanuel Patrascu said Ta introduced legislation to designate a portion of the 405 Freeway from Bolsa Chica Road to Magnolia Street as Little Saigon Freeway.

The 35th anniversary celebrations will continue on Saturday, June 10 with a commemorative event at Asian Garden Mall from 4-7:30 p.m. More information is available on the event website.

Source: Orange County Register