California Orange County , the first Vietnamese-American business center in Little Saigon, Orange County The oldest, largest, and most prominent Little Saigon is centered in
Orange County, California, where over 189,000
Vietnamese Americans reside. With other
Southern California counties, this region constitutes the largest Vietnamese American (VA) population outside of Vietnam. The community originally started emerging in
Westminster, and quickly spread to the adjacent city of
Garden Grove. Today, these two cities rank as the highest concentration of Vietnamese-Americans of any cities in the United States at 37.1% and 31.1%, respectively (according to the 2011 American Community Survey). About south of Los Angeles,
Westminster was once a predominantly
white middle-class suburban city of Orange County with ample farmland, but the city later experienced a decline by the 1970s. Since 1978, the nucleus of Little Saigon has long been Bolsa Avenue, where early pioneers
Danh Quach and
Frank Jao established businesses. During that year, the well-known
Nguoi Viet Daily News also began publishing from a home in Garden Grove. Other new Vietnamese-American arrivals soon revitalized the area by opening their own businesses in old, formerly white-owned storefronts, and investors constructed large shopping centers containing a mix of businesses. The Vietnamese community and businesses later spread into adjacent Garden Grove,
Midway City,
Fountain Valley,
Stanton,
Anaheim, and
Santa Ana. In Orange County, Little Saigon is now a wide, spread-out community dotted with myriad suburban-style strip malls containing a mixture of Vietnamese and Chinese-Vietnamese businesses. It is located southwest of
Disneyland between the State Route 22 and
Interstate 405. However, the main focus of Little Saigon is Bolsa Avenue (where
Asian Garden Mall and Little Saigon Plaza are considered the heart), which runs through Westminster; the street was officially designated Little Saigon by the
city council of Westminster in the late 1980s. The borders of Little Saigon can be considered to be Trask Avenue and W McFadden Avenue on the north and south and Euclid Street and Magnolia Street on the east and west, respectively. About three-quarters of the population in this area are Vietnamese. Westminster is generally considered the main cultural center of the Vietnamese American community with several Vietnamese-language television stations, radio stations, and newspapers originating from Little Saigon and adjacent areas. At least one radio station broadcast 24 hours a day in Vietnamese and 4 television substations broadcasting in Vietnamese 24 hours a day as of 2009, and several newspapers serve the Vietnamese-American community. Little Saigon has also emerged as the prominent center of the Vietnamese
pop music industry with several recording studios, and with a recording industry many times larger than in Vietnam itself. Vietnamese music recorded in Westminster are distributed and sold in Vietnamese communities throughout the United States and in
Australia,
France, and
Germany as well as illegally in Vietnam. On February 1, 2019, Little Saigon signs were revealed to be installed on Interstate 15.
San Gabriel Valley Due to the large influx and presence of relatively poor ethnic Chinese refugees from Vietnam in the 1980s (which also coincided with the arrival of immigrant elites from
Taiwan and
Hong Kong), the San Gabriel Valley region of
Los Angeles has another important concentration of Vietnamese in Southern California. While not generally referred to as "Little Saigon", the stretch of Garvey Avenue in the working-class
barrios of
Rosemead,
South El Monte, and
El Monte have a relatively heavy but scattered collection of businesses owned mainly by majority ethnic Chinese Vietnamese with a growing number of ethnic Vietnamese residents and business owners as well. Many of these businesses are housed in tiny strip malls while others occupy freestanding, aging buildings. These Vietnamese businesses are very gradually replacing businesses owned by Hispanics. Rosemead is the Vietnamese center of the San Gabriel Valley. One particular shopping center in Rosemead, called Diamond Square, is anchored by the
Taiwanese American chain 99 Ranch Market (now closed) and contains various Chinese Vietnamese small businesses and a food court catering to local Asians. The Diamond Square is now closed, replaced by The Square anchored by
Korean American stores. The 99 Ranch Market is replaced by the Square Supermarket. It remains a major hub for working-class Vietnamese and
Mainland Chinese expatriates residing in the area. Many Vietnamese of ethnic Chinese origin also tend to own various businesses - especially supermarkets, restaurants, beauty parlors, and auto repair shops - in the main general mixed-Chinese commercial thoroughfares of Garvey Avenue in
Monterey Park, California and Valley Boulevard in
Alhambra, California,
San Gabriel, California, and Rosemead. There are already several phở and bánh mì eateries represented along Valley Boulevard. The
Sriracha hot sauce manufacturer
Huy Fong Foods (known for its rooster logo and found in countless Vietnamese restaurants) is owned by a Chinese Vietnamese refugee named David Tran and was originally located in
Chinatown, Los Angeles but it relocated to its larger facility in Rosemead. In 2005, John Tran became the first Vietnamese American to be elected to a seat on the city council of Rosemead. Since 2006, he has been the mayor of the city, a position that is held by rotation among the council members.
San Jose . Comprising over 180,000 residents, about 10.6% of the population, (as of the 2010 U.S. Census)
San Jose's Vietnamese community is comparable to the one in Orange County. San Jose has more Vietnamese residents than any single city outside of Vietnam. The Viet Museum had its grand opening August 25, 2007.
Sacramento With a large and growing Vietnamese American population, in February 2010, a stretch of Stockton Boulevard in
Sacramento from Florin Road to Fruitridge Road has been officially named "Little Saigon". Although settlement of Vietnamese refugees began during the 1980s, large numbers of Vietnamese have moved from the
San Jose area to the Sacramento area since the late 1990s and 2000s (decade) (especially after the
dot-com bust in Silicon Valley). People were drawn to the area by lower housing prices, lower cost of living, and Vietnamese and Chinese enclaves. The large Asian supermarket
Shun Fat Supermarket (a small Southern California-based chain owned by a Chinese Vietnamese American) opened in 2000 to cater to the local community and anchors Pacific Plaza. One of the First Vietnamese-Chinese owned supermarkets was Vinh Phat Supermarket.
SF Supermarket is a prominent fixture at the intersections of 65th and Stockton Boulevard. This center also houses Huong Lan, which is famous for Vietnamese
banh mi sandwiches. In 2010, a new
99 Ranch Market opened on Florin Road. The strip of Stockton Boulevard has a great number of Vietnamese and Chinese restaurants and many places for ethnic foods, such as
phở and boba. There are nearby Vietnamese Chinese shopping centers planned for development, including Little Saigon Plaza (to be anchored by a supermarket) that is to be developed by prominent San Jose-based Vietnamese American developers. Other current shopping centers sport names such as Little Vietnam and Pacific Rim Plaza. As a testament to the area's burgeoning Vietnamese community, the Southgate branch (66th Avenue, near Stockton Boulevard) of Sacramento Public library carries a large collection of Vietnamese materials.
San Francisco In early 2004,
San Francisco officially designated Larkin Street between Eddy and O'Farrell streets as "Little Saigon" (
Sài Gòn Nhỏ). Located in the
Tenderloin district where 2,000 of the city's 13,000 Vietnamese-American residents live, the two-block stretch is more than 80% Vietnamese-owned. Unlike San Jose, with its larger ethnic Vietnamese population, the ethnic Chinese from Vietnam are well represented in San Francisco due to self-segregation. Banners and directional signs have already been posted. A formal symbolic entrance was erected in July 2008, akin to those for San Francisco's Japantown and Chinatown (albeit smaller). estimates that there are approximately 8,000 people of Vietnamese origin or descent living in Oakland, largely concentrated in Eastlake. Vietnamese businesses are concentrated along International Boulevard and East 12th Street in the district, and include Oakland's Sun Hop Fat market, a fruit and grocery store that was one of the first. The Oakland Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce organizes the annual
Vietnamese Mid-Autumn Festival, in Clinton Square Park at the intersection of East 12th Street and 7th Avenue.) and
Pokémon Go developer
Niantic organized a "Summer Fest" centered on Pokémon Go events and local food, along with
retro video games made available by the
Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment and
COVID-19 testing and
vaccinations.
Colorado A growing Vietnamese commercial district has emerged on Federal Boulevard between the Far East Center shopping complex between West Alameda and West Mississippi Avenues in
Denver, Colorado, with Vietnamese cuisine eateries and various businesses. With the leadership of business owners, the Vietnamese American Community of Colorado, Denver Asian Pacific Commission and Denver City Councilman Paul Lopez, the Little Saigon Business District was formed honoring its rich Vietnamese culture in 2014. There is also a growing Vietnamese population in
Aurora, Colorado, specifically in an area bordered to the north by Alameda Avenue, to the south by E. Hampden Avenue, to the east by Chambers Road, and to the west by Havana Street. There are currently about 21,000 Vietnamese people living in the Denver-Aurora-Boulder Metro Area.
Florida A thriving Vietnamese quarter called "Little Saigon" exists in the
Colonialtown district of
Orlando, Florida. The neighborhood has become a landmark in the city of Orlando and consists of a growing number of restaurants, groceries, and Vietnamese professional offices that serve the local Vietnamese community with everything from taxes to medical and dental care. Stores supply Asian pop culture to the community in the form of
karaoke bars, bubble tea shops, Vietnamese video and music shops, and stores featuring candies and collectibles from across Asia. The heart of the district is the intersection of East Colonial Drive /
Highway 50 and Mills Avenue, also known as the "Vi-Mi" district. The Orlando Vietnamese community has its roots in war refugees seeking a new life in America after the fall of Saigon. Notable pro-democracy activists, such as Thuong Nguyen Foshee, who was just recently released from prison in Vietnam, call Orlando their home. The Vietnamese Community in Orlando, along with institutions like Chua Bao An, St. Philip Phan Van Minh Church, Vietnamese Baptist Church, and groups such as The Vietnamese Association of Central Florida, strive to maintain their heritage as well as share their culture with the rest of Orlando. Annual events, such as the numerous Tet New Year Celebrations at the Central Florida Fairgrounds and across the city, help spread Vietnamese culture and promote diversity throughout Orlando.
Georgia There are many Vietnamese businesses located in the mixed-Asian – that is, co-existing with ethnic
Korean and
Chinese businesses – commercial and cultural strip of
Buford Highway in
Doraville and
Chamblee, which are working-class suburbs in
DeKalb County north of
Atlanta. Although a fair number of post-war Vietnamese refugees settled in Atlanta earlier, many Vietnamese Americans from California and other parts of the United States have been relocating into the Atlanta area to establish a fairly large presence since the 1990s. Metropolitan Atlanta is home to one of the fastest-growing Vietnamese populations in the world.
Gulf Coast It is estimated that there are 40,000 Vietnamese-Americans in the
Gulf Coast, and 1 in every 4 fishermen from the area is Vietnamese-American.
Alabama Vietnamese-Americans make up one-third of the population in the fishing hamlet of
Bayou La Batre. A majority of the community work in the seafood industry, while a smaller percentage work in the shipbuilding industry. The eastern side of the city is nicknamed "Little Vietnam" due to the high number of Vietnamese-American residents. Vietnamese businesses have been sustained by the social integration of the Vietnamese and mainstream cultures. The city also sees, within the Vietnamese American community, a large sub-community of
Amerasians. Many were brought to the US through the
Amerasian Homecoming Act and relocated to the area due to similarities in environment and industry to what they were accustomed to.
Louisiana Louisiana is home to many Vietnamese, many of whom especially engaged in traditional fishing. Both Louisiana and Vietnam had been
French colonies.
New Orleans has several areas with a concentration of Vietnamese-American businesses. The largest among these communities is located around
Village de L'Est, which includes significant community and commercial institutions such as Mary Queen of Vietnam Church and
Dong Phuong Oriental Bakery. There is a Vietnamese business section in
Baton Rouge, located near the 12000 block of
Florida Boulevard (part of
U.S. Route 190), which consists of restaurants, grocery stores, and other various businesses, even found throughout some other sections of the city. In 2008,
Anh "Joseph" Cao made history after being elected to
Congress as a
Republican from Louisiana's heavily
Democratic 2nd congressional district, which includes most of New Orleans. Cao served one term, and was the first person of Vietnamese ancestry ever elected to the U.S. Congress.
Mississippi A small "Little Saigon" can be found on Oak Street in
Biloxi. Many Vietnamese Americans relocated to southern Mississippi due to the similar environment and industry they were accustomed to back in Vietnam. The Vietnamese American labor force in this area is usually spread between the fishing, gambling, and shipbuilding industries.
Illinois Argyle Street in the city of
Chicago contains a Little Saigon district, and it has become the hub of vibrant Vietnamese culture in the city. It is referred to by Chicagoans as the "New Chinatown", little Saigon, or most commonly Argyle. Argyle is easily accessible from the
CTA Red Line's
Argyle station.
Kentucky Louisville has an unofficial Vietnamese district, dubbed "Little Saigon" by
TARC drivers back in the 1990s, centered on areas near South 3rd Street and Southside Drive, primarily in the
Southside neighborhood. Although Vietnamese-American businesses, institutions and population etc. have spread to other parts of the county, they are still primarily concentrated near
Iroquois Park, to its east, in the
40214 zip code.
Massachusetts Dorchester, Massachusetts, a neighborhood of Boston, is home to a major Vietnamese business center in the Northeast. It serves some 75,000 Vietnam-born Americans in the Boston-Worcester area as well as those in surroundings states such as Connecticut and Rhode Island. Communities there are served by a number of Viet-organized social service agencies (such as The Southeast Asian Coalition in Worcester Viet-AID, the Vietnamese American Initiative for Development) and some religious and publicly funded organizations. Native Vietnamese who speak fluent Vietnamese, whether or not they live in Boston, are recruited for work here. The "X" in
Springfield is a magnet for Vietnamese businesses and the locus of Vietnamese settlement in western Massachusetts, including restaurants, businesses and a Vietnamese community center.
Missouri Kansas City is home to more than 10,000 Vietnamese immigrants. A sizable Vietnamese population along East Truman Road, Independence Avenue & River Market area (Garrison Square) sprung up various businesses including
phở restaurants, nail salons, hair salons, video gift stores, cell phone stores, pool halls and jewelry stores. One of the new "Little Saigons" can now be found on North Oak Trafficway in Kansas City Gladstone neighborhood.
St. Louis also has a large Vietnamese immigrant population. The majority of restaurants and stores are in "South City" on or near Grand Avenue.
Michigan While not titled a "Little Saigon", the suburban community of
Madison Heights in the
Detroit area has become a center of Vietnamese commerce. Located on John R Road and on Dequindre Road, several Vietnamese markets,
Phở noodle soup restaurants, movie/music stores, several nail supply stores, herbal stores, and beauty salons have cropped up along two streets. Besides Madison Heights, the
Grand Rapids and
Holland areas have a small Vietnamese enclave.
Inkster has a neighborhood known as "Little Saigon," though this is in reference to the Vietnam war and not Vietnamese people or culture. "Little Saigon" is a collection of housing projects along Inkster Road and Annapolis where bullet holes and boarded windows are common.
Nebraska 10,832 Vietnamese people live in
Nebraska as of 2024, mostly concentrated in
Lincoln and
Omaha. Lincoln was designated a "refugee-friendly" city by the U.S. Department of State in the 1970s, and has been a federally designated refugee resettlement site since the '80s. There are many businesses along Lincoln's 27th St. Lincoln has a Buddhist Center and Omaha has a Buddhist Temple. Vietnamese is the third-most spoken language in the state, after Spanish and English.
New Mexico Albuquerque,
New Mexico has a small "Little Saigon" community with various Vietnamese restaurants and businesses on and around
Central Avenue in the city's
International District.
New York New York City's unofficial "Little Saigon" Vietnamese community exists near the intersection of the
Bowery and
Grand Street. Although small compared with nearby
Chinatown, the area is differentiated by the large presence of Vietnamese stores as compared with Chinese stores.
North Carolina In
Charlotte, Central Avenue (near Briar Creek Road) is the original "Chinatown" consisting of "Saigon Square" and a pair of other Chinese/Vietnamese shopping plazas that include "Dim Sum Restaurant" (which serves New York-style dim sum), the "Eang Hong Supermarket", "Van Loi" (which serves cha shao), and a dozen or so other stores. Saigon Square has various Vietnamese (albeit not Chinese) stores including
Phở Hòa (Vietnamese noodles). Asian Corner Mall on North Tryon Street and Sugar Creek Road, developed from the defunct Tryon Mall in 1999, with "Dragon Court Restaurant", "Hong Kong BBQ", "International Supermarket", and "New Century Market" and several other Chinese/Vietnamese stores. There are also areas in
Greensboro where Vietnamese-run businesses (including stores and restaurants) are prevalent.
Oklahoma Oklahoma City has a significant Vietnamese American business district and ethnic neighborhood located in the center part of the city. While it is officially known as
Asian District by the city, due to the abundant Asian diversity of the neighborhood (similar in many respects to
International District in Seattle), much of the original Little Saigon portion centers along Military Drive and NW 23rd Street between North Classen Boulevard and North Shartel Avenue. Tens of thousands of Vietnamese refugees were relocated to Oklahoma City during the 1980s. Over time, they have established businesses in a gentrified area to the west of the
Uptown NW 23rd and Classen Boulevard business districts and the area begun to be known as a
Little Saigon. The original Little Saigon area features numerous
phở cafés, Vietnamese bakeries and restaurants, and
Asian supermarkets. There are also numerous hopping nightclubs, karaoke, and video bars joining the growing list of
Chinese,
Thai,
Filipino, and
Korean residents and establishments that make up the remainder of surrounding Asian District. The district is very popular with local residents and students from nearby
Oklahoma City University, providing a colorful and authentic taste of the Far East in the heartland of
America. Oklahoma City's original Little Saigon neighborhood was featured in the New York Times as well as
National Geographic's March 2003 issue's ZipUSA series titled "73106: Lemongrass on the Prairie".
Oregon 10,641 Vietnamese Americans live in the
Portland area. Many Vietnamese restaurants, markets, and other businesses in Portland can be found on NE Sandy Boulevard, SE Powell Boulevard, and
NE and SE 82nd Avenue. There are also some Vietnamese business around the Portland area such as
Beaverton,
Hillsboro,
Aloha, and
Tigard.
Pennsylvania South Philadelphia near the
Italian Market has a large Vietnamese American population. Many Vietnamese businesses tucked in strip malls have emerged on Washington Avenue to service the local immigrant population. The Vietnamese sandwich
bánh mì is gaining much attention in Philadelphia and is now competing with the Philly
Cheesesteak. As of 2005, Vietnamese are projected to become the largest ethnicity in South Philadelphia. Philadelphia is in the top ten U.S. cities for Vietnamese populations and Vietnamese immigration destinations. Philadelphia even has a higher percentage and numerical population of Vietnamese than
New York City, one of the few Asian backgrounds that are actually less represented in New York.
Tennessee Memphis has a significant Vietnamese community, affectionately known as "Little Hanoi" located along Cleveland Avenue in
Midtown. The community includes many Vietnamese restaurants and shops, as well as a Vietnamese Buddhist temple and areas of predominantly Vietnamese housing. Little Hanoi is one of the last and largest non-Hispanic immigrant enclaves in the Memphis metropolitan area.
Texas Austin Austin has a Chinatown Center composed mainly of Vietnamese business on North Lamar.
Houston The Houston area is home to over 150,000 Vietnamese people. A section of
Midtown Houston known as "Little Saigon" was the original commercial district home for the Vietnamese community in Houston. The boundaries are IH 69/US 59, Preston Street, St. Joseph Parkway and Emancipation Avenue. Vietnamese street signs denote the area since 1998. In 2004, this area was officially named "Little Saigon" by the city of Houston. The redevelopment of
Midtown Houston from run-down to upscale increased property values and
property taxes, forcing many Vietnamese-American businesses out of the neighborhood into other areas. The largest Vietnamese commercial district is now found in
Houston (
Alief), a strip along Bellaire Boulevard west of
Chinatown, Houston, with most Vietnamese-owned businesses and restaurants centered at the Hong Kong City Mall on Bellaire and Boone (anchored by
Hong Kong Food Market and Ocean Palace Restaurant). Since the Vietnamese District is adjacent to Houston's
Chinatown, it is often confused to be part of the same neighborhood. The Vietnamese and the Chinese district are each their own individual neighborhood, however. Even though the area is primarily Vietnamese and Chinese, there is also a large number of
Filipino Americans,
Arab Muslims,
Indonesian Americans, and
Pakistani Americans in the area, as well as a sizable number of
African Americans, whom were once the majority in the Little Saigon area prior to the
Vietnam War.
Dallas–Fort Worth (DFW) In addition to the ones listed here, several unofficial Little Saigons are located in the
Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Dallas is also considered another one of the largest Vietnamese communities in the United States, along with its sister city, Fort Worth. • One Little Saigon is located in
Garland, along Walnut Street between Audelia Road and Jupiter Road. This one is the largest, consisting of four large supermarkets (Hiep Thai, New Truong Nguyen, Hong Kong, and
Thuan Phat at Cali Saigon Mall in
Garland). Each supermarket listed below is located in a different shopping complex and has a number of restaurants. • Hiep Thai: northeast corner of Jupiter and Walnut. • New Truong Nguyen: northwest corner of Jupiter and Walnut. • Hong Kong: southwest corner of Audelia and Walnut. •
Thuan Phat Supermarket/Cali Saigon Mall: northeast corner of Jupiter Road and Beltline Road (in Garland borders with city of Richardson) • The restaurants in the area are Bistro B, La Me, Doan, Pho 95, Pho Bang, SaiGon Kitchen, Nam Hua, Saigon Block, Pho Tay Do, Pho Que Huong, Pho Bac, Pho Pasteur, Huong Ly (in Richardson), and many more. • Another one is located in
Arlington, on Pioneer Parkway. This Little Saigon includes a couple supermarkets (New Market, Hong Kong, Hiep Thai, Central Market, May Hao Market), restaurants, Vietnamese Martyrs Catholic Church, which is the largest Vietnamese Catholic Church in the United States of America, and Vietnamese karaoke/café bars. • The third one is in
Irving on Beltline Road, with
Little Saigon Mall. A small concentration of Vietnamese restaurants are being built on MacArthur and Beltline through
Las Colinas and
Valley Ranch. These restaurants are unique, infusing Korean, Japanese, Thai, Indian, and Chinese influences. • There are also a number Vietnamese strip malls along Beltline in
Carrollton. Though the area is predominantly Vietnamese, Chinese and Korean shops and churches can be found there, as well. • Haltom City (on E Belknap Street) with many grocery stores, restaurants, and other stores. Vietnamese businesses are also found in Richardson and
Haltom City.
Virginia Little Saigon, Arlington, in
Clarendon, served as the Little Saigon of the Washington, D.C. region, reaching its heyday following the Fall of Saigon during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Many Vietnamese refugees immigrated to the area due to the proximity to the nation's capital, and existing social, family, and business connections. This neighborhood was home to Vietnamese grocery stores, restaurants, department stores, cafes, and entertainment to serve the large Vietnamese population. Business was attractive to Vietnamese immigrants in this neighborhood due to the depressed rents during the time of construction of the WMATA Clarendon metro station. This neighborhood was a destination for Vietnamese immigrants both in the Washington D.C. area, as well as throughout the mid-Atlantic region. The
Washington, D.C., suburb of
Seven Corners in
Fairfax County, Virginia, is now home to the largest Vietnamese American population and cultural center on the eastern seaboard. While there is no full-fledged "Little Saigon" to speak of, the most prominent hub for local-area Vietnamese is the shopping mall called the
Eden Center, complete with a garden and an arch signifying its entrance. In Greater
Richmond, the concentration of Vietnamese restaurants and shops near the intersection of Horsepen Road and West Broad Street is sometimes referred to as Little Saigon. This area of Western
Henrico has developed as a center for the Vietnamese population since the late 1980s.
Washington Seattle Seattle has a significant, prosperous Vietnamese American business district centered at 12th Avenue and Jackson Street, immediately east of the city's considerably older
Chinatown district. This Vietnamese area has not been officially designated a "Little Saigon", although a few street signs with this name have been erected. Rather, the area – along with the Chinatown district – has retained the longstanding name
International District (now officially Chinatown/International District, but often just "The I.D."), dating back to the late 1940s. The predominantly Chinese and predominantly Vietnamese areas are separated from one another by an
Interstate 5 viaduct, but there is easy pedestrian and car access between the two.
Tacoma Tacoma, as well, has an area commonly known as the "
Lincoln International District", which is almost entirely filled with Vietnamese restaurants, grocers, and shops. Though officially not known as "Little Saigon", the area is normally referred to as such by the local resident population. ==See also==