On April 30, Vietnamese Americans in Southern California will commemorate the 50th anniversary of Saigon’s fall to North Vietnamese forces – Black April as the refugees who fled call it today.
About 50,000 found themselves at Camp Pendleton following the war. In time, they moved out into communities throughout Southern California, with a large number settling in Westminster, giving birth to Little Saigon. Waves of refugees, and then immigrants, followed.
In 1980, the Vietnamese population in Orange County was about 19,300 – around 1% of the county’s population at the time.
As of 2022, Little Saigon had grown to span several cities and roughly 7% of the county’s population was of Vietnamese descent.
As the community marks this 50th anniversary, our reporters have been asking how the fall of Saigon shaped the Vietnamese American experience today and how the immigrants shaped Little Saigon and Orange County, as well as California and beyond.
Having lost everything, they built a Little Saigon
“It was chaos,” said Linh Vo, reflecting on the day, now remembered as Black April, when her life changed forever. She was just a 13-year-old girl. “The whole country was collapsing.”
She fled with her parents, two of nine siblings, one of whom was pregnant, running with the crowds of people to boats that waited in the harbor to make their escape.
Vo never could have predicted that her family’s story would come to epitomize one of the largest diasporas of the 20th century. Reporter Jonathan Horwitz spoke with Vo and several other members of the Little Saigon community about making new lives in Orange County and the Little Saigon they built, which has influenced so much from our favorite foods to who represents us in politics, and the difficulties the community still faces 50 years later.
Power brokers
Speaking of politics, reporters Hanna Kang and Kaitlyn Schallhorn took a look at how Little Saigon became a political force, electing representatives to every level of government and reshaping American politics along the way.
Cultivating a culinary legacy
After a wave of South Vietnamese immigrants created a thriving district in OC, a new generation of chefs and restaurateurs ventured outside of Little Saigon, helping shape the culinary conversation in Southern California. Reporter Brock Keeling spoke with some about what they’ve got cooking.
Leaders of Little Saigon
One was a developer, one was an elected leader. Frank Jao and Tony Lam contributed a lot to shaping Little Saigon. Reporter Andre Mouchard talked with them about the community that has grown strong in Orange County.
More to the story:
- Little Saigon prepares to commemorate 50 years since the fall of Saigon, what you need to know
- Little Saigon has a shortage of mental healthcare providers, a clinician helps lead the way forward
- 50th anniversary: A look at the fall of Saigon and the impact on California
- While Orange County has the largest Vietnamese diaspora outside of Vietnam, refugees built smaller Little Saigons across the United States.
- These artists found voice and creativity in Vietnam, years after fleeing Saigon’s fall as refugees
- Photos: Fall of Saigon through the eyes of AP photographers