Here’s a look at the history of Little Saigon

As the southern city of Saigon fell and South Vietnamese residents fled, tens of thousands made their way to the United States and many to Orange County where they gave birth to Little Saigon.

And in the years that followed, as even more refugees and immigrants from Vietnam arrived, the Little Saigon community grew with businesses and organizations serving its residents and its influence expanded.

Here is a little bit of the history of Little Saigon and some photos from the moments that make it special.

June 8, 1969: President Nixon announces that U.S. troops will begin to withdraw from Vietnam.

Jan. 27, 1973: The United States, North and South Vietnam, and the Viet Cong sign the Paris Peace Accords.

March 29, 1973: The last U.S. ground troops leave Vietnam.

April 30, 1975: Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, falls and the war is effectively over.

• More than 140,000 refugees are evacuated by air and boat by the American military during Operation Frequent Wind, many escaped on fishing and other small boats, picked up weeks or months later by the Navy.

• Many refugees arrived at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station before being dispersed to resettlement camps at four military bases in the United States, more than 50,000 were bused to Camp Pendleton. About 90,000 other refugees were processed at three other military bases in the United States. The last refugees left Camp Pendleton in October; many found their way north to Westminster, planting the roots of Orange County’s Little Saigon.

1978: Some of the first Vietnamese businesses on Bolsa Avenue include Danh’s Pharmacy, Que Huong grocery, Hoa Binh Market and Thanh My restaurant.

• Yen Ngoc Do launches the Nguoi Viet Daily News, the first Vietnamese-language newspaper in Orange County. A journalist during the war, he had fled Saigon with his family just three years earlier. Several more newspapers, radio stations and television stations followed, building a strong media presence serving Little Saigon.

1979: As more people packed onto boats trying to leave Vietnam in the years following the end of the war, the  Vietnamese government reached an agreement with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees for their safe migration. The U.S. approves the Orderly Departure Program, opening the door to more than 450,000 refugees over the next two decades.

READ ALSO: New center opens in Little Saigon featuring museum, culture exhibits 

1980: Vietnamese people make up 1% of OC’s population with 19,333 confirmed in the census.

In the 1980s: Vietnamese Americans bought aging shopping centers and buildings they could afford, revitalizing the area into Little Saigon.  By 1981, there were more than 300 businesses along Bolsa. By 1984, there were more than 600.

1981: The rate of immigration to the county, as more refugees flee Vietnam, leads the Board of Supervisors to seek a federal moratorium to halt the flow.

1987: Developer Frank Jao opens the Asian Garden Mall in Westminster. Little Saigon now boasts 550 Vietnamese merchants, attracting 20,000 to 50,000 shoppers each weekend.

June 17, 1988: Gov. George Deukmejian officially names the Little Saigon business district. Its borders are defined as Westminster Boulevard, Bolsa Avenue, Magnolia Street and Euclid Street.

1990: The census counts 71,822 Vietnamese people living in Orange County, now 3% of the population

1992: Tony Lam wins a seat on the Westminster City Council, becoming the first Vietnamese person elected to U.S. public office.

2000: The census reports 4.8% of Orange County is Vietnamese, more than 135,000 residents, and more than 44,000 are living in Little Saigon.

April 27, 2003: The Vietnam War memorial is dedicated at Sid Goldstein Freedom Park in Westminster.

2004: Van Tran’s election to the California Senate makes him the first Vietnamese American person in the state legislature.

READ ALSO: From refugees to power brokers: How Little Saigon became a political force

2006: An unprecedented 10 Vietnamese Americans win their elections throughout Orange County.

2010: More than 170,000 Vietnamese people are counted in the census with more than 57,000 making up nearly 40% of the population in Little Saigon. By now, Little Saigon has grown beyond its business district in Westminster to include large parts of Garden Grove, Fountain Valley and Santa Ana.

2015: The first dual-language Vietnamese and English program in the state is created at Demille Elementary School in the Westminster School District

Oct. 6, 2017: Pope Francis appointed Thomas Than Thai Nguyễn as auxiliary bishop of Orange. On Dec. 19, Nguyễn was consecrated as a bishop by Bishop Kevin Vann at St. Columban Church in Garden Grove.

2021: After years of fundraising and planning, the community celebrates the addition of an Our Lady of La Vang shrine at the Christ Cathedral. Portrayed as she is said to have appeared in 1798 in a forest in central Vietnam, the statue of the Virgin Mary wears a traditional áo dài dress and holds the baby Jesus.

2022: The last available census report clocks the Vietnamese population at 6.8% of Orange County and more than 46% of Little Saigon, with nearly 100,000 Vietnamese people living in the ethnic enclave.

Jan. 2025: When a new Congress convened following November’s elections, Rep. Derek Tran became the first Vietnamese American to represent the Central Orange County district that includes Little Saigon in Washington, D.C.

Sources: OC Register archives, federal and state historical records, Department of Defense records, CSUF Woods Center for Economic Analysis and Forecasting