Denver’s Little Saigon showcases resilience 50 years after the Vietnam War
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DENVER — Father Joseph Dang stood in the middle of a Costco parking lot just east of Federal Boulevard, looking up at two marble statues.
On the left stood an American soldier, and on the right sat a South Vietnamese soldier. The two soldiers gazed straight ahead, posing next to their respective flags. However, the current national flag of Vietnam, with a golden star in a sea of red, isn't depicted next to the Vietnamese soldier.
Rather, he sits beside a yellow banner with three red stripes — the flag of South Vietnam before the fall of Saigon in 1975.
“[The statues] are arm in arms, fighting against the communists before 1975,” said Dang pointing up at the memorial. “That flag is the symbol of freedom.”
After the fall of Saigon, Vietnamese refugees, immigrants and community leaders settled along Denver’s Federal Boulevard, creating a Little Saigon that continues to thrive 50 years later.
The one-mile stretch of Federal Boulevard between Alameda Avenue and Mississippi Avenue in west Denver serves as the official Little Saigon Business District, home to many local Vietnamese-owned businesses.
The district has several grocery stores, including New Saigon Supermarket, that carry traditional Vietnamese ingredients such as lemongrass and shrimp paste. Phở restaurants are abundant in the area, with four establishments in a half-mile radius.
“It really feels like walking into another city,” said Dang.
Dang, 50, like many other Vietnamese refugees living in Colorado, left Vietnam in 1986 when he was 10 years old as a “boat person,” a term for a refugee who fled Vietnam by boat or ship after the war in 1975. He lived in the Philippines and throughout the United States until he finally settled in Colorado in 2011.
In 2014, Dang, along with other Vietnamese community members, worked together to raise approximately $75,000 for the community memorial of the two soldiers. It was officially dedicated in 2015 on the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon.
“This [monument] is a gesture immortalizing those who have lost their life in the Vietnam War and those who fled for the sake of freedom,” Dang said.
In addition to this monument, Vietnamese community members wanted to highlight South Federal Boulevard as a Little Saigon Business District. The area hosts an entrepreneurial Vietnamese community that’s been growing since the 1980s, when more than 10,000 Vietnamese immigrants settled in the neighborhood.
The city officially designated the area as the Little Saigon Business District of Denver in 2014.
“When my family and I arrived in Denver, there was no such thing as a little Saigon. We only knew of our old Saigon, the original Saigon,” said Nga Vương-Sandoval, executive director and founder of Refugees + Immigrants United, a refugee-founded nonprofit focused on advocacy and education surrounding refugees and immigrants.
Vương-Sandoval arrived in Colorado with her family in the early 1980s as Vietnamese refugees and lived near what is now the Little Saigon district. The strip was a collection of foods, smells and people that reminded her of home.
Persimmons, sriracha and Asian VHS stores were some of the few things that Vương-Sandoval remembers fondly when she first arrived in Denver. At the time, Vietnamese refugees and immigrants with the means started to build up this communal business hub.
“We never imagined that the district would come to fruition, “ said Vương-Sandoval. “But like many ethnic enclaves, it was established out of necessity.”
Vương-Sandoval said refugees and immigrants form ethnic communities in metro areas, not just for business but as a way to build familiarity.
“It’s a way to fill in those cultural gaps that have been lost due to immigration or forcible displacement from our home countries,” said Vương-Sandoval.
The Far East Center, a popular hub in the district, was built from this ideology.
Now a part of Colorado’s State Register of Historic Properties, the center originally stemmed from a need for community and familiarity.
Mimi Luong’s family, who owns the shopping center, worked at various King Soopers locations when they first came to Colorado. Luong’s father, Thanh, started to notice “California” on the labels of many products in the grocery store.
Curious, Thanh Luong and his brothers drove 1000 miles to Westminster, California and found their first Vietnamese supermarket since fleeing Vietnam. There, they found now-common ingredients like jasmine rice and fish sauce. They broke down, crying and hugging one another.
“To us kids, we think it’s silly, but just imagine something you see every day in your country that you don’t have in America,” said Mimi Luong. “You don’t realize how much you’d miss it.”
Inspired by the grocery store, they took many trips to California from Colorado, gathering grocery items before they started their own businesses here in Denver.
In 1988, the Luong family combined their businesses and opened the Far East Center. Today, it’s home to many businesses and celebrations, such as the Lunar New Year festival.
The Far East Center holds an annual Lunar New Year Event in its plaza. Video: Peter Vo, Rocky Mountain PBS
“I’m happy that I’m able to have this treasure here and have built it up with my family, my kids and the future generation,” said Phung Luong, Mimi’s mother.
With April 30 approaching, Vietnamese Americans all over the metro are finding ways to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon.
Vương-Sandoval said she hopes that there’s a change in how the country views Vietnamese people.
“The label [the fall of Saigon] really puts us at a disadvantage because it makes us seem like we needed to be saved,” said Vương-Sandoval. “I want us Vietnamese refugees and immigrants to reclaim that narrative and focus on the resilience and strength that we have as a community.”
Vương-Sandoval’s nonprofit Refugees + Immigrants United is co-hosting an event with Vietnamese restaurant sắp sửa April 27 to honor the memory and resilience of Vietnamese refugees.
“I want the younger generation to know that we Vietnamese people are not weak. We have overcome so many things and continue to thrive till this day,” she said.
Type of story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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