DENVER — Little Saigon, a collection of Asian restaurants, shops and community spaces, stretches from Alameda Avenue all the way down Mississippi Avenue in Denver.
The district was officially designated as “Little Saigon” in 2014. Recently, hundreds of neighbors and visitors participated in History Colorado’s memory workshops to record their experiences in the community.
“There’s so many memories here. It’s just been heartwarming to see and seeing all these different Asian cultures come together at Far East Center, and I love it here!” said Nikki Nguyen, who brought her niece, Sophia, and her nephew, Noah, to the event.
“I wouldn’t have asked for a different way to grow up in this area,” she said.
The project invited people who grew up in or frequented the area, to share their reflections, knowledge, and history of Little Saigon as part of History Colorado’s Museum of Memory, a public history initiative.
As part of the project, representatives from History Colorado meet with residents from places such as Pueblo, the San Luis Valley and various neighborhoods in Denver, to record their oral histories. Since its launch in 2013, the project has chronicled the histories of 18 communities across the state.
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“History is continuous,” said Yadira Solis, History Colorado’s executive director of Museum of Memory.
Community members decide how to showcase the histories, whether through photo albums, podcasts, short documentaries or murals. In 2013, the Eiler Heights community in Pueblo produced a documentary of its shared memories.
The Little Saigon Memory Project has not yet decided how to communicate its findings.
Solis said one thing she noted that everyone had in common was buying groceries at Little Saigon Supermarket, and laughing at how they didn’t realize there were other grocery stores in the area until they got older.
“That is such a beautiful thing to see and to hear is that this history is still thriving and growing! It’s just amazing to hear,” she said.
The Little Saigon Memory Project is a collaboration between the History Colorado Center and Museum of Memory, Colorado Asian Pacific United (CAPU), and Far East Center.
Seeing her niece and nephew get excited about where she grew up, surrounded by people from various Asian backgrounds was the highlight of Nguyen’s Saturday, she said.
“The Asian community here overall is so small; I think it’s so important to enlighten [Asian culture], especially for my niece and nephew, because they don’t get to know what it’s like,” she said. “They live in Aurora currently and make a 30-minute trek down here. It’s important. It shows heritage.”
Nguyen’s uncle owns a chiropractic office and her mother owns a beauty school in the area. As a child, she played in the jungle gym at her uncle’s office.
Nguyen recalled being ridiculed by her peers as a child when she brought traditional Asian food to school and ate it with chopsticks. Ultimately, she said, she threw her food away in embarrassment.
Now, Nguyen has become confident in expressing her culture and being an Asian woman. She said she never wants her niece and nephew to feel inadequate about their background the way she felt when she was a child.
“This is who we are, this what we stand for,” said Nguyen.
Nikki Nguyen shared her Little Saigon memories with her niece and nephew.
Photo: Lindsey Ford, Rocky Mountain PBS
Mimi Ye, 43, co-owns Truong An Gifts with her father, Thanh Luong, who founded the Far East Center in the district. Luong said her father and family opened the Far East Center so it could be a community hub where people can be safe and continue Asian culture in one space.
“The Far East Center is the heart of Little Saigon,” she said.
Luong’s favorite memories of Far East Center are running around playing, eating at her aunt’s restaurant, getting a haircut at another aunt’s salon, and sleeping on the mink blankets sold at Truong An Gifts.
One man at the workshop met his wife at the Far East Center’s Modern Hair Design Beauty Salon after he pretended to need a haircut just to see her.
People shared stories at the workshop, drew pictures of things that remind them of Little Saigon and placed stickers on a map of Colorado showing where they moved or started businesses.
“They will have a strong sense of community because we are enriching them with this life,” Nguyen said of her niece and nephew.
“It is not the norm, it’s not like an Instagram life, but it’s the life that we have, and I think it’s so beautiful, truly, I’m really blessed for all of it.”
A group photo of Little Saigon community members participated in the Memory Project, which will result in a final project shared by History Colorado.
Photo: Lindsey Ford, Rocky Mountain PBS
Lindsey Ford is a multimedia journalist at Rocky Mountain PBS. Lindseyford@rmpbs.org.
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