Sacramento's Little Saigon: How the Vietnamese community is preserving culture

[Applause] [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] it's home too for some half a million refugees who fled to the big city to escape communist Terror and the bombs and bullets from both sides during the fall of Vietnam my dad had organized a boat so a total of 90 people on a tiny little boat was you know just lingering in the sea finally the Thailand rescuer they came out and saw the little boat so they pull us on board my mom during at the time she was very sick so we were a priority we became one of the very first Asian family to go to the United States we came to Sacramento 1985. my grandma she had a friend here in Sacramento that was the only friend in the United States that we knew of so that's why we end up here in Sacramento my dad opened the restaurant in 1991 that's when I was in 11th grade so I would go to school and music come here after school and work and help my parents during the late 1970s early 80s there's a wave of immigrants coming from Vietnam they fled the country due to the fall of Saigon in 1975. a lot of the Vietnamese immigrant found the opportunities in California when they found Sacramento which they are attracted by the low housing costs a lot of them start relocating to Sacramento in the late 80s the Little Saigon designation is a two mile stretch from Fruitridge Road all the way to Florin Road there was businesses that started to pop up and so for the South Side we have SF Supermarket we also have the hung Lang sandwiches and then on the south side we have Vin Phat Supermarket so has business started to grow more API immigrants started to gather and created an enclave community I remember when you were little to deliver all the veggie for me yes I do yes many many years ago when we had to carry the turn the first day when we landed in United State of America March 6 1981 it was the day that we came to Sacramento due to there was lack of work and also poverty we had to leave Vietnam after the fall of Saigon when we first arrived in America the most difficult part is communication therefore my parents they can't get a job they decided to do what they know best and which is growing vegetables after we were done with the farming my dad one day decided that maybe we should start a restaurant because Growing Vegetable is too strenuous for the children our first restaurant was open 1990 so all this 42 years of experience is all on this little small niche of Little Saigon foreign [Music] food are so flavorful and very healthy a lot of vegetables are involving Vietnamese cuisine the spring rolls more like a salad roll with shrimp and meat filling and lots of vegetables we believe that herbs the mint the basil it can help cure has become a traditional cure for people so what makes the fall unique is in the bra in our broth we use a lot of bone marrow meat and we stew them overnight fund me it's a equivalent to American hamburger when I see other culture coming to eat our food we feel that some kind of success that we have been able to do what we want to do is introduce our cultural out of food neighborhood especially because of the rich history of the Southeast Asian community and especially the Vietnamese Community the name Little Saigon the idea started December of 2009 former council member Kevin McCarty we recognize a lot of these Asian immigrant businesses has contributed so much to the area of Stockton Boulevard so through the brainstorming session we came up with a rescue mission it's an acronym that stands for revitalization economic development Safety and Security Community Building unity and education and the Little Saigon committee did the Outreach for the Little Saigon name the January 2010 we hope that it will become a unique destination for visitors locally and international February 2nd 2010 was the date that the designation would go to council members for a vote everyone in the community to attend this historic moment for us if you remember that night it was a celebration and we got the unanimous vote as of February 10 2010. so we got our both resolutions comes here are usually the South Vietnamese migrates to America so when they left Saigon it is like leaving their heart behind Little Saigon in America we're trying to bring that back to them while they're in a different country in a different land they can still feel the sense of Saigon that they lost I do feel that the second generation do have a responsibility to sustain um what their parent had tried so hard they want to make sure their children um succeed they sacrifice their life to give us better opportunity by coming to America I thought you were in the middle of the night making cheese this restaurant is my parents Legacy and I don't want it to fail if it fail at least I can say I tried I grew up here I grew up in Little Saigon this is this is where I consider my home my community exists here and my bubble of happiness is on Little Saigon and the people that is in the community supports our business support my family Little Saigon for me is kind of like the root my dad started the business here and I now survive on what my dad passed down to [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: ABC10

Views: 30,021

Keywords: ABC10, KXTV, sacramento, fall of saigon, vietnam war, food, cuisine, vietnamese cuisine, little saigon, sacramento's little saigon, race and culture, abc10 originals, history, culture, vietnam, aapi, pho bac hoa viet, restaurant, vietnamese food, sf supermarket, vinh phat supermarket, to the point, california cuisine, california food, vietnamese community, food travel, food tour

Id: 9ReyuxZ9N9o

Length: 8min 1sec (481 seconds)

Published: Fri May 26 2023