nwasianweekly.com
April 5, 2008

Seattle’s Little Saigon steadfast in name, if not place

By Michelle Kang
Northwest Asian Weekly

Ask a Seattleite where “Little Saigon” is and you may get more than one answer. Though the city’s Department of Neighborhoods considers the Vietnamese hub to be in the area east of Fifth Avenue South and west of 12th Avenue South between Yesler and Dearborn, word on the street may say otherwise.

The Department of Neighborhood’s official history of the neighborhood pinpoints an influx of Vietnamese immigrants in the 1980s as the start of Little Saigon. With new malls rapidly being constructed north of the International District, many newly arrived immigrants started businesses in clothing, jewelry, groceries, and of course, restaurants. A Vietnamese presence also grew further south in the International District, adding another Asian ethnic dimension to the neighborhood, which was more traditionally populated by residents of Chinese and Japanese heritage.

Now, the city counts almost half of the population in Little Saigon (officially known as census tract 91) to be Asian, compared to the Seattle’s overall 14 percent Asian population, out of almost 600,000 city residents.

But even with the numbers and facts, not everyone is on the same page with where the neighborhood’s boundaries are. At Hop Thah Supermarket on the southwest corner of 12th Avenue South and South Jackson, frequent shopper Felix Ramadane said, “This area is not Little Saigon. This is the Central District.” According to Ramadane, Little Saigon is further south, stretching from Eighth Avenue South to Fourth Avenue South.

Even with the confusion over where the neighborhood is, Seattle residents seem to have no problem accepting its name. In contrast, California residents in San Jose last month voted down a decision to officially rename its Vietnamese neighborhood “Saigon Business District” or “Little Saigon.” The reason involves the sensitive emotional and political ties to Saigon as a symbol of pre-Communist Vietnam. In 1975, Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City by the Communist government, rendering the former name into a historic memento.

Here in Seattle, “Little Saigon” is not an official name, but people seem to understand the uproar in San Jose. Tammy Nguyen, a local resident, said of the San Jose controversy, “Remember, many people had to escape Vietnam, so we never forget. … So I think that since (San Jose City Councilwoman Madison Nguyen) got the vote from the people, she has to work for the people for the whole community. … She will never get elected again. … People are upset with her because she betrayed them. They voted her as the voice of the Vietnamese people, but she isn't following what the people want.”

Stacy Nguyen, who often writes for the Northwest Asian Weekly, emphasized, “‘Little Saigon’ is not a title, but an identity.” She sympathizes with the citizens of San Jose and said, “‘The Saigon Business District’ is not a compromise just because it has the word ‘Saigon’ in it. My parents don’t speak English with one another so why should they care what anglicized title some district gets? Yet when I asked my mom about this bit of news in San Jose, she already knew all about it, had been following it for some time.”

Justin Le, working at Thanh Vi on the Southeast corner of 12th Avenue South and South Jackson, feels that Vietnamese American neighborhoods are entitled to distance themselves from Ho Chi Minh City as much as possible. He said, “Ho Chi Minh was a Communist leader. Nobody wants to have anything to do with Communists.”

Eleanor Lee contributed to this report.

Michelle Kang can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

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