A Glimpse into OC’s Vietnamese Enclave
A photo essay exploring the culture, cuisine, and community of Orange County’s vibrant Vietnamese District.
Story and Photos by Josiah Mendoza, Efrem Plawner, & Grace Littrell
A Woman works at a food stall in the Asian Garden mall, Little Saigon, Westminster Calif. on Nov. 1st 2024. CREDIT: Josiah Mendoza, Voice of OC.
The largest Vietnamese community outside of Vietnam exists in Orange County.
Little Saigon, to be exact.
Whether it is a car mechanic, florist, or community soup kitchen run by Buddhist temples, its all within the Little Saigon business district of over 700 storefronts
Little Saigon Sign, Santa Ana Calif. on Nov. 2nd 2024. CREDIT: EFREM PLAWNER, Voice of OC.
Following the Vietnam War, refugees came to the United States; they created ethnic enclaves like Little Saigon, which started in Downtown Westminster and expanded into Garden Grove, Fountain Valley and Santa Ana.
The American, Buddhist, and South Vietnamese flag fly outside TU VIỆN ĐẠI BI - Great Compassion Monastery, Little Saigon, Santa Ana Calif. on Nov. 2nd 2024. CREDIT: Efrem Plawner, Voice of OC.
Just over half of the residents who call Little Saigon home are of Asian descent. White residents make up the city’s next largest demographic at 26 percent. .
While many of these stores center on food, other businesses such as insurance firms, auto shops, local pharmacies, and banks also operate.
Dragon Cleaners, Little Saigon, Santa Ana Calif. on Nov. 2nd 2024. CREDIT: Grace Littrell , Voice of OC.
Together, these businesses form an assortment of large shopping centers that populate the streets of Little Saigon.
One of these shopping centers, called Today Plaza, is home to many different businesses, including dry cleaners, candy stores, pharmacies, casinos, and grocery stores.
Victoria Pham, 19, and two of her students at TU VIỆN ĐẠI BI - Great Compassion Monastery, Little Saigon, Santa Ana Calif. on Nov. 2nd 2024. CREDIT: Efrem Plawner, Voice of OC
"Here you can always find the car mechanic, you can always find the florist, there's a community here," says Victoria Pham, a Temple Teacher's assistant and daughter to Vietnamese immigrants.
While Little Saigon doesn't have a designated plaza in the traditional sense, there's an impromptu town square, the parking lot of the Asian Garden Mall, where cultural celebrations and events occur.
The mall also hosts Vietnamese-run businesses, shoppers, and culture and from June through September, with a a weekly night market.
The mall is designed to reflect traditional Vietnamese heritage with curved roof eaves, red lanterns, and Vietnamese artistic motifs.
Inside the Asian Garden Mall visitors can find that many store owners opened their stores shortly after immigrating to the States.
Some of the many stores that make up the Asian Garden Mal in Little Saigon in Westminster Calif. on Nov. 1st 2024. CREDIT: Josiah Mendoza, Voice of OC.
Some have run their businesses for over twenty years, while others have passed them on to the next generation.
Business owners like Christina Ha, who inherited Tiem Vang Kim Ngan Jewelry from her immigrant father, and she hopes to pass the business on to her nephew eventually.
Christina Ha, owner of Tia Vang Kim Ngan, a jewelry store in the Asian Garden Mall, Little Saigon, Westminster Calif. on Nov. 1st 2024. CREDIT: Josiah Mendoza, Voice of OC.
While a strong sense of community serves as Little Saigon's beating heart, religion solidifies the bonds between many individuals in the community. Little Saigon hosts many temples and monasteries, central to business development and interspersed between neighborhoods.
Chua Dieu Ngu Vietnamese Buddhist Temple, Little Saigon, Santa Ana Calif. on Nov. 2nd 2024. CREDIT: Grace Littrell , Voice of OC.
Monks welcome the public to enter the Chua Dieu Ngu Vietnamese Buddhist Temple, the largest in Little Saigon, to visit, explore, pray, and attend religious events they host.
On the Adjacent side of the city is the TU VIỆN ĐẠI BI—Great Compassion Monastery. Every weekend, the members of the TU VIỆN ĐẠI BI community come together days in advance to cook a feast capable of feeding hundreds.
TU VIỆN ĐẠI BI - Great Compassion Monastery, Little Saigon, Santa Ana Calif. on Nov. 2nd 2024. CREDIT: Efrem Plawner, Voice of OC.
Across from TU VIỆN ĐẠI BI's parking lot is an Asian-styled garden where In the morning, a group of volunteers, mostly women from the congregation, sell cookies, crackers, dried fruits, and the taste of Vietnam to the local community.
Volunteers Tri and An at TU VIỆN ĐẠI BI - Great Compassion Monastery, Little Saigon, Santa Ana Calif. on Nov. 2nd 2024. CREDIT: Josiah Mendoza , Voice of OC.
Mere meters away, an open-air classroom hosts upwards of 100 children. Here, they learn to read and write Vietnamese and about Buddhism, and they get to witness traces of their homeland as the faces of the community come together to create an echo of what life might have looked like for the generations that came before them.
Students in class at the Sunday School of TU VIỆN ĐẠI BI - Great Compassion Monastery, Little Saigon, Santa Ana Calif. on Nov. 2nd 2024. CREDIT: Efrem Plawner, Voice of OC.
At around noon, the concession stand shifts into a free lunch line, and waves of new faces begin to arrive. Lively chatter from a native tongue crowds the patio as the smells of Pho spill from the kitchen, permeating the area.
Animated faces flock around bowls of steaming noodles, conversations intercutting consumption of this meal that feels fresh off the stove of Saigon itself.
Energy runs high. Pots clatter in the kitchen as the arrival of more faces amplifies the chorus of noise. Layers of the Vietnamese language clash with English to create a unique melody.
A chef prepares for the high volume of incoming consumers in the kitchen on Nov. 2nd 2024. CREDIT: Josiah Mendoza, Voice of OC
A group of individuals form a line while waiting for their free lunch at the temple on Nov. 1st 2024. CREDIT: Josiah Mendoza, Voice of OC
Known by the community as an authentic place to get vegetarian Vietnamese food in OC, the monks welcome everyone to eat, including those praying in the monastery, the students after class, their families, and the fringe community of individuals who can't find this version of the meal anywhere else.
Students at the Soup Kitchen of TU VIỆN ĐẠI BI - Great Compassion Monastery, Little Saigon, Santa Ana Calif. on Nov. 2nd 2024. CREDIT: Efrem Plawner, Voice of OC.
The Soup Kitchen of TU VIỆN ĐẠI BI - Great Compassion Monastery in Little Saigon, Santa Ana Calif. on Nov. 2nd 2024. CREDIT: Josiah Mendoza, Voice of OC.
For many, Little Saigon is more than just an enclave of a foreign culture across the sea, but a community who stand on the dreams of those who came before them all while forging their own.