United States
The largest community outside Vietnam, built in four distinct waves and concentrated in California, Texas and the Gulf Coast.
~2.3M Vietnamese
Source: 2023 (Wikipedia, Vietnamese diaspora)
- Cities
- 30
- Members
- 189K
- Restaurants
- 8
- Discussions
- 7
01How the community formed
The first wave arrived in April 1975 and was deliberately scattered across the country by resettlement policy, which the community promptly undid by moving to each other. Orange County and San Jose grew from that secondary migration. Later arrivals came by boat through camps in Malaysia, Indonesia and Hong Kong, then through the Orderly Departure Program, and then through the Humanitarian Operation that brought former re-education camp prisoners and their families. The Gulf Coast shrimp fleet, the nail salon industry and a thousand phở shops all date from those decades.
The migrations that built it
- 01 April 1975: the airlift and Camp Pendleton
- 02 1978–1995: boat people, via camps across Southeast Asia
- 03 1980–1994: the Orderly Departure Program
- 04 1989–2009: the Humanitarian Operation, for re-education camp survivors
02Reading
View all03Cities
View all04Feed
Phước Lộc Thọ at 7am on a Sunday: the aunties have already claimed every table in the food court and the bánh cuốn line is out the door. This is the most alive Little Saigon ever feels.
Phở Hà Nội on Story Rd, five stars. The broth is clear the way northern phở should be and there is no hoisin bottle on the table, which is the correct number of hoisin bottles. Get the tái nạm with extra hành trần.
Twenty years after Katrina, Mary Queen of Vietnam still rings its bell at 6am and the boats still go out. Village de l’Est isn’t going anywhere.
Saturday heritage class: kinship pronouns. One kid asked why he can’t just say “you” to his grandma. Forty minutes later we were drawing a family tree with cô, chú, dì, cậu and bác on the whiteboard and nobody wanted to leave.
Selling: barely used Cuckoo 10-cup rice cooker. $60, Bellaire pickup. Yes, it still sings.
05Food
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View all07Discussions
View allVisiting for the first time as an adult: where do I start?
Born in Houston, never been. My parents left from Vũng Tàu in 1980 and will not come with me. I have three weeks and no idea whether to start north or south. Tell me what you did on your first trip back.
by Kim Lêin HoustonActive 1h ago
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Anyone else’s parents refuse to talk about the boat?
My dad is 71. I have asked about 1981 maybe ten times in my life and gotten ten different one-sentence answers. My cousin says her mum finally opened up when she asked in Vietnamese instead of English. Has anyone found a way in?
by Minh Trầnin San JoseActive 7h ago
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How my dad opened a phở shop with $300 and a borrowed pot
In 1988 my dad borrowed a 60-quart pot from a church friend, bought bones from a butcher who gave him credit, and sold phở out of a Bolsa Avenue storefront with two tables. This is the long version, because he is finally retiring and somebody should write it down.
by Thảo Phạmin WestminsterActive 9h ago
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Job board etiquette: is it okay to post nail salon openings here?
New here. My aunt’s salon on Bellaire is hiring and I want to help, but I am not sure whether that belongs in Marketplace or in this board. What is the norm?
by Kim Lêin HoustonActive 16h ago
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Nail salon owners: how are you handling the new state licensing rules?
Texas changed the continuing-education requirement again and half my techs are confused about the deadline. Anyone in California or Georgia dealing with the same thing? Sharing the checklist I wrote for my team in the first reply.
by Linh Nguyễnin HoustonActive yesterday
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