Sept. 20, 2007 :: No. 37

When the U.S. resettlement program began in 1975 at the end of the Vietnam War, Vietnamese refugees faced starting over in a foreign land with a mixture of survivors’ guilt and overwhelming relief. That was then. This is now. And thanks to the sponsorship of Cal State Fullerton, “Exit Saigon, Enter Little Saigon,” a Smithsonian exhibition chronicling the growth of “Vietnamese America Since 1975,” will be on display at the Viet Art Center in Garden Grove from Sept. 29 through Dec. 2.

The Smithsonian’s first effort to explore the Vietnamese American experience, the exhibit depicts the challenges, changes and choices that these strangers in a strange land encountered as they adapted to life in the United States, forming communities whose shops, restaurants and entertainments recreated some of the richness of Vietnamese culture.

One such community is known as “Little Saigon,” located in the cities of Garden Grove and Westminster, a major commercial center of Vietnamese customs and more than 3,500 Vietnamese-American businesses, which cater to the nation’s largest population of Vietnamese Americans. Now nearly 1.5 million in number, Vietnamese Americans constitute a vibrant and diverse ethnic community.

Vinh Tran, left, Giai Ngyen, Bichnga Hoang, Kham Ngyn and Lai Ngyn play a Vietnamese game of 120 cards at the senior center in Westminster.
Photograph by Cheryl Evans.
Photograph courtesy of the Orange County Register
more photos »

Divided into six sections showcasing challenges, contributions and change, the exhibit explores civic and political issues, as well as the intergenerational tensions families experienced negotiating new lives in a new country. In 90 panels of text and photographs, supplemented by accompanying videos, “Exit Saigon, Enter Little Saigon” documents the considerable lengths to which Vietnamese Americans have gone to maintain their linguistic, cultural and religious traditions.

The exhibit was created by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program and organized for travel by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling and Exhibition Services.

Underwritten with support from Farmers Insurance, the national tour expands the reach of this historic exhibit only nine months after its debut in January at the S. Dillon Ripley Center Concourse on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

“Exit Saigon, Enter Little Saigon” will remain on view at the Viet Art Center through Dec. 2, before continuing on a 12-city itinerary through 2010. Its two-month run at the center will be supplemented by special programs featuring Vietnamese American authors and filmmakers.

The people of Little Saigon also figure prominently in a secondary exhibition of 40 photos gathered by CSUF communications professors Jeffrey Brody and David DeVries and documenting how Vietnamese Americans retained their culture while adapting to American life.

On Tuesday, Oct. 9, cultural, political and business leaders of the Vietnamese American community will converge on the Viet Art Center for a public reception celebrating the first stop on the Smithsonian exhibit’s national tour. Vu Pham, curator of the exhibit and a Vietnamese American scholar, will lead a walk-through of the exhibit as part of the opening reception, which begins at 8 p.m.

The Viet Art Center is located at 12965 Main St. in Garden Grove. Hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Admission to the exhibit and public reception is free.

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