FAMILY BUSINESS s COVID-19 was bearing down on Sacramento in the spring , Vivian Pham noticed that more doctors and nurses were dropping by her restaurant in Little Saigon , fresh off a shift at nearby hospitals and in need of takeout on the way home . She thanked them for their life-saving work , but she also found that the tables had turned . They were thanking her too , just for keeping the restaurant going at a time when the pandemic was upending how people went about their lives , their work and , yes , their meals .
Pham , who runs Huong Lan Sandwiches with three generations of her family , struggled with the choice of whether to suspend operations , but in the end , she wanted to send the community a message : They were in it for the long haul .
“ That is the reason I kept on going , kept it open . We have been around for so long , I can ’ t close ,” she says . “ If I close , then everybody may think that we ’ re giving up — and we are not going to give up .”
At the turn of the millennium , Pham ’ s family came to south Sacramento to open Huong Lan before the area became known as Little Saigon . The pandemic is just the latest challenge for the enclave , whose history has been dotted with struggles and successes on its way to becoming what Sacramento City Councilman Eric Guerra calls a “ cultural asset ” of the capital city .
Stroll around Stockton Boulevard , especially the stretch sandwiched between Fruitridge and Florin roads , and the microeconomy is on display . At a supermarket , the aisles are lined with parsley , catfish and red lanterns . The doyenne of a jewelry store resizes rings and sells taels of gold . A doctor scrawls out prescriptions , which his daughter fills in the adjoining pharmacy . A pho shop vends the ricey cords day and night . Each of these particular businesses is owned by a family .
Little Saigon advocate Tido Hoang says families helped change the place from a neglected district to a destination ,
32 comstocksmag . com | October 2020