says via Zoom , lighting up his digital background with a mantis-green “ Little Saigon ” freeway sign .
“ People left for the suburbs . Those areas , who picked them up ? It was the immigrants and refugees who were willing to take a bigger risk than others ,” he says . “ And they have taken a big risk , and they have propped it up . So let ’ s start by acknowledging that .”
The ‘ middleman minorities ’
By the early 1980s , south Sacramento already had a small constellation of businesses owned in large part by Chinese American and Vietnamese American kith and kin . In the decades that have elapsed , the businesses have diversified in their métier , from food focused to also mechanics , travel agencies , salons , law firms and money changers . The businesses have diversified in their cultural ties , as well , including a halal market and a Mexican dance studio .
Even amid all the store signage in Punjabi , Russian and Spanish , however , Vietnamese Americans made up the preponderance of shopkeepers , and in 2010 , the City of Sacramento made it official : The quarter was designated as Little Saigon , the only such district sobriquet granted by the city . Campaigners wanted the name change to help brand and market the area , drawing tourists and customers .
The cost of living in Little Saigon is lower than the Sacramento average , which has been a mixed blessing . It leaves businesses with less of a buffer to endure hardship like the coronavirus-induced downturn . But it ’ s also what allowed mom and pops to make a foray into entrepreneurship , according to Hoang , who is the president of the Vietnamese American Community of Sacramento . He spent his childhood in the neighborhood in the 1980s , riding his bicycle around Elder Creek Road or fetching hu tieu noodles nearby for his family .
Back then , he says , a generation of immigrants was starting businesses , based mostly on grit , frugality and little to no English . They employed ethnic brethren , some with limited language
Grocers in Little Saigon , such as SF Supermarket on 65th Street , source niche products nationally and internationally , filling a gap left by mainstream supermarkets . PHOTO BY CARLY CORNEJO
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