page_title: Little Saigon
section_title: Houston
hierarchical_section_title: Little Saigon / Locations / Texas / Houston
caption_attribution_description: English: Saigon Houston Plaza
context_page_description: Little Saigon is a name given to ethnic enclaves of expatriate Vietnamese mainly in English-speaking countries. Alternate names include Little Vietnam and Little Hanoi, depending on the enclave's political history. Saigon is the former name of the capital of the former South Vietnam, where a large number of first-generation Vietnamese immigrants arriving to the United States originate, whereas Hanoi is the current capital of Vietnam.
  The most well-established and largest Vietnamese-American enclaves, not all of which are called Little Saigon, are in Orange County, California; San Jose, California; and Houston, Texas. Somewhat-smaller communities also exist, including the comparatively nascent Vietnamese commercial districts in San Francisco, San Diego, Atlanta, Sacramento, Denver, Oklahoma City, New Orleans, the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, Falls Church, Virginia, Orlando, and Seattle.
  Additionally, Vietnamese-Americans and Vietnamese-Canadians also established businesses and bringing distinctively Vietnamese elements to most Chinatowns; some examples include the Chinatowns of Las Vegas, Chicago, New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, Houston, Honolulu and Edmonton, Alberta.
context_section_description: Home to 150,000 Vietnamese people. A section of Midtown Houston known as "Little Saigon" or "Vietnamtown" was the original commercial district home for the Vietnamese community in Houston. The boundaries are IH 69/US 59, Preston Street, St. Joseph Parkway and Emancipation Avenue. Vietnamese street signs denote the area since 1998. In 2004, this area was officially named "Little Saigon" by the city of Houston. The redevelopment of Midtown Houston from run-down to upscale increased property values and property taxes, forcing many Vietnamese-American businesses out of the neighborhood into other areas.
  The largest Vietnamese commercial district is now found in Houston (Alief), a strip along Bellaire Boulevard west of Chinatown, Houston, with most Vietnamese-owned businesses and restaurants centered at the Hong Kong City Mall on Bellaire and Boone (anchored by Hong Kong Food Market and Ocean Palace Restaurant).
  Since the Vietnamese District is adjacent to Houston's Chinatown, it is often confused to be part of the same neighborhood. The Vietnamese and the Chinese district are each their own individual neighborhood, however. Even though the area is primarily Vietnamese and Chinese, there is also a large amount of Filipino Americans, Arab Muslims, Indonesian Americans, and Pakistani Americans in the area, as well as a sizable amount of African Americans, whom were once the majority in the Little Saigon area prior to the Vietnam War.
caption: Saigon Plaza in Little Saigon, Houston
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