Vietnamese Americans mark a somber ‘Black April’ milestone in Little Saigon
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Good morning. It’s Wednesday, April 30. I’m Gabriel San Román bringing you this week’s TimesOC newsletter with a look at some of the latest local news and events from around the county from my elevated perch as the tallest Mexican in these lands.
Today marks a somber milestone for many Vietnamese Americans in Orange County.
Fifty years ago, a helicopter evacuation in Saigon marked the end of the Vietnam War — a conflict that lasted two decades, drafted my dad out of a Sears in Boyle Heights, and exacted a staggering death toll on soldiers and civilians.
In the war’s final days, the U.S. Embassy in Saigon swelled with people desperate to flee before the communist North Vietnamese Army captured South Vietnam’s capital city.
Operation Frequent Wind ferried more than 7,000 people out for two days ending on April 30, a date remembered by refugees as “Black April.”
An exodus of about 2 million “boat people” tried to flee Vietnam after the fall of Saigon. Many of them resettled in O.C., making it the largest community of Vietnamese people outside of Vietnam.
In the years that followed, Vietnamese Americans reshaped county life — politically, commercially, and culturally — from cities they call home like Westminster, Garden Grove, Fountain Valley and Santa Ana.
Little Saigon emerged as an officially designated enclave in Westminster in 1988 with Bolsa Avenue becoming a hub of restaurants, grocery stores and other small businesses. The district has since expanded to encompass areas of Garden Grove.
Ahead of the 50th anniversary of “Black April,” local politicians and dignitaries gathered on April 18 to mark the occasion with a dedication of a Little Saigon Freeway sign along a stretch of the 405 Freeway in Westminster.
According to a dispatch from TimesOC’s Sarah Mosqueda, Assemblyman Tri Ta advocated for the freeway sign, which was funded entirely through private donations, through AB 2698, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law last year.
Assemblyman Ta, Westminster Mayor Chi Charlie Nguyen, Westminster Councilwoman Amy Phan West and O.C. Clerk-Recorder Hugh Nguyen were among those at the dedication.
“Fifty years ago, we lost Saigon, but we did not lose our hope,” Ta said. “Today, we honor the courage and sacrifice of over 58,000 American service members and more than 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers who fought side by side in the pursuit of freedom.”
As the milestone prompts commemorations and reflections, Anh Do of the Los Angeles Times revisited the life of Tony Lam, who became the first Vietnamese American elected to a political office in the U.S. when he won a seat on the Westminster City Council in 1992.
Do called him Little Saigon’s “original influencer.”
Lam fled Vietnam, where he owned three companies, before the fall of Saigon.
He found a job pumping gas in O.C. but recovered his entrepreneurial spirit with Vien Dong, a Vietnamese restaurant in Garden Grove that opened in 1984 and attracted a loyal clientele.
A Republican, Lam tried his hand at politics with a successful bid for Westminster City Council in 1992 that appealed to white, Latino and Asian voters.
“He’s part of a wave of people that transformed California,” said Jeffrey Brody, a retired professor of communications at Cal State Fullerton. “The reason the public pays attention to this group, especially locally, is because the community has invested in the building blocks of democracy.”
A mark of his trailblazing impact, at least 24 Vietnamese Americans in O.C. currently hold city and county seats.
Rep. Derek Tran, the first Vietnamese American elected to Congress when he won election last year in the 45th District, cited Lam as a key figure who paved the way for a new generation of politicians.
Though Lam, 88, retired from political office 10 years after his historic election to council, many of those political newbies still seek him out as a Little Saigon sage for advice, endorsements and donations.
“My intention is to help everyone,” said Lam. “That’s how I operate.”
MORE NEWS
• On Monday, passenger rail service through San Clemente came to an abrupt halt — again. No, Metrolink and Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner haven’t been sidelined for six weeks on account of a new landslide over the weekend. According to The Times’ Grace Toohey, crews are hard at work armoring the rail line where previous landslides and erosion have shut the crucial link between Orange and San Diego counties down many times before. The Orange County Transportation Authority gained an emergency permit to carry out the work. In the meantime, Metrolink riders won’t have a bus bridge to ferry them from Irvine to Oceanside, but Amtrak passengers will.
• When the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee opened a new office in Anaheim’s Little Arabia last Wednesday, it also turned the page on a tragic chapter of its history. Nearly 40 years ago, a pipe bomb tore through the civil rights group’s Santa Ana office and killed Alex Odeh, its West Coast regional director. “The objective of the bombing was to keep us out of existence in Orange County and everywhere else,” Abed Ayoub, ADC’s national executive director, told TimesOC. “But the opposite is happening. We’re continuing to grow.” The ADC’s new office pledges to be a legal clinic and community resource as the group continues to pursue justice for Odeh’s murder.
• Betty Martinez Franco came to the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant, worked as a housekeeper and survived domestic violence. It’s not a typical backstory for an O.C. politician, but after a special election in Irvine earlier this month, Martinez Franco is set to become the city’s first Latina councilwoman. She will represent District 5, which lacked a sitting councilmember after Larry Agran won election as mayor in November. Martinez Franco bested an avalanche of independent expenditures favoring her opponent in the race and is ready to get to work on issues like affordable housing, the environment and reducing traffic congestion.
PUBLIC SAFETY & CRIME
• A brush fire that broke out Friday at Costa Mesa’s Fairview Park is under investigation. A Huntington Beach police helicopter first spotted and reported the blaze around 9:30 p.m. that day. Crews used chainsaws to clear vegetation while 2,000 feet of hose doused the flames with water. No structures were damaged and no injuries were reported. The Daily Pilot’s Sara Cardine reported on Monday that authorities found “evidence of human activity” by the blaze.
• An Orange County jury found Craig Charron guilty of murder in the first degree in the death of his girlfriend, Laura Sardinha, in 2020. Trapped in an abusive relationship, Sardinha moved to have Charron evicted from their Huntington Beach apartment. Charron claimed that she tried to sneak up on him with a knife to his throat before a struggle ensued on Sept. 2, 2020. But prosecutors argued that Charron ambushed Sardinha in a murderous attack. They further claimed he cut himself and manipulated evidence to throw off investigators. The jury on the case agreed.
• Orange County sheriff’s deputies arrested Sean Jeffrey Williams, 55, on Friday for the murder of Miguel Joaquin Mata, 39, at a Mission Viejo apartment complex that same day. According to this CBS2 news report, deputies arrived on-scene at the 23000 block of La Glorietta around 7:30 p.m. and found Mata suffering from gunshot wounds. After setting up a perimeter at the complex, deputies tracked down and arrested Williams. No motive for the slaying has been disclosed by authorities.
SPORTS
• Newport Harbor High School notched a key series win over Huntington Beach High, its Sunset League rivals and the topped-ranked baseball team in Southern California. The Sailors took two out of three games by besting the Oilers 6-3 on Friday. As this Daily Pilot article recounts, Newport Harbor starting pitcher Lucas Perez hurled a complete game for the second-place Sailors in leading them to victory.
• Marina High School’s “tennis tandem” of David Tran and Trevor Nguyen competed in the Ojai Tennis Tournament over the weekend but fell just shy of top honors. The Daily Pilot’s Matt Szabo attended the match at Ojai’s Libbey Park where Beckman High School in Irvine claimed tournament victory behind senior Caden Lee and freshman Edwin Yuan’s performance during a third-set tiebreaker. “It would have been nice to win it my senior year, but they played well,” Nguyen said. “In the third set, it was just anyone’s game, whoever executed better on the returns. That was probably the biggest factor.”
• According the Times’ Bill Shaikin, Anaheim Ducks owners Henry and Susan Samueli are investing $1-billion in renovations, including three parking garages, that will deliver easy parking and other amenities for games, concerts and other events at the Honda Center. It compliments the vision of OC Vibe, a $4-billion project that pledges to transform the land around the arena into a premiere destination for entertainment and living. The arena facelift is slated to arrive in time for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles when indoor volleyball competitions are scheduled at the Honda Center.
LIFE & LEISURE
• File this under: Grill! Baby! Grill! Inside the buzzy River Street Marketplace in San Juan Capistrano where Anthony Villegas holds monthly meat master classes at The Market by the Meat Cellar. TimesOC’s Sarah Mosqueda penned a fun profile of a recent class Villegas gave on how he “uses the various proteins and provisions in the store through an eight-course menu.” Learn how to properly steam Wagyu beef cheeks for tacos or prep a veal cutlet for bread-crumbled German schnitzel. For only $250 per class, students can even be aspiring cheesemongers, too. I wish I could put that on my resume!
• Newport Beach took a key step towards accessibility with its fully renovated San Miguel Park’s playground for children with disabilities — a first for the coastal community. The Daily Pilot’s Eric Licas profiled Alexis Portillo’s advocacy for ADA accessible playground equipment that would benefit Alanis, her disabled, nonverbal sister, and others like her. San Miguel Park’s $900,000 universally accessible playground renovation, which now features a “wee-saw” with back support, was celebrated with a ribbon-cutting on Wednesday.
• Residents celebrated Arbor Day in Laguna Beach on Thursday by planting a California sycamore at Aliso Beach Park. Children with the Boys & Girls Club of Laguna Beach had shovels handy for the eighth annual celebration. If the occasion seemed a bit late — it was. As the Daily Pilot’s Andrew Turner explained, Arbor Day was originally scheduled for March 6, before a rainstorm had other plans. It’s always a good time to plant some trees, anyway!
• Newport Beach’s Amanda Walcott, 17, bounced back from a serious injury during cheerleader practice to launch an ambitious beach bikini line. In 2023, Walcott fell hard while doing roundoff handspring tucks at Newport Harbor High School. More severe symptoms followed initial pain from the injury. During her recovery, Walcott developed an idea for an eco-friendly swimwear line. “Beachside Bikinis” celebrated its launch earlier this month!
CALENDAR THIS
• Grammy-winning band La Santa Cecilia is bringing its genre-blending hits to the Garden Amp in Garden Grove just in time for Cinco de Mayo weekend. Formed out of Olvera Street in Los Angeles and named for the patron saint of musicians, La Santa Cecilia has amazed audiences with its deft mixture of cumbia, rancheras, boleros and jazz. Through the years, Marisol Hernandez’s impassioned vocals have been a tour de force not to be missed! The show starts on Friday at 6 p.m. Tickets are $40.
• The Huntington Beach Academy for the Performing Arts explores grief through “A Monster Calls,” an imaginative play staged this weekend at the Huntington Beach High School’s historic auditorium. Based on a Patrick Ness novel, the play centers around Connor, a young boy who wakes from the same recurring nightmare during his mother’s illness, only to find a Yew tree monster at his window. The production promises an emotional healing journey for the cast and audience alike. “A Monster Calls” debuts Thursday at 7 p.m. The play also stages on Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Tickets range from $15 to $25 and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to Fran’s Place, a local counseling center.
• La Habra turned 100 this year and what better way to celebrate than a weekend at the city’s 15th annual Citrus Fair. Hosted by the La Habra Area Chamber of Commerce, the fun begins on Friday afternoon and carries through until Sunday night. The fair features music, carnival rides, livestock shows, food and a citrus marketplace. Entertainment includes Vilma Diaz, one of the original singers of the legendary cumbia band La Sonora Dinamita. She hits the stage Friday at 9 p.m. The La Habra Citrus Fair is free and takes place on La Habra Boulevard between Euclid Street and Cypress.
KEEP IN TOUCH
We appreciate your help in making this the best newsletter it can be. Please send news tips, your memory of life in O.C. (photos welcome!) or comments to [email protected].
I’ll see you all next week as Cormaci, our fearless leader, continues to take some much needed and deserved time off!
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