Sixteen years after a vehicle damaged the Little Saigon monument in Santa Ana, city leaders on Friday, Jan. 26, unveiled a new one on First Street near the intersection of Harbor Boulevard.
The reconstruction of the new monument is to “celebrate the Tết Festival and honor the Vietnamese heritage and contribution to the community during the Lunar New Year festival,” according to a news release.
The new Little Saigon monument on First Street near the intersection of Harbor Boulevard in Santa Ana on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024. The monument recognizes Santa Ana’s Vietnamese community and replaces a similar sign that was damaged by a vehicle in 2008. Santa Ana will host its inaugural Tet Festival on February 3, at Centennial Park. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Thai Viet Phan, the first Vietnamese American and first Asian woman to serve as a Santa Ana council member, speaks as Santa Ana holds an unveiling ceremony for a new Little Saigon monument on First Street near the intersection of Harbor Boulevard on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024. The monument recognizes Santa Ana’s Vietnamese community and replaces a similar sign that was damaged by a vehicle in 2008. Santa Ana will host its inaugural Tet Festival on February 3, at Centennial Park. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Thai Viet Phan, left, stands with Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento following the unveiling of the new Little Saigon monument on First Street near the intersection of Harbor Boulevard in Santa Ana on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024. The monument recognizes Santa Ana’s Vietnamese community and replaces a similar sign that was damaged by a vehicle in 2008. Santa Ana will host its inaugural Tet Festival on February 3, at Centennial Park. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Various government officials, including Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Thai Viet Phan, center, cheer after unveiling the new Little Saigon monument on First Street near the intersection of Harbor Boulevard in Santa Ana on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024. The monument recognizes Santa Ana’s Vietnamese community and replaces a similar sign that was damaged by a vehicle in 2008. Santa Ana will host its inaugural Tet Festival on February 3, at Centennial Park. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A group attending the ceremony has their photo taken following the unveiling of the new Little Saigon monument on First Street near the intersection of Harbor Boulevard in Santa Ana on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024. The monument recognizes Santa Ana’s Vietnamese community and replaces a similar sign that was damaged by a vehicle in 2008. Santa Ana will host its inaugural Tet Festival on February 3, at Centennial Park. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A small crowd listens to speeches as Santa Ana holds an unveiling ceremony for a new Little Saigon monument on First Street near the intersection of Harbor Boulevard on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024. The monument recognizes Santa Ana’s Vietnamese community and replaces a similar sign that was damaged by a vehicle in 2008. Santa Ana will host its inaugural Tet Festival on February 3, at Centennial Park. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The Little Saigon monument in Santa Ana has a long and storied past. Some residents protested the monument when it was first proposed in 2003. Vietnamese residents said the monument could market the area and acknowledge the hard work and success of Vietnamese immigrants, but those opposed said it would allow for other ethnic signage to pop up in the city when residents should be united by the name Santa Ana alone.
Following its removal after it sustained damage in March 2008 by a vehicle, the City Council in 2015 approved restoring the monument. The Little Saigon Business District Committee was set to fund the sign and had planned to complete it within that year, but that didn’t materialize, said city spokesperson Paul Eakins.
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“I don’t know the reason for that. I’m not sure if it was a funding issue, but they never did,” Eakins said. “So then, in the last couple of years, the City Council took up the issue and said, ‘You know what, we’re going to pay for it.’”
Last year, the City Council budgeted around $84,000 for the sign from the city’s general funds, Eakins said.
“This is part of the city’s efforts to recognize the Vietnamese community that often didn’t get as much attention in the past,” he said.
The unveiling of the new monument will “kick off Vietnamese Tết celebrations as the city of Santa Ana prepares to host its inaugural Tết Lunar New Year Festival on Feb. 3,” according to a news release. Santa Ana is set to host its first-ever Tết festival, a large-scale event celebrating the Vietnamese New Year, from 2 to 7 p.m. at Centennial Park.
