South End Life: Some Little Saigon Businesses Vow to Stay Put, Anticipate a Better Future for the Neighborhood

"Little Saigon is the legacy. This is our identity. We'll keep it going," said David Tran.

Tran is one of four family members who own Lam's Seafood Market, a grocery store located near 12th Avenue South and South Jackson Street. He says they've lost about a third of their business within the past couple of years due to "rising petty crime in the area and lack of government enforcement, plus the stigma that people feel it's not safe to shop here." The neighborhood hosts about 80 Asian/Vietnamese businesses, down from 200 businesses there two decades ago. The intersection at the heart of Little Saigon was known to shoulder about a quarter of all Seattle police-reported, drug-related incidents earlier this year.

Some community members in Seattle's Little Saigon are working closely with organizations like Friends of Little Saigon (FLS) and reaching out to the city and county. FLS's efforts have included crafting a Little Saigon Action Plan in 2022, organizing to voice their collective public safety and livability needs to local jurisdictions, and planning and fundraising for a community center/affordable housing complex. The organization also produces attractions to celebrate the neighborhood, including performances, cooking for Vietnamese events, and QT Mahjong Club at Little Saigon Creative.

On Aug. 15, the area will host the annual Celebrate Little Saigon in Hoa Mai Park. Participants in FLS's small-business mentorship program, along with those selling stickers or Vietnamese comfort food, will have booths at the event. Featured performers include guitarist Tam Dang and drag queen Clairvoyance, the latter of which will perform as well as host drag bingo. Bingo winners will receive gift cards to Little Saigon businesses.

Yenvy Pham's family opened the first pho shop in the neighborhood in the 1980s. Pham, owner of Phở Bắc Sup Shop, Hello Em, and The Boat in Little Saigon, along with being a two-time James Beard Award finalist, maintains a long-range perspective. She says what people see today has been stewing since the recession of 2008 and then the pandemic sent the area into a freefall that it hasn't recovered from. 

But Pham said, "There's a thriving, mutually beneficial relationship within the business community in Little Saigon that many people don't know about. Some larger businesses here are property owners." She sees changes coming to the neighborhood within the next 5 to 10 years. FLS is developing the Little Saigon Landmark building, Lam's Seafood Market is redeveloping its site, and other neighborhood anchor businesses are hoping to redevelop their properties too. 

Elena Arakaki, community development manager for FLS, described the tenacity of community members who attend meetings to discuss solutions to challenges in Little Saigon. "Though there've been many, many reasons why people might want to give up on the neighborhood over the years, people still consistently show up. It shows the strength of this community." 

Arakaki oversees FLS's advocacy work, which means she speaks with county and city councilmembers, the mayor, and department leaders to uplift views from community businesses, residents, and groups about neighborhood conditions and desired improvements. Arakaki hopes this work will help inform coming policy and budget decisions.

Arakaki says increased policing doesn't always lead to significant improvements in the numbers of people on the streets or the conditions they experience. "At the end of the day, we want to get to the root of the public safety issues where people can get help and improve their lives. Homelessness and substance use require much higher-level interventions and coordination, so we're advocating for the city and county to better coordinate themselves to work in systemic-level solutions."

She added that bus stops in Little Saigon were closed because of public safety concerns a couple of times, which she said were "really hard on the neighborhood." Arakaki pointed to the challenge of departments not communicating well with each other, which requires FLS to enact coordination efforts in the area. 

FLS is also working toward increasing the number of neighborhood trees and adding bus shelter modifications. In the past, FLS has advocated better street lighting, small-business improvements, and human services for unhoused neighbors and people who have mental health and substance use disorders.

Another of FLS's projects is planning and fundraising for the Little Saigon Landmark Project, a $66 million development at 10th Avenue South and South Jackson Street, featuring 70 affordable housing units, commercial space on the ground floor, community kitchen, art gallery, and a stadium-style performing arts center, among other amenities. Hong Chhuor, fund development strategist at FLS, says the community building has been a dream of neighbors from before the founding of the organization. 

Before working at FLS, Chhuor was at Asian Counseling and Referral Service, a local organization that offers culturally relevant human services. "My parents raised us to keep our heads down, work hard at school, don't cause a fuss. Then, [ACRS's] approach to holistic wellness was not just access to medical care and counseling and medication, but [also having] a sense of pride and connection with people who understand your culture and your identity. Having a thriving Little Saigon is what I would have wanted as an immigrant, refugee kid growing up, [who didn't] know where I fit in or belonged."

Tran and his family own Asian markets in Tukwila and Little Saigon, with an additional store opening soon on Martin Luther King Jr. Way South near South Graham Street.

"A lot of people ask us if we're closing down the CID location because we're opening a store on Martin Luther King Jr. Way. We're not," said Tran. "We'll be remodeling [the] Little Saigon [shop]. We're reinvesting money back into the CID to make it more beautiful, more welcoming, so that more business owners will be attracted to come back into the area and do the same. Sooner or later, the neighborhood will be thriving again, and we'll be a part of that."

Celebrate Little Saigon
Saturday, Aug. 15
12–5 p.m.

• Hoa Mai Park, 1224 S. King St.

• Nisei Veterans Committee Memorial Hall Parking Lot, 1212 S. King St.

• Little Saigon Creative, 1227 S. Weller St., Suite A

After Celebrate Little Saigon, a separate event will be held in CID's Hing Hay Park:

CID Summer Cinema will show ULAM: Main Dish, a Filipino food documentary
Saturday, Aug. 15
7–10 p.m.
Hing Hay Park, 423 Maynard Ave. S.

Got an idea for a South End story you'd like to see us cover? Let me know: Yuko.Kodama@SeattleEmerald.org.