The dislocation of Little Saigon offers lessons for preserving the Eden Center

Clarendon was once known as Little Saigon due to the many Vietnamese refugees who opened small businesses in the area in the 1970s.

But when Arlington County began efforts to promote redevelopment, those small business owners were forced out.

The Viet Place Collective believes that understanding what happened in Clarendon is critical to ensuring that future redevelopment plans protect the interests of other ethnic enclaves. As a result, the group invited the community to a presentation by Johns Hopkins University students on a project they carried out on “The Disappearance of Little Saigon.”

The Viet Place Collective was formed in 2022 when the City of Falls Church began considering a plan to guide future redevelopment in an area that included the Eden Center, the Vietnamese retail center in Seven Corners.

In response to lobbying by the Vietnamese community, the Small Area Plan, approved in 2023, includes provisions to support the existing businesses and take into account the cultural significance of the Eden Center.

Related story: City of Falls Church commits to preserving Vietnamese culture at the Eden Center

The Viet Place Collective collaborated with Johns Hopkins University’s programs on Critical Diaspora Studies and Critical Responses to Anti-Asian Violence to promote a dialogue on “how local government officials, state policymakers, civic organizations, businesses, media, and students can work together to prevent the displacement of the current Vietnamese community hub in Falls Church and preserve Vietnamese American heritage in the region.”

The presentation by the students, on May 18 at the Falls Church Community Center, drew dozens of people, including Falls Church Mayor Letty Hardi, Vice Mayor Debbie Hiscott, City Council member Erin Flynn, and Mason District Supervisor Andres Jimenez’ chief of staff Amir Abu-El-Hawa

The Johns Hopkins students took turns outlining the interrelated factors that led to the dispossession of Little Saigon.

Lima Mutahidy explained how the commercial center of Clarendon began declining in the 1970s due to the growth of shopping malls. At the same time, the disruption caused by the construction of Metro had a negative impact on the desirability of the area.

Many Vietnamese refugees, attracted by the cheap rents, opened grocery stores, tailor shops, and other small businesses in Clarendon. 

In 1984, the Arlington County Board, working with developers, proposed a plan to create an urban center in Clarendon built around Metro that prioritized office buildings.

As the plan was being developed, the Vietnamese merchant community protested being pushed out and actively participated in county workshops, Mutahidy said. Even if they could stay in the area, they worried about higher rents.

Lisa Wang noted that the county recognized the need to balance redevelopment with small businesses and formed a work group to come up with solutions for business and cultural preservation.

The Vietnamese community came together and proposed constructive ideas, she said. “They expressed eagerness to remain in Arlington, as they had an emotional connection to the place where they first settled in America.” The discussions were positive, and Vietnamese business owners felt their voices were heard.

Yet when the plan was approved in 1989, “there was a stark absence of discussion about the displacement of Vietnamese businesses,” said Estelle Yeung. “Small businesses were seen as less valuable, and displacement was made to seem inevitable.”

Because most of the Vietnamese business owners were renters, the property owners had the primary power to determine what happened, added Suzy Schlosberg. They raised rents, offered only short-term leases, and failed to maintain their properties.

In the 1970s, rents in that area were about $1 a square foot. By 1989, rents averaged $24 a square foot.

Eventually landlords stopped extending leases altogether and paid business owners lump sums to terminate their leases.

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Many of the Vietnamese business owners displaced from Clarendon relocated to the shopping center that eventually became known as the Eden Center.

Now, several decades later, the Eden Center could be redeveloped, although there are no current plans to do so. The popular shopping center is nearly 100 percent leased, but it’s located in a high-demand area.

The students’ project on the disappearance of Little Saigon offers insights from the past on how to preserve ethnic enclaves, and groups like the Viet Place Collective are ensuring the Vietnamese community is better organized to ensure their needs will be met if the area is redeveloped.