Good for all ages

Kim O'Connell and Nam Viet's Richard Nguyen will host a five-stop tour around Clarendon to illuminate the neighborhood's rich Vietnamese history.  The Library Truck will serve as the meeting place to begin the tour, and Library staff will have fun giveaways for all ages. A deeper dive of this history is also being provided as a booklet for Arlingtonians to take and explore on their own. Additionally, the Center for Local History will be sharing before-and-after archival photographs of the Clarendon neighborhood to help round out the event. This event draws from the project Echoes of Little Saigon.

Little Saigon refers to the Vietnamese ethnic enclave in the Clarendon neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia, which served the large refugee population that immigrated after the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975. The neighborhood became a vibrant hub of Vietnamese commerce and social activity, and reached its peak during the late 1970s to the mid 1980s. The opening of the WMATA Clarendon Metro station eventually sparked new development, resulting in higher rents, and businesses closed or relocated, notably to the nearby Eden Center. Nam Viet Restaurant is the last remaining original Vietnamese business in Clarendon.

This tour will begin and end at the Library Truck which will be parked outside of the Clarendon Metro Station, 3100 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA 22201.

RSVP for an event reminder. 

• Location campus *Off-Site
• Audience:
• Categories:
  • History