June 8, 1969: President Richard Nixon announces that U.S. troops will begin to withdraw from Vietnam.

Jan. 27, 1973: The U.S., North and South Vietnam and the Viet Cong sign the Paris Peace Accords.

March 29, 1973: The last U.S. ground troops leave Vietnam.

April 30, 1975: Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, falls and the war is effectively over.

Over 140,000 refugees are evacuated by the U.S. military during Operation Frequent Wind. Many escape on small boats and are picked up weeks or months later by the Navy.

Many refugees arrive at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station before being dispersed to resettlement camps at four military bases in the U.S. Over 50,000 are bused to Camp Pendleton. The last refugees leave Camp Pendleton in October; many find their way north to Westminster, planting the roots of Orange County’s Little Saigon.

1978: Some of the first Vietnamese businesses on Bolsa Avenue include Danh’s Pharmacy, Que Huong grocery, Hoa Binh Supermarket and Thanh My Restaurant.

Yen Ngoc Do launches the Nguoi Viet Daily News, the first Vietnamese-language newspaper in OC. Many more newspapers, radio stations and TV stations follow.

1979: As more people pack onto boats trying to leave Vietnam in the years following the end of the war, the Vietnamese government reaches an agreement with UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency, for their safe migration. The U.S. approves the Orderly Departure Program, opening the door to more than 450,000 refugees over the next two decades.

1980: Vietnamese people make up 1% of OC’s population, with 19,333 confirmed in the census.

In the 1980s: Vietnamese Americans buy aging shopping centers and buildings they can afford, revitalizing the area into Little Saigon. By 1984, there are over 600 businesses along Bolsa.

1987: Developer Frank Jao opens the Asian Garden Mall in Westminster. Little Saigon now boasts 550 Vietnamese merchants, attracting 20,000 to 50,000 shoppers each weekend.

June 17, 1988: Gov. George Deukmejian officially names the Little Saigon business district.

1990: The census counts 71,822 Vietnamese people living in OC, now 3% of the population.

1992: Tony Lam wins a seat on the Westminster City Council, becoming the first Vietnamese person elected to U.S. public office.

2000: The census reports 4.8% of OC is Vietnamese — over 135,000 residents — and over 44,000 live in Little Saigon.

2004: Van Tran’s election to the California Assembly makes him the first Vietnamese American person in a state legislature.

2010: Over 170,000 Vietnamese people are counted in the census, with over 57,000 making up nearly 40% of the population of Little Saigon. Little Saigon has grown beyond its business district to include large parts of Garden Grove, Fountain Valley and Santa Ana.

2015: The first dual-language Vietnamese and English program in the state is created at DeMille Elementary School in the Westminster School District.

2022: The last available census report clocks the Vietnamese population at 6.8% of OC and more than 46% of Little Saigon, with nearly 100,000 Vietnamese people living in the ethnic enclave.

January 2025: Democratic Rep. Derek Tran becomes the first Vietnamese American to represent the central OC district that includes Little Saigon in Washington, D.C.

Sources: Orange County Register archives; U.S., state and Department of Defense records; and the Cal State Fullerton Woods Center for Economic Analysis and Forecasting.