The drivers of the 405 motorway via Westminster will now officially cross the “Little Saigon Freeway”.
Community leaders, elected officials and veterans celebrated the designation of 405 between Bolsa avenue and rue Bolsa Chica in commemoration of the American Vietnamese community which settled in the County of Orange – The brown panels unveiled on Friday, April 18.
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The officials announced the name of a section of Highway 405 at Little Saigon Freeway in Westminster, California, Friday April 18, 2025. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register / SCNG)
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The officials announced the name of a section of Highway 405 at Little Saigon Freeway in Westminster, California, Friday April 18, 2025. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register / SCNG)
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The assembly of the assembly, R-Westminster, who put pressure for the designation in the legislative assembly of California, said that the signs “will help future generations to understand the sacrifices of the first generation which came here”.
The designation is one-way, said TA, to show its support for Vietnamese abroad and the United States, and to honor the sacrifices of South Vietnamese and American soldiers.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed the bill which appointed the Little Saigon part of 405 in September.
The mayor of Westminster, Chi Charlie Nguyen, said at the time that the designation “was a source of pride and honor for all Vietnamese Americans, because this emerging community has contributed so much to the growth and prosperity of the County of Orange and California and this nation in the past five decades.”
“And for these reasons, almost most of the Vietnamese American elected officials, at all levels of California, agreed to put pressure for its passage,” said Nguyen in a statement before support.
The designation of the highway comes in when the community of Little Saigon commemorates the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, when the communist forces of the North resumed the South Vietnam on April 30, 1975. Dozens of Vietnamese fled the communist regime, many boats, and found a house in the county of Orange, where the Little Saigon is considered to be the greatest community of Vietnam diaspora.
“Fifty years ago, we left Saigon and came here for freedom, and during the last 50 years, the Vietnamese community, we continue to fight for freedom,” said TA.
“Fifty years ago, we lost Saigon, but we did not lose our hope,” he said.
The funding of the panels came from private donors, according to the TA office; No taxpayer funds have been used.
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
