25 Years in Orange County

1975

* Refugee camp established at Camp Pendleton. During six months of its operation, 50,418 refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos are relocated with the help of private sponsors and charities.

1978

* First Vietnamese-language daily newspaper outside of Vietnam, Nguoi Viet Daily News, begins publishing out of founder Yen Do’s Garden Grove home.

* Pioneering Vietnamese businessman Danh Quach opens pharmacy on Bolsa Avenue in Westminster, soon to be the heart of Little Saigon.

1979

* Vietnamese families and businesses gain footholds in Santa Ana, Stanton, Garden Grove, Westminster and Fountain Valley. About 30 Vietnamese-owned businesses are open along Bolsa Avenue.

* As residents adjust to the newcomers, the community enters an intense period of social and cultural adjustment. Vietnamese inadvertently offend Latino neighbors in Santa Ana by hanging squid on fences to dry. Social workers fan out to inform them that the smell it creates is not appreciated.

* Fear and ostracism rise after health department statistics show a high rate of tuberculosis among the Orange County Vietnamese population. The statistics result in stricter tuberculosis screening standards for health care workers and school employees.

* Bogus fund-raising schemes that prey on vulnerable new immigrants proliferate. Some claim to raise money for the resistance back home and others promote schemes to smuggle loved ones out of Vietnam.

1980

* A second wave of immigrants peaks, largely “boat people” escaping Vietnam by sea.

1981

* Vietnamese-owned businesses in Orange County number around 350. A petition signed by 100 residents is submitted to the Westminster City Council demanding that the city limit the growth of Little Saigon by denying business licenses to Vietnamese. No action was taken

1982

* Delta Savings and Loan, the first S&L; organized by Vietnamese refugees, opens in Westminster, followed a few months later by Mekong Bank.

* 1,500 newly naturalized Vietnamese in Orange County become eligible to vote.

1984

* 51 arrest warrants are issued after a yearlong investigation of Vietnamese physicians and pharmacists accused of Medi-Cal fraud in Los Angeles and Orange counties. The community rallies to defend its honor as a coalition of 41 Vietnamese religious and social groups is formed to issue a plea that the “whole not be judged by the actions of a few.”

* The first Vietnamese strip mall, Bolsa West, is opened at Bolsa Avenue and Ward Street by early settlers Danh Quach and Frank Jao.

1987

* Tap Van Pham, publisher of a Vietnamese-language newspaper, is killed when his Garden Grove office is firebombed. Attack is blamed on extremist groups that considered some of his advertisers to be fronts for the Communist government.

* Vietnamese gang crime rises, with Westminster police reporting that most Vietnamese small-business owners are subject to extortion demands.

1988

* Asian Garden Mall opens, soon developing into a commercial and cultural hub of Little Saigon.

* First freeway sign directing motorists to Little Saigon is erected. There are more than 700 Vietnamese businesses in Orange County.

* County’s first Vietnamese delegate to a Republican National Convention, Ky Ngo, is named.

1992

* Nation’s first Vietnamese-American elected official, Tony Lam, is elected to the Westminster City Council.

1993

* Little Saigon Radio goes on the air, establishing itself as the first extensive Vietnamese-language daily news program in Orange County.

1994

* Lifting of U.S. trade embargo against Vietnam sparks protests by immigrants opposed to normalizing relations with the Communist nation.

1997

* Vietnamese Catholic Center opens in Santa Ana.

1999

* Truong Van Tran: * Little Saigon video store owner Truong Van Tran sparks rallies drawing as many as 15,000 when he displays the flag of Communist Vietnam and a picture of the late Communist leader Ho Chi Minh in his shop.

* Vietnamese art exhibit at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana draws protesters who call the work Communist propaganda.

2000

* Vietnam Veterans of America chapter in Orange County announces proposal to admit former South Vietnamese soldiers.

Compiled by JANICE JONES DODDS / Los Angeles Times

Sources: Times reports