GuerillaBlack
31 December 2007, 01:18 PM
The exodus of Vietnamese Americans is part of a larger shift in California: As the economy weakens, more people are leaving. An annual study by the state Department of Finance released Wednesday showed that 89,000 more people moved out of California than moved in from elsewhere in the U.S. in fiscal 2007.
Houston's Vietnamese community, now the third largest in the nation, numbered about 85,000 in 2006 -- up a third in just six years, according to U.S. Census figures.
Community leaders and real estate agents in Houston say they started seeing an upswing in Vietnamese Americans from California five years ago, driven mostly by the city's cheaper housing. Although Hurricane Katrina brought in displaced Vietnamese Americans from Louisiana, residents say the California migration is much larger.
Since then, Vietnamese businesses have sprouted in pockets throughout Houston, with most concentrated on a four-mile stretch of Bellaire Boulevard in the city's southwest area. The thoroughfare has striking similarities to Bolsa Avenue, Little Saigon's main drag.
There are Vietnamese supermarkets, large Catholic Vietnamese churches, Buddhist temples and restaurants hawking bowls of noodles that to visitors taste as good as those served in Little Saigon's pho houses. There are Vietnamese-speaking doctors, lawyers and real estate agents. Even the hottest Vietnamese pop stars stop in Houston.
Developer Luu Trankiem is planning to open the New Saigon Shopping Plaza next year, a high-end center on 32 acres near Bellaire Boulevard. The plaza's seven high-rise buildings come at a price of about $300 million.
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Houston's Vietnamese community, now the third largest in the nation, numbered about 85,000 in 2006 -- up a third in just six years, according to U.S. Census figures.
Community leaders and real estate agents in Houston say they started seeing an upswing in Vietnamese Americans from California five years ago, driven mostly by the city's cheaper housing. Although Hurricane Katrina brought in displaced Vietnamese Americans from Louisiana, residents say the California migration is much larger.
Since then, Vietnamese businesses have sprouted in pockets throughout Houston, with most concentrated on a four-mile stretch of Bellaire Boulevard in the city's southwest area. The thoroughfare has striking similarities to Bolsa Avenue, Little Saigon's main drag.
There are Vietnamese supermarkets, large Catholic Vietnamese churches, Buddhist temples and restaurants hawking bowls of noodles that to visitors taste as good as those served in Little Saigon's pho houses. There are Vietnamese-speaking doctors, lawyers and real estate agents. Even the hottest Vietnamese pop stars stop in Houston.
Developer Luu Trankiem is planning to open the New Saigon Shopping Plaza next year, a high-end center on 32 acres near Bellaire Boulevard. The plaza's seven high-rise buildings come at a price of about $300 million.
http://www.latimes.com/services/site/premium/access-registered.intercept