Horse-drawn carriages, flower shops with white-tiled basins and a multitude of parked bikes: these were what used to occupy the length of Nguyen Hue Boulevard in the 1960s before it became the walking street that it is today.
In this set of film photos by American serviceman Darryl Henley who was stationed in Vietnam in the late 1960s, there was once a Nguyen Hue jammed pack with vintage cars; crowds of passersby wearing the same cut of pants, white shirt and nondescript hairdo; and colonial-style shopfronts.
Take a walk about town in the photos below:
The roundabout in the middle of the Nguyen Hue-Le Loi intersection.
Hordes of parked vintage cars on Nguyen Hue.
Lam Son Square.
Rows of motorcycles on the sidewalk.
Mariamma Hindu Temple on Truong Dinh Street.
A florist's on Nguyen Hue selling fresh flowers in white basins.
A street-level vista into Mac Thi Buoi Street (then Nguyen Van Thinh).
A horse-drawn carriage in Quach Thi Trang Square in front of Ben Thanh Market.
The pavement outside the now-destroyed Tax Center full of street merchants.
A flower kiosk on Nguyen Hue.
A view from the Saigon Post Office into the square in front of the Notre-Dame Cathedral.
Book vendors on Nguyen Hue.
The Instagram-famous 42 Nguyen Hue before becoming a tourist magnet.
Caravelle Hotel.
Traffic on a street.
The road leading to the Kinh Thanh Da Bridge.
Saigon Bridge.
Kinh Thanh Da Bridge.
Saigon Bridge.
[Photos by Darryl Henley via Flicker user manhhai]
