Tâm Lê in Saigon
Street Cred: Phan Đình Phùng, My Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfather
An unassuming street named Phan Đình Phùng runs through Saigon’s Phú Nhuận District. It is named after a Vietnamese revolutionary who led rebel armies against French colonial forces in the 1880s and 1890s. He is also my great-great-great-great-great-grandfather.
Lycée Marie Curie: The High School That Has Stood the Test of Time
Marie Curie High School, also called Lycée Marie Curie in French or Trường Trung Học Phổ Thông Marie Curie in Vietnamese, is a public high school located in Saigon’s District 3.
Khôi Phạm in Saigon
Old Saigon Building of the Week: The Glitz and Glam of Tự Do Nightclub
While today’s Đồng Khởi Street is peppered with tourist-centric shops and restaurants, just half a century ago, the downtown street was the nightlife hotspot for Saigon’s cool kids to congregate.
Revisit the Colorful, Diverse Universe of Multinational Xe Đò in 1990s Saigon
Saigoneers who spent their formative years in the 1990s will remember an era of secondhand products of mixed origins. This unique feature of daily life also extended into the transportation realm.
The Double-Edged Allure of Indochic in Postcolonial Vietnam
Bordering the Temple of Literature in Hanoi is Nguyễn Thái Học Boulevard, where a number of art shops sit side by side. Among them, tourists and visitors can find an endless supply of varying iterations of socialist iconography, gold-plated replicas of Đông Sơn drums, and faux-impressionist paintings of colonial Indochina. In Mũi Né, a 127-room resort unironically called The Anam Mui Ne boasts its Indochine allure with “Indochine Charm. Modern Luxury” on its home page. Throughout the resort are paintings depicting women in traditional áo dài and scenes of tranquil fishing villages, gesturing toward the bucolic past of Vietnam. In Saigon, numerous cafes and eateries are decorated in encaustic cement tiles with intricate floral, pastel designs, while brandishing French names and wrought iron railings on their balconies.
Uyên Đỗ in Hanoi
A Slice of Life in Coupon-Era Hanoi via Colorful Vintage Lottery Tickets
What can tiny sheets of paper reveal about a whole time period?
Brian Letwin in Heritage
Tàu Cánh Ngầm: The Curious Case of Saigon’s Lost Soviet Hydrofoils
Not long ago, hulking “creatures” glided atop the waters between Saigon and Vũng Tàu. Like the dinosaurs that came before them, they slowly disappeared, until all that was left were their skeletons.
Tim Doling in Saigon
The Surprisingly Recent History Behind Bình Thạnh's Lonely 'Gia-Đinh' Gate
It’s claimed by several tourism websites that a gateway from one of the ancient Gia Định citadels has survived and may be viewed on the Lê Văn Duyệt-Phan Đăng Lưu intersection in Bình Thạnh District, close to the Lê Văn Duyệt Mausoleum. However, a little research into the history of that area reveals that the gateway in question has more recent origins.
[Photos] Landmarks of 1966-1967 Saigon in Black and White
Sometimes the backstory behind a photograph is key, while other times simply observing an image is better.
[Photos] A Shopping Trip in Ben Thanh Market in 1938
Dried fish? Pomelo? A chicken? Heels? Plates? Perhaps a fizzy soft drink or simple meal on the street? What is on your shopping list when you go to Ben Thanh Market?
An Early View of a Barely Developed Saigon in the 1860s
Dropping a modern Saigoneer into the 1860s version of the city would be a wildly disorienting experience.
D3 Heritage Mansion to Reopen as Dining Destination in 2022
One of Saigon's great remaining heritage buildings is nearing its public debut.
The Neo-Baroque Opulence of the Norodom Palace in the 1920s
Few people remember seeing with their own eyes the facade of the building at the site of the former Independence Palace, let alone its interior.
[Photos] 15 Film Photos of Saigon in 1971 by Vincent Yip
Even within a year, the facade and personality of Saigon can undergo significant change. Favorite haunts move, new buildings materialize, and once-recognizable corners take on completely novel identit...
Nguyen-Era Mandarin Cap Purchased at Auction in Spain for EUR600,000
You could buy approximately 35,000 modern baseball caps for the same price.
Hue to Spend $20m to Restore 5 Historical Sites From Nguyen Dynasty
Five sites in the ancient capital will be restored at a total cost of over VND460 billion (nearly US$20.2 million) over the next five years.
What Happened to the Saigon Tax Center's Moroccan Mosaic Staircase?
Exactly five years ago this week, construction workers began tearing apart the Saigon Tax Center building to make way for a new development project.
[Photos] A Day Trip to 1968 Vung Tau
Time for a trip to the coast.
[Photos] On the Road in 1971 Vietnam, From Saigon to Da Nang
This week's collection of old film photos comes from an American service member named Terry Nelson, who covered quite a bit of ground in Vietnam in 1971 and 1972. These shots include colorful depictio...
Govi Snell in Vietnam
Nguyễn Thị Định, the Major General Leading Bến Tre's 'Long-Haired Army'
Hidden down an alley in Saigon’s District 3 is the house that was given by the government to Vietnam’s first woman general, Nguyễn Thị Định, after the country’s reunification in 1975.
[Photos] Downtown Saigon in 1972: Same Same, but Different
What if all the core images, sounds and smells you know of a place were intact, but altered, tweaked or reworked the way songs can be? In some ways, this is what it feels like to gaze at photographs o...
[Photos] A Visual History of Saigon's Rainy Season Through the Eras
Oh, rain.
[Photos] Memories of Hue, Quang Tri in 1967 Through the Lens of Edward Palm
Empty streets, lines for food, shuttered shops: the last few weeks have certainly provided some strange scenes for Saigon residents.
[Photos] Napping in Saigon Through the Decades
Can you hear the snores?
[Photos] Expansive Views of 1950 Saigon from Above
How often do you think about the Saigon River?
[Photos] Rare Photos From Above Show a Sparsely Developed Da Lat in 1966
When we think of Da Lat today, we imagine a fully formed city of flowers, fruits and mountain photoshoots.
[Photos] Travel to a Bustling Singapore in 1979 Through Doi Kuro's Lens
While some Southeast Asian cities were completely unrecognizable from their current self in 1979, Singapore at that time was already on its way to becoming the region's most developed location.
Marc Dinh in Vietnam
Chợ Âm Phủ and the Embattled History Behind Hanoi's Book Street
19/12 Street was once a mass burial ground for those who died in the National Resistance against France in 1946. The event shaped the history of the city and the relationship that thrived for 71 years...
