In piecing together our collective memory of a Saigon past, old photos play an insurmountable role in providing visual evidence that the human mind might miss after decades.

These shots of 1963 Saigon were taken by American G.I. Pete Komada who was based at Davis Station in suburban Saigon. What he saw through his lens were separate slices of the city in the early 1960s, when the sides of the Saigon River weren’t filled with houses and still retained their lush greenery, as shown through the aerial shots.

Women in snazzy hairdos behind the bar, a morning coffee at the Continental Hotel accompanied by people-watching, the eerie emptiness of Dong Khoi Street late at night: a mix of the familiar and the strange exists in these photos.

Take a peek at Pete Komada’s photos below:

Sharing a Coke with friends.

A drink stall on the side of the street.

A woman and her toddler in suburban Saigon.

Smile for the camera!

Blue Moon Bar, which used to be on Dong Du Street.

Left: a xích lô in front of Ben Thanh Market. Right: the restaurant inside of Continental Hotel.

Tan Son Nhat Airport's passenger terminal.

Waiting by the runway at Tan Son Nhat Airport.

The Reunification Palace under construction after being bombed.

At night on Dong Khoi Street.

A sparsely developed part of Saigon from above.

Saigon's peripheral communities where agricultural activities took place.

The rooftop of the Rex Hotel.

Komada's friend posing on the rooftop of a hotel.

[Photos by Pete Komada via Redsvn]