1929 could be referred to as the beginning of Saigon’s Golden Age. Built on the backs of exploited Vietnamese laborers, the French had carved out what was then called the Pearl of the Orient, a European city in the heart of SE Asia.
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By this time, many of the city’s grandest colonial buildings had been erected and magnificent tree-lined boulevards and parks stretched across downtown.
This version of Saigon began to fade during Japanese occupation during World War 2 which started a chain of events that would lead to decades of conflict and the degradation of the city’s colonial façade, one that is still being chipped away to this day.
Fortunately, there are plenty of photos that can act as a visual time machine, bringing viewers back to a city without traffic, glass skyscrapers or massive billboards.
