From Sterwiki

Oklahoma City's Asia District is the centre of Asian culture and International cuisine and commerce for the state of Oklahoma.

Anchored by the Gold Dome on NW 23rd Street, the Chinatown district runs along Classen Boulevard and surrounding Avenues in central Oklahoma City from roughly 22nd Street up to NW 30th. Scores of restaurants, travel outlets, international video, retail boutiques, nightclubs, and service outlets cator to Oklahoma City's large Asian populous and visitors alike.

History

'Little Saigon,' tucked in the heart of barbecue and cowboy country, was born in 1975 when hundreds of Vietnamese refugees came to Oklahoma City after their country fell to communists.

The Vietnamese population has continued to grow since the first wave of immigrants were dropped just across the state line in Fort Chaffee, Ark. Relatives and friends have followed as stories of success reached their homeland.

The original refugees made Oklahoma City their home thanks to a handful of activists who brought hundreds out of the camp. Each refugee had to have an American sponsor before leaving the Arkansas barracks.

The first refugees, most who did not speak English, left professional and military careers in Vietnam to become laborers -- brick makers, builders and warehouse workers. In time, they became lawyers, doctors and engineers, sent their children to American colleges and started businesses.

They opened dental and chiropractor offices, nail salons and insurance agencies. They also created the Vietnamese-American Association and the Vietnamese Buddhist Association, which is breaking ground on a new temple next month.

In the last 25 years, he said, the Vietnamese have transformed the strip along N.W. 23rd Street and Classen Boulevard. The 2000 data counted 12,500 Vietnamese-Americans in the Asia District, nearly double the population of the second-largest Asian group -- Chinese-Americans.

In 1975 there were just three Asian restaurants and no Vietnamese markets as the first refugees arrived after the fall of Saigon. Today there are hundreds of restaurants and grocery stores, and egg roll wrappers and rice noodles aren't that hard to find.

Oklahoma Viet Times.

External links

• China.net Chinatown Oklahoma City (http://www.2002china.net/chinatowns/oklahomacity/indexee.htm)