‘Voices After the Fall of Saigon': A San Jose refugee developer wants Vietnamese to have a piece of the ‘American Pie'

San Jose boasts the largest population of Vietnamese people in any city outside of the country of Vietnam. It’s no wonder there’s a district called Little Saigon there, one of the biggest in the nation. In it, you will find a few bustling plazas as part of Viet Nam Town.

You will get your steps in at Viet Nam Town. It has more than 300 businesses, and most of them are Vietnamese-owned.

Lap Tang is the man who built it.

“I have a vision,” Tang said.

Mr. Tang, as people in the community call him, was not always a developer. In Vietnam, he was a national police captain. He was there with his wife and daughter until April 30, 1975.

“On April 30, on the day that Saigon fall, we went and end up in the ocean. We ran away but don’t know where to go, but we end up in the ocean,” he said.

They drifted on a fishing boat until they ended up in Singapore. Mr. Tang said they got sent to the Philippines on a bigger boat and then sponsored to come to the U.S. They landed in Southern California.

“They sent us there and they found a church to sponsor us, also in Orange County, we stay in Orange County,” Mr. Tang said. “So I do three job, actually. From 4 o'clock in the morning, I went to Register, Orange County Register, and pick up the newspaper and deliver newspaper, and 7 o'clock I go to work at the assembly. And then 4 o'clock, I start to work at the school until 11 ‘o'clock."

He was a custodian at the school.

“Instead of working at electronic company, I open a movie theater,” Mr. Tang said. “I contact with the TV station in Hong Kong and Taiwan to buy the copyright, to sign the contract to buy the copyright to dub the DVD in Vietnamese, so I have the exclusive right to dub all their TV programs into Vietnamese and sell all over the world,” Mr. Tang said.

It was a profitable business for the Vietnamese diaspora now. His successful dubbing business was in downtown San Jose, and by the 80’s there were many Vietnamese businesses there.

But safety was a concern. So Mr. Tang decided he’d find a place to move and take anyone who wanted to go with him.

“Many, many people already open small shop, so I told them that I build something here so we can come together,” he said.

He found the property at McLaughlin Avenue and Story Road.

“I decide to buy it to buy the property to try to develop into Vietnamese center,” Mr. Tang said.

With partners and bank loans, they broke ground on construction and the iconic sign for Grand Century Mall opened in 2000, filling up quickly.

“The Vietnamese people that come here they like to do business they like to open something,” Mr. Tang said. “I tell them that they come here if you don’t have the money to pay a deposit, something, you can come in and do business and you don’t have to pay deposit, just open the business.”

The shops have dramatically changed the fabric of the corridor. But today, with shifts in how people shop, Mr. Tang is looking to evolve, too.

“Tear down everything and then I build brand new individual store,” Mr. Tang said. “I want each of them, when they do their own business, they own the property.”

Mr. Tang, a Buddhist, said he doesn’t need much else. He just wanted his Vietnamese community with backstories like his to have their piece.

“I want every single business people that come here they also own,” he said. “A piece of American pie,” Mr. Tang said.