As the financial, industrial and transport center of the Republic of Vietnam, Saigon however, beginning in the 1960s, experienced an economic downturn and high inflation, as it was completely dependent on U.S. aid and imports from other countries.
Widespread urbanization led to the city being turned into “a huge slum” and suffering from “prostitutes, drug addicts, corrupt officials, beggars, orphans, and Americans with money”. It was “a black-market city in the largest sense of the word”, according to Stanley Karnow.
Take a look back at Saigon in the 1960s through these 33 vibrant vintage photographs:
 |
| Shops on a street, 1960 |
 |
| A man and a traditionally dressed woman speed by on a motorbike, 1961 |
 |
| On a street in Cholon Chinatown, 1961 |
 |
| Tired cyclo drivers stretch out for siestas in their cabs, 1961 |
 |
| A man drives his wife and son on a scooter past passengers on a cyclo, 1961 |
 |
| A costumed dancer climbs a pole to nab treats dangling from a banner, Cho Lon, 1961 |
 |
| A girl in ao dai zips through traffic on a motorbike, 1961 |
 |
| A man kneeling on a sidewalk, prays with folded hands, holding a Buddhist Mâlâ, 1961 |
 |
| Burning incense and flickering candles cast a red glow on worshipers, 1961 |
 |
| House with walls and roofs of leaves in Cholon, 1961 |
 |
| Women dressed in ao dai stroll down the street with their children, 1961 |
 |
| Women bow and pray by a fiery incense burner outside a temple, 1961 |
 |
| The district of Cho Lon, 1961 |
 |
| Male patrons of a sidewalk cafe check out women pedestrians, 1961 |
 |
| Female mourners, wearing white ao dai, walking on a tree-lined street during Colonel Hoang Thuy Nam’s funeral procession, 1961 |
 |
| Monks walking on the street during the deposing of President Ngo Dinh Diem, 1963 |
 |
| A vendor sells canned goods sent as gifts to the Vietnamese people, 1965 |
 |
| Lights and traffic on Le Loi Boulevard light up the night, 1965 |
 |
| Shacks made of metal, wood, and cardboard jam a Saigon suburb, Cho Lon, 1965 |
 |
| A woman ties down her ao dai while riding bicycle, 1965 |
 |
| Policemen examine people lined up at a security gate to enter the city, 1965 |
 |
| Rows of bicycles clutter a downtown parking area, 1965 |
 |
| Homeward-bound Americans carry prized possessions through an airport, 1965 |
 |
| Looking for living space, families live in sampans and shacks, 1965 |
 |
| A butcher works behind an array of raw and cooked meat and poultry, 1965 |
 |
| Tanks commanded by rebellious officers rumble along a city street, 1965 |
 |
| Coca Cola delivery, 1968 |
 |
| Le Loi boulevard, Lam Son square with Marines statue and far is Lower House of RVN, 1968 |
 |
| Joint United States Public Affairs Office, 1968 |
 |
| 197 De Tham street, 1968 |
 |
| Saigon taxi, 1968 |
 |
| “Saigon Taxis” wait at signal, 1968 |
 |
| Street scenes around Christmas, 1968 |
0 comments:
Post a Comment