From French to anti-communist to communist, each regime has put its imprint on street names. Take Saigon — oops, Ho Chi Minh City — where nearly all 60 French-named streets have been renamed.
 A historic photo, from the early 1900s, of the Rue Catinat, which later became the Tu Do (Freedom) Street, and still later Dong Khoi (Uprising) Street. Believed to have been taken between 1900-1910Credit: Collection Philippe Chaplain – Fédération Nationale du Patrimoine] *** [] (Collection Philippe, Federation Nationale / July 4, 2010) |
By Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times July 5, 2010
Reporting from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam —
Literature lovers who come looking for Rue Catinat in this city once known as Saigon better hope they happen upon a Francophile octogenarian.
The street, made famous in Graham Greene’s “The Quiet American,” hasn’t been called that in more than half a century. These days, it’s called Dong Khoi (Uprising) Street. (And before that, it was called Freedom Street. But more about that later.)
Đọt Chuối Non 