SAIGON, VIETNAM 🇻🇳 STREET ART: HANDING THE WORLD OVER TO THE NEXT GENERATION

July 2026

SAIGON, VIETNAM 🇻🇳 STREET ART: HEM 170

July 2026

SAIGON, VIETNAM 🇻🇳: FRENCH COLONIAL ERA

  • Original construction: likely 1920s–1940s during the French colonial era.
  • Original function: probably a government or port-related service building connected with the nearby Khánh Hội docks rather than a residence.
  • Current use: Khánh Hội Ward Police vehicle storage (“Kho Xe”).
Hem 170, District 4

July 2026

SAIGON, VIETNAM 🇻🇳 STREET ART: MAN ON A WALL

District 4

July 2026

SAIGON, VIETNAM 🇻🇳: POSE

Posers up high

This is the historic Saigon Railway Operations Branch building (Chi nhánh Khai thác Đường sắt Sài Gòn), part of the Vietnamese national railway system.
📍 136 Hàm Nghi Street
This is one of the surviving French colonial administrative buildings from the late 19th or early 20th century, when Vietnam’s railway network was being developed under French Indochina.
The building originally served railway administration during the colonial era, when Saigon was the southern hub of the expanding railway system. It managed operations connected with routes that eventually linked Saigon with central Vietnam and, by 1936, the complete North–South railway between Saigon and Hanoi.

After 1975, it continued its transportation role and today remains an office of the national railway operator, overseeing railway operations in southern Vietnam rather than serving as a passenger station.
Pics above by me, July 2026

vintage shot by unknown photog.
Mural, District 4

July 2026


SAIGON, VIETNAM 🇻🇳 GRAFFITI: MENDING VN/USA RELATIONS ONE FILL AT A TIME

July2026

SAIGON, VIETNAM 🇻🇳: TUBE HOUSES

The blue and green buildings in the center are classic tube houses (nhà ống).

They are:

  • Only about 3–5 meters wide
  • Very deep—often 15–25 meters long
  • Built vertically, usually 3–5 stories

Unlike a planned apartment complex, these buildings evolved over time.

You can see:

  • One floor added in the 1990s
  • Another balcony enclosed later
  • Different window styles
  • Railings replaced individually
  • Fresh paint beside weathered concrete

Each family modifies its home as money becomes available. The buildings become a visual history of several generations.

District 4

July 2026

SAIGON, VIETNAM 🇻🇳: LONG BUU PAGODA

Long Bửu Pagoda was founded in 1970 by Venerable Thích Từ Hiệp as a Mahayana (Northern Tradition) Buddhist temple.

🕉️The five-story stupa is a symbol of enlightenment and a place where sacred Buddhist objects or relics may be enshrined.

District 4

July2026

SAIGON, VIETNAM 🇻🇳: VINH HOI PARISH

The Vĩnh Hội Parish was established in 1875, only a few years after the French consolidated control of Saigon.

Instead of copying a European Gothic cathedral, its architects incorporated traditional Vietnamese and East Asian architectural elements:

  • sweeping, curved roofs like those of pagodas
  • layered rooflines
  • decorative eaves
  • a broad courtyard in front

Yet the unmistakable Christian features remain:

  • the cross at the top
  • statues of saints
  • Catholic liturgical interior

The result is a church that feels distinctly Vietnamese rather than imported.

7july26

District 4

SAIGON, VIETNAM 🇻🇳: GOLD STAR ⭐️ LIFE

Iconic symbols in one image: red plastic stool, motorbike, red flag/gold star ⭐️
Encapsulation of my daily life: Ca Phe Da, Tra Da, and a good book on the iPad at a street café
My Com Tam Suon lady at lunchtime
Alley Life

July 2026