If you’re going to have an International District, it might as well feel truly international.
SDOT recently unveiled new bilingual street name signs in Seattle’s Little Saigon neighborhood. The signs are in English and Vietnamese, in the same style as existing bilingual street name signs in the Japantown and Chinatown neighborhoods.
The new signs were installed at the request of the community and the Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority (SCIDpda). Community members worked to translate the English street names into Vietnamese, which maintain continuity with street name signs in Little Saigon communities across the US and in Vietnam.
The timing is pretty good considering Saturday is the Celebrate Little Saigon event.
The signs were created and placed as part of the Little Saigon Placemaking project, which hopes to maintain the identity and sense of place of the neighborgood while also spurring on economic development.