Garden Grove Invites Community to Help Shape Little Saigon Design Guidelines on April 25

The cities of Garden Grove, Fountain Valley, and Santa Ana invite community members, business owners, and stakeholders to attend the Little Saigon Community Design Workshop on Saturday, April 25, 2026, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Garden Grove Courtyard Center, located at 12732 Main Street.

"Little Saigon is a source of pride for Garden Grove and for the region," said
Mayor Stephanie Klopfenstein. "We encourage residents, business owners, and stakeholders to participate and help create a shared vision for Little Saigon's future."

In collaboration with the three Orange County cities, the world-renowned architectural firm Gensler has conducted extensive community outreach over the past several months, including focus groups, surveys, and business-to-business canvassing to incorporate public feedback into a final report that will be presented to each city for adoption later in the year. The workshop represents a culmination to this outreach effort and will give the community another opportunity to share ideas and help form architectural and urban design guidelines for Little Saigon, a vibrant cultural and commercial district that spans parts of Garden Grove, Fountain Valley, Santa Ana, and neighboring cities. The effort is intended to help preserve Little Saigon's cultural identity while exploring beautification and placemaking opportunities that support businesses, residents, and visitors.

"It's been inspiring to see the Tri-Cities working together collaboratively to achieve a common goal," said Fountain Valley Mayor Jim Cunneen. "Little Saigon is a special place, and these guidelines will not only enhance visual quality, but also support economic vitality and create a cohesive sense of place that reflects and celebrates the area's unique Vietnamese-American heritage."

Little Saigon remains the largest and most influential Vietnamese-American community in the United States, according to a 2024 demographic and economic profile prepared by Cal State Fullerton's Woods Center for Economic Analysis and Forecasting. The report has helped inform planning efforts now underway across the area.

The initiative is being advanced through California Jobs First grant funding awarded to the cities of Garden Grove, Fountain Valley and Santa Ana. In January 2026, the
Garden Grove City Council approved a contract with Gensler to prepare architectural and urban design guidelines for Little Saigon. The consultant team is now working with the participating cities to develop the guidelines, with the project expected to conclude in September 2026.

"The City of Santa Ana is proud to join our neighboring cities to shape a shared vision for Little Saigon," said Santa Ana Mayor Valerie Amezcua. "By working together to create thoughtful design guidelines, we are ensuring that future growth is not only economically strong, but also rooted in the community's identity, history and culture. This collaboration represents our commitment to preserving what makes Little Saigon special while opening the door to new opportunities."

Community members are encouraged to RSVP at gg.city/lscdw. Translation services will be available at the workshop. Questions may be directed to Garden Grove Project Manager Grace Kim at [email protected].