Catinat Street, the original name of Dong Khoi in downtown Ho Chi Minh City, was a unique fusion of Vietnamese, Chinese and French influences around a century ago.

The street, which was later renamed Tu Do (Liberty) and Dong Khoi (General Uprising) Street, is located in the center of the country’s largest economic hub.

Today’s Dong Khoi Street, considered by enthusiasts of the city’s 318-year history to be one of the most typical in Ho Chi Minh City, has been heavily frequented by foreigners over the past several years.

The street thrives in having a ‘double life,’ featuring both the hectic pace of a high street shopping precinct while retaining historical, nostalgic value.

Majestic Hotel, situated at one end of Catinat Street

Day and night it teems with life and commotion, with painting, souvenir shops, and silk boutiques acting as a draw to foreign tourists.

Some of the shops on the street are a little over one meter in width, but even these limited dimensions cannot stop traders from doing good business.

Despite its irresistible appeal, few really know the tale behind the street.

A bustling hub of yesteryear

In the early 1900s, when it was known as Catinat Street, fierce competition would take place between French, Chinese and Vietnamese traders, according to Pham Cong Luan, a revered writer, who wears his love of Ho Chi Minh City on his sleeve.

Apart from writing books popular with young readers, Luan, 55, is also famous for authoring a two-volume book, 'Sai Gon – Chuyen Doi Cua Pho' (Saigon – Life Stories of a City).

'Sai Gon – Chuyen Doi Cua Pho' offers a rich, kaleidoscopic insight into the city by fusing the author’s very personal accounts into rare photos collected from insiders and historical witnesses.

City-dwellers had been expressing a keen preference for Chinese and Western products well into the 1920s, when northern Vietnamese traders went to great lengths to bring craft items from the north to the south.

Catinat Street then emerged as the top choice to purchase such items.

Catinat Street during the 1950s. Photo: Life

As southern Vietnamese people were generally big spenders, expensive furniture items would sell considerably better in the south than in the north.

The emerging popularity of such Vietnamese products hurt both the Chinese and French rivals who offered similar items for sale along the canopy-lined street.

From the 1940s onward, more Vietnamese-owned shops appeared along the street before French troops retreated in 1954, Luan noted.

The Vietnamese capital city of Hanoi was liberated from French colonial rule on October 10, 1954, following the historic Dien Bien Phu victory.

The myriad shops including tailor, cloth and photography stores mushroomed along Catinat Street as well as nearby streets such as d’Ormay (Nguyen Van Thinh later and Mac Thi Buoi now) and Amiral Dupré (Thai Lap Thanh, or Dong Du today).

“When I was born in 1962, Catinat Street had already been renamed Tu Do Street,” Luan cited Tan Thanh, a living witness who resided in the neighborhood, as saying.

“It was the most sparkling, opulent-looking street in Saigon back then, even though it may not be as large as Thong Nhat Street [Le Duan Street now] or Nguyen Hue Street [also in the city’s heart],” he noted.

Thanh recounted cherished childhood memories on the street, which was home to a swimming pool, now a thing of the past, Catinat Theater, and peddlers selling schoolgirls’ favorite snacks.

The girls would also hang around the Saigon Departo trade center, situated at the Tu Do-Thai Lap Thanh intersection.

The center was said to be the most lavish department store in Saigon at the time, displaying a wide range of Vietnamese and Japanese products and boasting confectionery vending machines, which were a magnet for children of the day.

Next to Saigon Departo was Cafeteria, one of the first of its kind in Saigon offering self-service catering. 

A sketch of Catinat Street would not be complete without a mention of Givral and Brodard bakeries, which are now a fond if fading memory of bygone days.

These two patisseries displayed mouth-watering ice cream, pastries, and a multitude of cakes behind shiny glass windows, which kids found too tempting to resist, Thanh recalled.

He had to skip breakfast for several days to afford an ice cream from one of these shops.

Catinat Street facing the Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica, one of Ho Chi Minh City’s icons

Hallmarks of Chinese culture and cuisine were also everywhere along Catinat Street, and at its intersection with several other roads.

Chinese-style sidewalk teashops would offer tea and coffee on plates, with pushcarts heaped with ‘hu tieu bo vien’ (rice noodle soup served with beef balls) and ‘mi’ (vermicelli soup with pork) – some of the country’s signature delicacies. Alternative medicine stores also lined the street.

The well storied street was renamed Dong Khoi Street, as it is now known, approximately 40 years ago.

“I never feel I belong to this street, and maybe no one does. The street has so many migrant stories behind it,” writer Luan concluded.  

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