Little Saigon will welcome the year of the mouse later this month with a Tet celebration along Bolsa Avenue featuring the customary dragon dance, firecrackers and food.
But if Frank Jao and other prominent developers have their way, 1996 will be anything but mousy in the heart of Orange County's Vietnamese community.
Business leaders have embarked on an ambitious campaign to transform the vibrant row of shops and restaurants into an international tourist mecca with a distinctively Asian ambience that would set it apart from the surrounding suburban sprawl.
"In the eyes of most people, this is basically a business district now," Jao said. "We want to see more of a cultural flavor and style. In order to attract tourists, you need that atmosphere. They don't come just to shop."
A landmark pedestrian bridge has been proposed for the center of Little Saigon. Developers also are planning to build temples, place dozens of ornate statues around parking lots and add Asian architectural flourishes to the district's boxy commercial buildings.
In the long term, they envision hotels, a cultural center and a redesigned streetscape complete with sidewalk cafes, landscaped medians and Asian-style street lamps.
Before the grand plan becomes reality, however, it must clear several obstacles.
The expensive public works projects would require backing by the city of Westminster, which until now has not played a major role in Little Saigon's long-term strategy. City leaders say there is no community consensus on the scope of the improvements or how to pay for them.
Opposition is expected from some nearby residents who have already raised concerns about crime, traffic and overdevelopment. Moreover, some experts warn that turning Little Saigon into a mainstream tourist trap ultimately could hurt the district more than help it.
Frank Liu, an associate professor of Asian American studies at UC Irvine, said several of the nation's older ethnic communities--most notably Los Angeles' Chinatown--have declined, in part because they focused on tourism instead of providing dining and other services for residents.
"The center of the Chinese community moved to the San Gabriel Valley," Liu said. "People stopped going to L.A.'s Chinatown because there wasn't much for them to purchase. . . . They didn't need to go to the tourist shops."
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