Greetings From Little Saigon

Artist
Greetings Tour (Victor Ving)

Hub
Little Saigon

Description
After the success of their first mural on The Boulevard in North Park, the Greetings Tour was back in 2018. This time in the Little Saigon community. The Boulevard introduced Victor to Sin Lee Market where the mural is located.

In the words of Victor and Lisa, the couple behind the Greetings Tour: We arrived in late January 2018 with welcoming warm temperatures in sunny So-Cal. The Boulevard hooked us up with parking at Fair at 44 and passes to the YMCA across the street to be able to use the showers/gym.

Before painting, we got acquainted with Little Saigon. We learned this area was designated an official district a few short years ago in City Heights, San Diego. After the fall of Saigon in 1975, people fled to this specific area, now owning and operating about 70% of the businesses today. We met the owner of Sin Lee Market where The Boulevard got us a wall to paint. They allowed us to block off parking with barricades in this high traffic area due to their booming business.

Victor began painting and that’s when we started to recognize the iconic rice hats were actually not that cliché in this neighborhood. Women would sit outside the market wearing them, selling lotus leaf sticky rice known as bánh chưng. Throughout the few days working there, we ate at the famous Pho Hoa restaurant and got one too many Vietnamese coffees and egg rolls across the street at A-Chau.

While the area has a big Vietnamese population, it’s also an Asian community in general. Since Victor is an Asian street artist, he’s always happy to help out a community with similar roots! The yellow paint for the background we used was very bright and eye catching. We were inspired by their original flag color and also wanted something to make you look twice when driving down El Cajon Boulevard.

Greetings Tour is a nationwide mural project creating interactive & timeless landmarks through public art. Using the classic large letter postcard style, our artwork captures the pride of locals for their hometowns and sparks the interests of visitors alike. At each stop, we collaborate with local artists, businesses and residents to create a piece of true public art art that engages the local community. Muralist Victor Ving and photographer Lisa Beggs have been traveling full time in their RV since leaving New York City in 2015. To date, the artist duo have completed a total of 50+ murals across 25+ different states continuing their mission to create their colorful & photogenic artwork in all 50 states and eventually taking the project to an international level!

For more Information and a video visit: https://www.greetingstour.com/murals/little-saigon

Back to the full El Cajon Boulevard Mural Tour.