Eden Center

It is rare to see the flag of South Vietnam flying in the year 2025, but it is proudly on display at Eden Center, a shopping center in Falls Church, Virginia, featuring over 120 shops and restaurants, largely catering to the Vietnamese-American community.

Originally opened in 1962 under the name Plaza Seven, it was in the mid-1980s that the center became a hotspot for Vietnamese-owned businesses pushed out by rising rents in the nearby Arlington neighborhood of Clarendon. As more and more businesses set down roots, the center was expanded and upgraded in the following years, including the installation of its iconic clock tower and archway, both inspired by Bến Thành Market in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. As with most things in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area, Eden Center is not without its connections to geopolitical intrigue. In his book Covert Capital: Landscapes of Denial and the Making of U.S. Empire in the Suburbs of Northern Virginia, author Andrew Friedman describes how U.S. military and intelligence officials (based primarily in Northern Virginia) built up close contacts with members of the South Vietnamese government and professional class during the Vietnam War.

Following the fall of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) to the North Vietnamese in 1975, many former South Vietnamese government officials and their families fled to the United States, with many settling in Northern Virginia. It was in this context that Eden Center became an economic and cultural hub for Northern Virginia's Vietnamese-American community, which it remains to this day. Each year, Eden Center hosts ceremony marking the anniversary of the Fall of Saigon, and large South Vietnamese flags fly over the property year round.In addition to its shops and restaurants, Eden Center also hosts cultural events and live music throughout the year.