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Les fameux taxis Renault 4CV

Hotel du Chemin de Fer Saïgon

Taxi Renault 4cv Saïgon

Café rue Catinat Saigon

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Hôtel Majestic Saïgon

La Poste de Saïgon

Two monks in Saigon Air France

Solex Famililal à Saïgon

les Messageries Maritimes ont fait le tour du monde

Un enfant sur un cyclo-moteur

Aigle Azur Indochine

Les marins français en 1955 sur la rue Le Loi ex boulevard Bonard à Saïgon

Saigon-Phnom-Penh en 1953

Rue des Marins Cholon 1954

La Semaine de Saigon Fevrier 1969

Le Boulevard Charner

Dynard Panhard Saïgon

Théâtre municipal de Saïgon

Peugeot 403 à Saïgon

La Pagode Saïgon

Enfants dans une rue de Saïgon

Taxi Renault 4cv Saïgon

Lait SucrÉ Concentré Rosy Saigon

Croix-Rouge Française rue Thevenel

Catinat cine Saïgon

Savon Vietnam Saigon

Boulevard Charner au fond l'Hôtet de Ville de Saïgon

Armurerie Caffort, rue Catinat, Renault 4CV

Les cyclomoteurs sur le boulevard Bonard Saigon

Jeunes Saïgonnaise rue Catinat

Derrière la Cathédrale Notre Dame Saïgon

Aigle Azur Saigon

Solex Famililal à Saïgon

Derrière la Cathédrale Notre Dame Saïgon

Cigares Mélia

Le livre Cholon

Boulevard Charner au fond l'Hôtet de Ville de Saïgon

Indochinoises en vélos

Le Palais de la Capitale du Sud-Vietnam

Course de Cyclo-Pousse Saigon 1948

Centre ville de Saïgon

Vue sur Saïgon depuis l'hôtel Caravelle

La Croix du Sud rue Catinat Saïgon

Sita Saigon

Souvenir de Saïgon

La sortie de la messe le dimanche 16 octobre 1948

Peugeot 203

Soldat de l'air  en Velosolex Saigon 1951

Peugeot 203 à Saïgon

Rue Catinat

Vietnamienne avec un velosolex 45

Palais de Justice de Saïgon

Saïgon-Paris à scooter Peugeot en 1957

Les arcades de Saigon 1950

Couple Français devant le Café Le Givral Saïgon

Boulevard Charner Saïgon

Centre ville de Saïgon

Marin vietnamien sur un Vélosolex à Saïgon

La terrase d'un café de Saïgon

Soeurs en Solex Saigon

Jeune Vietnamienne

La Rue Pasteur ex Pellerin Saïgon en 1965 Velosolex Mobylettes

Jeux dans les rues de Saïgon

Devant la Station-Service Shell Cyclomoteur, Simca P60 Saïgon-Janvier 70

Eden Sports Saïgon

Le livre Cholon

La semaine Saigon avril 1967

Etablissements Marthe Gaschot Saigon

Etablissement Lucien Berthet Catinat Saïgon

Boulevard Charner Hôtel de Ville de Saïgon

Citroën Ami 8 Saïgon-Janvier 70

Tramway de Saïgon

Saïgon 15 Février 1953

Cigarettes Melia

Touristes françaises en Cyclomoteur à Saïgon

Jeunes gens en 1967 avec des Mobylettes à Saïgon

Devant le Parlement Novembre 1963

Indochinoises en vélos

Les Boîtes de nuit de Cholon

Marché noir Cigarettes Novembre 1967

Brodart rue Catinat Saïgon

Vue sur Saïgon depuis l'hôtel Caravelle

Le Docteur Irwin S. Leinbach devant le Parlement Novembre 1963

Peugeot 203 sur le Boulevard Bonnard à Saïgon

Jeunes gens en 1967 avec des Mobylettes à Saïgon

Citroen DS19 devant le temple Vinh Nghiem

Au Menestrel Saigon 1950

Peugeot 203

Une Renault Dauphine dans une rue de Saïgon

Renault 4CV & Dauphine Boulevard Charner Saïgon

La Croix du Sud rue Catinat Saïgon

Confection Tailleur Coya Saïgon

Velosolex sur le boulevard Charner Saïgon

Cyclistes devant l'Hôtel Continental de Saïgon

Delahaye Bainier Saïgon

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Drapeau francais

Cholon Chợ Lớn
(the chinese city)

Map of Cholon in 1953

Plan de SaĂŻgon en 1953

The Chinese Arroyo ( Creek )

A fleet of 3000 Chinese sampans or junks were permanently moored, or traveled on the Chinese arroyo from the back country carrying raw or paddy rice to the factories of Cholon and then carrying the processed rice from these factories to the cargo ships anchored in the port of Saigon.
Several hundred thousand people lived in a “reed city” in a crowded tangle of sampans and barges. Entire families, from infants to the elderly are stacked in makeshift shelters aboard these craft. They have no civil standing, and spread out into Saigon and Cholon during the day.
Three organizations seek to take over this mass of people: the Viet Minh, the Bin-Xuyen, and the police, who wage a three-front war to control them.

Arroyo chinois de  SaĂŻgon Arroyo chinois de Cholon-SaĂŻgon en 1954 Chargement de la boule de paddy Cholon-SaĂŻgon

Cholon Aerial view

Vue aérienne de Cholon Vue aérienne de Cholon Tang-Doc-Phuong Boulevard and Phu-To

In the photos (left and center): Bonard Canal.
In the photo on the left: Tang-Doc-Phuong Boulevard and Phu-To (Saigon race track).

Galliéni Boulevard

With a length of 5 kilometers, this boulevard is the main artery linking Saigon to Cholon. On it, one finds:
- The “Parc à Buffles” (Buffalo Park), which at the end of the 1940’s and the beginning of the next decade is a gigantic whorehouse for the army with a scant sanitary cordon, numerous straw mats on a dirt floor and hundreds of girls controlled by “mother pimps” for the use of the French Expeditionary Corps.
- At the south end is Cholon, a Chinese city where Europeans don’t live but where they go for exotics, refined pleasures, and the cuisine of the “Palais de Jade” (Jade Palace) and the “Arc-en Ciel” (Rainbow), the two main dance halls.

Cholon's Central Market
(now Chợ Bến ThĂ nh)
HĂąu Giang (formely ThĂĄp MuĂČi)

Le marché Central de Cholon en 1956 Le marché Central de Cholon en 1956 Le marché Central de Cholon en 1954 Le marché Central de Cholon Le marché Central de Cholon

Cholon means “big market” and represents the large commercial center of the Cochin-Chinese capital, with a population of ethnic Chinese, the Hoa.
The Binh Tay market was built in 1928 and is recognizable by its belfry, it was designed by order of Quach DĂ m (1863 - 1927), and was managed by the municipality of Cholon.
It is still one of the busiest market places of the urban Saigon area. .

marché central de Cholon Monument de Quach Lam

Firework's merchant in Cholon's central market

marché central de Cholon

The Saint-Francis Church

L'église Saint-François Xavier Cham Tam Cholon L'église Saint-François Xavier Cham Tam Cholon

The Saint-Francis (Saint-François) Church in Cholon (also called the Cham Tam Church, after Father Tam) is located at:
25 Trieu ChĂąu street (now Toc Lac)
The white and yellow church was built at the end of the 19th century.
Inside is the statue of Monsignor Francis-Xavier Tam Assou (1855-1934), originally an apostolic vicar of Chinese origin.
On November 2nd, 1963, President NgĂŽ Dinh DiĂȘm and his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu, fleeing a military coup, took refuge in the church, were arrested, and then executed on the road taking them to downtown Saigon.

Rue des Marins (Sailor’s Street)

Sailor's Street Cholon Cholon rue des marins

Ðong Khånh in 1955 later Tran Hung Dao Avenue

Rue des Marins Cholon Rue des Marins Cholon Rue des Marins Cholon

At 11 Sailor's street is the “Grand Monde”
- " 48 "Huynh" Pastries
- " 182-184 "Restaurant "Diamant"
- " 325 "Novelties Bombay"
- " 386 "Franco-Chinese Bank "
- " 414 " Restaurant "Ai-Hue"
Cholon is the home of the Binh Tay and Kim Bien markets. The stalls stand side by side, and the mood is friendly between the comings and goings of wandering sellers and the alternating continued activity.
Hai Thuong Lan Ong Street bears the name of the great master of medicine of Vietnam. It is also known as the street of traditional medicine. The neighborhood is filled with hundreds of homeopathic and traditional Chinese pharmacies.

Restaurant Kim Linh

Restaurant Kim Linh Cholon Cholon

The restaurant Kim-Linh is located at 43-45 General de Beylié Street in Cholon, it was the rendezvous for the Europeans and French military personnel.

The Arc-en-Ciel

Arc en Ciel Cholon
Arc-en-ciel Cholon Cabaret Arc-en-Ciel Cholon

At the “Arc-en-Ciel” is located at the corner of 52-56, Jaccareo avenue and Marins (sailor's) street.
The dĂ©cor is baroque, right down to the taxi-girls. The grand art of the taxi-girl is virtue, to be “inaccessible”. A ticket for a taxi-girl costs 100 piasters, which buys an hour of dancing and conversation.
The story of a taxi-girl at the “Arc-en-Ciel” is magnificently told by Lucien Bodart as well as by Graham Greene.
The "Arc-en-Ciel" is also a fine restaurant...

Arc-en-ciel Restaurant Cholon

The night clubs of Cholon

Une taxi-girl au bar Cholon 1955 Le Grand Monde Miss Saigon 1954 Le Grand Monde Miss Saigon 1954

The Grand Monde
The Big World

At 11 Sailor's street is the “Grand Monde” (Big World), protected by large yellow walls.
At the end of 1948 it was the biggest gaming establishment in the world after Macao lost first place before the Second World War. Many games were available and with a majority of Chinese and Vietnamese players, the French were in the minority in this nebulous world. Tai-Xieu and Bac-Quan are absolutely unforgiving Chinese games.

Le Grand Monde Cholon Le Grand Monde Cholon

The yearly lease is granted by the Vietnemese government, and the competition is stiff between the Macao Chinese and the Vietnamese from Bin-Xuen. It should be noted that the “Grand Monde” controls all: obviously the games, and also prostitution, the wholesale drug trade, the smuggling of gold, dollars, cigarettes, and counterfeiting, but Emperor Bao-Daï will intervene as a last resort.

Les danseuses de Cholon Les danseuses de Cholon

Bay Vien, The Master of Cholon.

LĂȘ Văn Viễn Saigon 5 mai 1949 Quartier GĂ©nĂ©ral des Binh-Xuyen Cholon Bay Vien le maĂźtre de Cholon

From left to right in the photographs:
Bay Vien Bay Vien and Colonel Leroy in 1949, Bay Vien afront the Y bridge in Cholon (Binh-Xuyen headquarters), Bay Vien (in 1955 GĂ©nĂ©ral LĂȘ Văn Viễn).

The Grand Monde is a « gaming farm », whose opening goes back to December 6th, 1946. It was “decreed” (into existence) by the French High-Commissioner Admiral Thierry d’Argenlieu despite protestations by the local government which was opposed to gambling.
The concessions were issued for a period of two years to the highest bidder. In December of 1948, this lease was bestowed by a consortium of Chinese capital from Macao which agreed to pay 400,000 piasters a day. Macao was at that time a Portuguese colony that existed almost exclusively from smuggling, gold, and gambling. The Macaists made a spectacular entrance into the Chinese city of Cholon, bringing with them their personnel: croupiers, singers, taxi-girls, accountants, and bodyguards!
Located in Cholon , on the « Rue des Marins », known for its boutiques and restaurants, the « Grand Monde » is a city within a city surrounded by a gigantic wall within which one finds a bit of everything : gaming halls, three theaters, two cinemas showing only westerns and Chinese cloak-and-dagger films, a pagoda, a boxing ring, acrobats, and noodle-sellers – a veritable Jacques PrĂ©vert-style inventory.
Everyone comes together at the « Grand Monde ». Old, miserable, toothless women rub shoulders with the most elegant courtesans with sparkling jewels.

Insigne Bin XuyenBay Vien le maĂźtre de CholonInsigne Bin Xuyen

This man was Bay Vien, who, in 1951 was able to ally himself with the richest Chinese in Cholon as well as the Corsicans, the most notable of which was Franchini, the famous owner of the “Hotel Continental”, and AndrĂ©ani, the owner of “The Croix du Sud”(Southern Cross) and the “Mirador”, two luxurious night-clubs. Thanks to this objective partnership he became the master of Cholon, and the enormous income from the diverse and various activities of the “Grand Monde” would allow him to pay for the salaries and administration of his paramilitary troops, the “Binh-Xuyen”.
After the fall of Dien Bien Phu in 1954, Ngo Dinh Diem, from the ""Norodon Palace" which had become the "Palace of Independance", closed the "Grand Monde" and outlawed gambling.
Bay Vien took the way of exile to France and died in Saint-Maur (Paris suburbs) in september 1972.

Cholon by day

Les BoĂźtes de nuit de Cholon Rue des Marins Cholon Rue des Marins Cholon 1954

Cholon by Night

La rue des Marins Cholon Le Grand Monde Cholon

The orchestra at the "Grand Monde"

A large wall separates the popular tables from the "Cabaret", with an exceptional dance floor of a hundred meters by thirty (330 by 100 ft.), featuring the French orchestra of Guy Paquinet (formerly of Ray Ventura's "Collégiens" orchestra which he left in March of 1947). The characteristic of this orchestra is that its members always played in a white tuxedo with a white carnation, and the tunes played often made reference to the post-war Parisian songs with taxi-girls, of course, superb girls dressed in silk.
After Guy Paquinet, it was Alex Caturegli who would conduct the "Grand Monde" orchestra, his brother Emile would join him in 1952.

The Alex Caturegli Orchestra

The Alex Caturegli Orchestra Cholon The trumpet-player, Emile Caturegli Cholon

In the photo on the left: the Orchestra of the Grand Monde during a military gala in 1952
In the photo on the right: the poster for the show with the trumpet-player, Emile Caturegli.

A funny story told by Emile Caturegli :
On the dance floor we had our “musician rat”. He knew the beginning and end of each dance, and as soon as we started playing a piece he came out of his little hole in the floor and came over to eat a few peanuts, and as soon as the dance ended he went back to his hiding place. He was “our” attraction!

Le mariage du pianiste Jean Hars, Jacques Chancel figure Ă©galement sur la gauche avec son Ă©pouse

On this photo the wedding of the pianist, Jean Hars; Jacques Chancel is also seen on the left with his wife.
Alex Caturegli’s orchestra also performed on Sundays at the Saigon Sporting Club (Cercle Sportif de Saïgon), and recorded for the Jacques Chancel show, “Recreation”, on Radio France-Asia as well.
After the “Grand Monde”, the Alex Caturegli Orchestra next appeared in Paris at the "Lido" as well as at the "Moulin Rouge".

The Mah Jong
(Mahjong, Majiang, Majong, Mahjongg

Le Mahjong Cholon

"Mah-Jong is, of course, the most popular game in Cholon.
When one moves about in Cholon in the evening, one hears the extraordinarily rapid and noisy hammering of the tiles being thrown on the tables, while the players are almost completely silent. Indeed, it’s a game that requires a very great tactical skill and great concentration, since the speed itself of the game can overcome a distracted opponent.
Additionally, one must follow the game which, with over one hundred forty tiles and three opponents, requires a certain effort. All in all, despite a large part left to chance, above all the best strategy is the one that wins."
Jean-Michel de Kermadec

The book on Cholon

Le livre Cholon

The book "Cholon" was written by Jean-Michel de Kermadec with pictures from Raymond Cauchetier.
It was printed in december 1955 by "'Imprimerie Française d' Outre-Mer" (IFOM)
3, Rudyard-Kipling Street in Saigon.

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