[Photos] Exploring Downtown Saigon Via These 10 Snapshots From the 1970s

What are the people in these photos doing today?

Do you ever wonder that when you look at old photos of a place? What became of their lives? Did they notice that they were being photographed? Are you one of the people in question?

Taken by Dick Leonhardt in Saigon across 1971 and 1972, this brief collection depicts a city on the precipice of major historical shifts, though in some ways they look like they could've been taken yesterday: people shop at street markets, students enjoy the zoo, and so on.

Of course, there isn't a bubble tea shop, skyscraper or Maltese-Venezuelan fusion restaurant in sight, but maybe in the grand scheme of things we aren't really that different from our forebears.

Take a jaunt around Saigon and ponder what has changed — and what hasn't — in the last five decades.

A statue in what used to be a park in front of the State Bank of Vietnam building on Vo Van Kiet.

The Temple of Goddess Mariamma, on now-Truong Dinh Street.

Phu Nhuan Market, taken in November 1971.

A Saigon street scene from April 1972.

An ice cream vendor in the Saigon Zoo.

A snack break in the midst of a school trip.

Strike a pose!

The courtyard of a temple in District 1.

A student picnic at the zoo.

The history museum inside the zoo.

[Photos via Flickr user manhhai]