In 1992, he won a seat on the Westminster City Council, becoming the first Vietnamese-born person to be elected into a political office in the United States.
[1] Prior to being elected, Lam had been living in America for 17 years,[1] and owned the Vien Dong restaurant in Garden Grove.
He defeated another Vietnamese candidate, Jimmy Tong Nguyen, for the Westminster City Council seat.
For this, his restaurant was picketed, and people burnt effigies of him, calling him a "communist sympathizer".
[7] Lam served for a decade on the City Council over three terms,[8] until he decided not to seek re-election in 2002.