Category: 50s to 90s

I picked up this book online not knowing what it was or the year it was published, but it was selling for around 500fils so figured it was worth checking out. Turns out the book was published in 1964 by the Ministry of Guidance & Information, Department of Culture & Publicity, Division of Tourism. If that wasn’t cool enough it also came with three fold-out maps. I shared some pages yesterday on my Instagram but I also uploaded the photos online in case anyone else is interested in seeing what a 1964 tourist guide of Kuwait contained. These aren’t all the pages, just the ones I thought were interesting. Check it out here.

I recently stumbled on the Lamborghini pre-owned cars section and noticed they had a Lamborghini LM002 for sale. The LM002 was nicknamed the Rambo Lambo and it was and still is such a beast. I called Lamborghini up to ask about it and it turns out the car was sold a few months back for around 70K which is actually a pretty great price since they’re fairly limited with around 300 only ever made. Oddly the website says the car model is 1980 but they were only produced between 1986 and 1993 according to Wikipedia. If you’re into cars you can check out a lot more photos of the car on the Lambo pre-owned website here.

Update: So turns out the person I spoke to at Lambo didn’t have the correct info. The LM wasn’t sold, it’s still available and the asking price is a lot higher than 70K. Also it’s a 1986 model and turns out it was purchased from the same dealer I bought my Alfa from.

Here are two videos of Entertainment City taken in the 80s which I hadn’t seen before. The first video on top was shot in 1984 during the visit of the late Sheikh Jaber Al-Sabah to the park, while the one below is from 1986 and looks like it was filmed during the National holiday.

Also since we are on the subject of Entertainment City, awhile back I read an interesting story on @abdulraoufq8’s Instagram. When Entertainment City was closed down and abandoned, people used to sneak into it and one time a group of kids snuck into the park and went to the Lightning roller coaster ride. One of the kids ended up sitting on the ride and then fastened the seatbelt and it got locked in and he couldn’t unlock it. Scared, the kids called 112 for help and the authorities ended up coming and freeing the kid from the seatbelt.

According to @abdulraoufq8, the ride was eventually sold to a neighboring country. For more interesting tidbits on Entertainment City, check out the highlights on @abdulraoufq8.

Does anyone remember the restaurant with the lobster aquarium in Sheraton Hotel back in the 80s? I think it was called the Hunt Room? It was located in the back, to the right of the telex machines. I’m trying to find photos or info on it but can’t find anything so I’m guessing I’ve got the name completely wrong.

Update: Ok found it, the restaurant was called “Hunt Room” so I was close! I found an old Sheraton matchbook for sale on eBay that mentions Hunt Room (pictured below) and also found a photo of a father and son having dinner there back in 1984. I need to keep digging.

Someone on Reddit found the postcard above that was written and sent by Malcolm X from Kuwait back in 1964. Malcolm X was an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a popular figure in the US during the civil rights movement. Following his exit from the Nation of Islam, he took a pilgrimage to Mecca and during that time, he also traveled to Kuwait, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Casablanca.

The postcard above was one of 16 postcards that were auctioned off in 2016 and were sent by Malcolm to Gloria Owens, who was the secretary at Muhammad’s Temples of Islam where he was a minister alongside Louis Farrakhan. The postcard reads:

Greetings from beautiful Kuwait. Since I’ve seen what a mess can be made of things by narrow-minded people, I’m still traveling, trying to broaden my scope.

Until just a few moments ago I had no idea Malcolm had visited Kuwait. I’ll try and see if I can dig up anything from his trip but for now, if you want to see a higher resolution version of the postcard above, click here.

Thanks Ayr909!

When I saw this photo I realized I haven’t really seen that many photos of the Kuwait Towers under construction. I think that’s pretty weird for such an important building that there aren’t many photos (at least online) documenting the process. The construction of the Kuwait National Assembly building on the other hand which was completed a few years after the Kuwait Towers is well documented and I was even able to buy a book detailing the whole construction process.

There are a lot of collectors in Kuwait but a lot fewer people willing to sell what they have. GTM Comics is the Instagram account for a local comic book and toy collector called Mishari AlReshaid who actually sells some of his stuff. He has vintage comics, action figures from the 80s, old lunch boxes from the 80s, some new release collectibles and a bunch of other things. You can check out his store on Instagram @gtmcomics_shop

If you follow me on Instagram then you know I went to the camel races yesterday. I’ll be updating my old post with new info tomorrow but for today I wanted to share a post by Mark Lowey, an ex Kuwait National Petroleum Company employee who recently wrote about his experience at the tracks back in 1988 when he and his wife were living in Kuwait.

Lots of pictures and a good write up, you can check out his post here.

Found a video of the Kuwait Towers under construction in the 70s. Not sure what the original source is or if the video originally had any audio, so if anyone recognizes this footage from somewhere, let me know in the comments.

Update: OK this is kinda funny. My friend made me realize that I’ve actually posted the video above on the blog 6 years ago. Not only that but I’m the original source of the video. I got the video from my friends parents who shot it on Super 8 film back in 1975 when they first moved to Kuwait. The clip above was taken from the original longer video which you can watch under my previous post here.

With over 12,000 posts, 15 years of blogging and my terrible memory, I’m not gonna remember everything I post.

If you skip to the 2-minute mark in the video above you’ll get to an old Showbiz ad, one I hadn’t seen before. It’s a pretty lame ad but it does have footage of the interior which will bring back memories if you ever went there as a kid. Showbiz opened up in the 80s on the Gulf Road and was a concept similar to Chuck E Cheese. It closed down and the building demolished in the 90s to make way for a new Showbiz but that project ended up getting abandoned.

If you keep watching after the Showbiz ad you’ll see an old Crush soda ad which I actually remember watching as a kid.

Thanks Janna

Sheikh @nsaalsabah with his wife Sheikha Hussa Alsabah prepared to open Dar al Athar al Islamiyyah museum in 1983 pic.twitter.com/IuObpQJyT9

— نوح (@kwt80s) June 24, 2020

The behind the scenes video above is of Sheikh Nasser and his wife Sheikha Hussa during the preperations to open the Dar al Athar al Islamiyyah museum back in 1983.

Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al Sabah passed away yesterday aged 72.

Someone on Reddit shared a vintage RCA ad for air conditioners that mentioned Kuwait. They shared a black and white version but I managed to find a colored version which you can check out here. If you want to read the text on the ad click here.

I always wondered what came first, the mosque or the roundabout and I still can’t figure it out from these pictures. The top photo is from 1958, the bottom black and white one from 1965 and finally the last photo from 2020. What’s interesting between the 1958 and 1965 photo is the amount of old Kuwaiti homes that were demolished. Kinda sad.

via @alialsalim

I’ve lived on Salem Mubarek Street in Salmiya for the past 40 years so I basically know it inside out, yet for some reason, I just found out that the first Wimpy opened up on my street back in 1969! There used to be a Hardee’s on my street which I’ve known since I was a kid but turns out before Hardee’s it used to be a Wimpy. The photo above is supposedly from 1972 and below is the last photo I have of that building dating back to 2008 when it was about to get demolished. The corner store is where Wimpy and Hardees used to be.

Update: Below is another photo from 1973

Source 1 Source 2

I recently found out that the oldest Persian restaurant in Kuwait was located down the street from where I live. Layali Tehran was the first Persian restaurant in Kuwait and has been around now for over 50 years. They were originally located in Sharq but had to move to Salmiya years ago. I don’t know much about Iranian food other than kebabs so I’m not the best person to ask about the food, but, I think the most interesting thing anyway is the idea of dining at the oldest Iranian restaurant in Kuwait.

If you want to try it out they’re located on Amman Street. Parking is a bit difficult but I parked across the street where there was less traffic and just crossed over. Their phone number is 25613312 and here is their location on [Google Maps]

This got me thinking, I wonder if the first Chinese or Italian restaurant in Kuwait still exists? I previously posted about the oldest restaurants in Kuwait and there were some good examples in the comments, check those out here.

Also just shared some interesting stuff on Twitter related to the oldest restaurants in Kuwait:
Oldest “liver” restaurant in Kuwait
Opening of Muwaffak Jabri Restaurant in 1961
Opening of the first Wimpy in 1969
Photo of the first burger restaurant in Kuwait Haroon El-Rasheed