Category: 50s to 90s

For some odd reason, it’s actually pretty difficult to find a picture of the original Arby’s that opened up in Kuwait back in the 80s. But a follower on twitter managed to find one taken by a US soldier back in 1991 called Keith O’Brien. According to Keith, this photo was taken right after the war. He was assigned as a driver/bodyguard of a Brigade Commander and he wanted to see Kuwait City. Up till then, they had only been in Saudi, Iraq, and Bahrain so they drove around and he took some photos of various places which you can see here.

Two of the most memorable things about this Arby’s for me was the touch screen ordering system which was super way ahead of its time, and the arcade machines in the basement.

Thanks @Alblogy

Don’t think I’ve ever posted the video above even though it’s been on YouTube since 2012, but I saw it the other day on @classic_kw_ and looks like it was shot in the early 90s. It got me thinking about all the classic cars we have in Kuwait but are falling apart because they’re just parked outside homes in the harsh environment and aren’t being driven. Sometimes I feel like rescuing cars in the same way people rescue stray animals.

Speaking of cars that aren’t being driven, there is a guy with a purple Diablo parked in Shaab that hasn’t been driven in probably a decade. If anyone knows the owner, please connect us!

Khaleej Times published a short story on an Argentinian and British couple who escaped Kuwait during the 1990 invasion. Jorge Ferrari was a photographer while his wife Rebecca was a flight attendant for Kuwait Airways. The story also has photos I hadn’t seen before so check it out here.

There are a lot of instagram accounts that sell old mobile phones but I found one that actually sells new old stock (NOS) phones. The account is called @mobiles.kw and the prices seem reasonable. I mean I asked about one phone which was the Ericsson T68i and he’s selling it new for KD40 which is actually really reasonable compared to the prices online. If you want an old phone for nostalgic reasons or maybe to play Snake on, check out his account.

So this is a bit of a bizarre coincidence. I don’t remember what I was doing but over the weekend I stumbled upon an article about Dalal, the elephant that survived a bullet wound and abuse by the Iraqi soldiers during the 1990 invasion.

Then, randomly today, a friend mine who works at the zoo messaged me so I decided to ask her if she knew how the elephant and other animals survived during the 1990 war. She told me it was because of two brothers and then sent me a link to a short film called “Aziza” that came out yesterday and is based on the story of the two brothers. You can watch the video above.

March 1991. Starved lions in their cage at the Kuwait City Zoo. Photo by Steve McCurry

Ali Mubarak Al-Hohti, was a 35-year-old sanitation department inspector, and his brother Suleiman, 30 was a motorcycle policeman. During the war they took care of the animals at the zoo and they called the elephant Aziza (not knowing her real name). The short film which I’ve embedded on top is in Arabic but there is a great article on the New York Times on the two brothers which you can read here.

March 1991. A loose hippo at the Kuwait City Zoo. Photo by Steve McCurry

Just one quick note, I haven’t watched the film yet but will being doing so later tonight. But, if like me you are worried there might be scenes of animal cruelty, I’ve been assured the film doesn’t contain any. So it’s safe to watch.

Thanks Tammy!

Today marks the 30th anniversary of the 1990 Kuwait Invasion, and every year on the anniversary, I like to share some links related to the war. Here they are:

Free Kuwait
This is a website that focuses on the campaign that was led by Kuwaitis in exile and is loaded with photos and information.

Kuwait Invasion – The Evidence
This is a website that contains over 1,200 pictures taken right after the 1990 invasion as photographic evidence to all the destruction caused by Iraq.

Short movie: Hearts of Palm
Hearts of Palm is a short movie set on August 2nd 1990 and deals with Kuwaiti students living in Miami Florida during the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait.

The Class of 1990
This is a short documentary about reuniting classmates years after the 1990 Iraqi invasion.

Homemade video from the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait
Video clips taken by a Kuwaiti family during the Iraqi invasion

Desert Storm Photos
Photos taken by soldiers during Desert Storm.

Short Animation: Sandarah
A captivating story based on true events that took place during the 1990 Iraqi invasion.

First Account of Iraq’s Invasion of Kuwait
Interviews with various Kuwaitis that were in Kuwait during the 1990 invasion.

Iraqi Invasion Pictures
Photos of the Gulf War aftermath.

Politics of War
A tumblr account with some not so commonly seen photos from the Gulf War. (Warning some are graphic)

Magnum Photos
A gallery of images taken during the Gulf War by some great photographers. (Warning some are graphic)

BBC Documentary: The Last Flight to Kuwait
A series of documentaries on Iraq begins with a look at the fate of British Airways flight BA149 to the Far East in 1990. As the plane landed in Kuwait, Saddam Hussein invaded, capturing its crew and passengers.

Photos in this post are by Bruno Barbey

So turns out a friend of mine had a Kids ‘r’ us catalog lying around because she modeled in an issue back when she was a kid. I then found out I knew two of the people on the cover, one of them being Chef KB.

I’m now kinda super jealous that I was never a Kids ‘r’ us model, but in any case, I scanned all the pages of the catalog and combined them into a single PDF which you can download from here.

I found a seller on Instagram that had a Kids ‘r’ Us catalog for sale. Kids ‘r’ Us was the largest and most popular toy store in Kuwait back in the 80s but during the 1990 invasion the store got burned down. After the invasion, a smaller location opened up in old Salmiya and that later closed down and was turned into X-cite.

The catalog had already been sold for KD50 but the pictures were still up and they brought back a lot of memories. KD50 sounds expensive and it is, but anything Kids ‘r’ Us related is near impossible to find so you’ll always have collectors willing to pay that much.

There is actually someone on eBay selling the Centurions Walkie-talkie pictured in the catalog above for 35KD brand new in the box. Please buy it before I do! Check out the rest of the catalog pages below.

If you have one or know of someone that wants to sell this record, let me know!

When I found these photos yesterday I was completely taken aback, other than the fact I had no idea that NES first opened in 1969 (I thought they opened much later), I didn’t know they first started off in a villa and a really beautiful one.

I love how this is most likely common knowledge to every NES student ever, yet I just found out about all this even though it’s been basically been my job for the past 18 years to find out about things like this. I guess I was too obsessed with digging up stuff on my school (Sunshine School) that I didn’t really even consider looking at other schools in Kuwait.

In any case, I found these photos partially on the NES Facebook account and partially on their website. I’m really impressed with the fact they still had these photos and had actually taken the time to scan and upload them. I really really love all these photos and mostly because how they totally don’t look like Kuwait.

The first classes of NES opened in a villa in Shamiyah, actually starting at Secondary level and very soon after extending backwards to Kindergarten. It was soon apparent that this educational venture was outgrowing the original premises, so a purpose built campus was opened in 1974, and to date, improvements and extensions continue to maintain an environment that allows students to thrive. source

There are more photos on their Facebook page and website, but you can check out my favorites in my post above a lot more inside this post below.

For those of you too young to know what “Iftah Ya Simsim” is, it’s basically the Arabic version of Sesame Street that was filmed in Kuwait and came out in 1979 before going off the air in 1989. I found these behind the scenes photos yesterday and had to share them because I hadn’t seen them before and they’re just so great.

Sucks about the resolution of some of them but I couldn’t find better quality versions. Better than nothing though so check out the rest below.

I think I might turn this into a series of posts on interesting Kuwait related items that I lost bidding on. The previous ones I’ve posted about were the “Andy Warhol Signed Catalog from Kuwait Exhibit” and “Ahmadi Desert Motoring Club Car Badge“. Adding to those two, I just lost a bidding war on another car badge, this time one belonging to the Kuwait International Touring and Automobile Club. Not a lot of info on the badge but I’m guessing its dating back to the 60s which would make it a nice addition on my Alfa Romeo. I hope whoever bought it isn’t going to hide it in a drawer somewhere, I was actually planning to mount this on my car’s front grill for everyone to see and enjoy.

On the bright side, I did find a copy of “The Kuwait International Touring and Automobile Club – Tourist Guidebook to Middle East Countries” dating back to 1966. You can download the PDF by clicking here.

My cousin used to go to Al-Jamil but I had no idea it was that old. I actually just googled it and found out it originally opened back in 1960! This is from Wikipedia:

Al-Jamil Private School, Salmya was created in 1960 by a partnership including its first principal, Khawla Rizk, a Lebanese woman who was residing in Kuwait at the time. Al-Jamil started out as a private school in a hangar belonging to the Caterpillar, Inc. dealership in Surra, now a suburb of Kuwait City. In the late 70’s the school had nearly 1200 students in 1st through 12th grade. It produced some of the top students at the national level. In 1980 three of the top 10 national secondary school certificate list came from Al Jamil. After the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1991, the Surra school campus became deserted and was later relocated to Maydan Hawalli. The old campus still remains deserted a reminder and a standing testimony to the damage caused by the tyrant of Iraq.

Does anyone have any footage from Sunshine School between 1980-1990? If you do, let me know I’ll help you digitize it.

Me and a friend have been talking about the Concorde over the past few weeks so I was pretty surprised yesterday to find out that the plane actually came to Kuwait back in 1979.

On Monday 19 February 1979 the Queen flew on Concorde from Heathrow to the sunshine of Kuwait in just under four hours, at the start of a three-week Middle East tour that would include Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The Queen’s Private Secretary later wrote to Ross Stainton, BA’s Chief Executive to say the Queen was especially glad to make her visit to Saudi Arabia by Concorde. Apart from making the first day of the tour very much easier for Her Majesty, this wonderful aircraft created a great impression, and there could have been no better way of commencing a most important tour covering seven countries. source

Sadly, I only found a handful of photos of this event and none show the plane fully. The Queen ended up leaving Kuwait aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia as part of the tour of the Gulf while the Concorde flew to Bahrain.

Thanks Nick

I won an eBay bid on some 35mm slides of Kuwait taken back in 1978 and thought I would share them. Most of the slides are of a motorcade but I’m not sure who was visiting.

There are UK flags up on the roads but it couldn’t be the Queen since she visited in 1979. I thought maybe the British Prime Minister back then, James Callaghan, but I also couldn’t find any info about him visiting Kuwait. So if anyone has any idea who this might be, let me know because I’m curious.

I’ve uploaded all the scans to Flickr and you can check them out here.