Category: 50s to 90s

Tons of photos taken on Failaka back in 1985. Not sure if any of the archeological finds are still there or in the same state since the last time I was on the island was back in 1989. [Link]

Kids ‘r’ us makes a small cameo appearance [YouTube]

[YouTube]

Two years ago by complete randomness I found out who the Tikka “I like it spicy” guy was and posted about him. Now out of nostalgia curiosity I’m hoping to find out who the Pizza Italia guy from the commercial was and what he’s doing right now.

So if you have any information on the guy running in the commercial (pictured above) then let me know. Actually any information on the commercial like who did it, how it came to be etc.. would be interesting as well.

Update: Here is some information according to two readers. The Pizza Italia guy in the commercial is actually a Lebanese actor. The commercial was directed by Nick Cate, who is now living in the UAE. The scene in which is he running in front of shops was filmed in old Salmiya where Alamiah and Waleed Toys were located. The camera was located on the first floor of the building on the opposite side (the one with Xcite and Cinemagic).

Update2: According to Nick the director of the commercial, it was shot on a hand cranked 16mm Bolex camera and the music was composed by an Egyptian composer called Mohammed Al Banna.

Someone uploaded an old video in which Entertainment City and the Ice Skating Rink were being introduced to the viewers. No idea if the video was made before they were built my guess is it was or else they would have included pictures of the actual projects completed. [YouTube]

Thanks Khalid

Wanna know how an alcohol permit used to look like in Kuwait? Check this one out by clicking [Here]

Update: On a related note and from the archives.. Oil, Oil Everywhere, But Not a Drop to Drink

One of the rooms inside the House of Mirrors was a private library filled with old books dating back to the early 60s. Amongst the vintage Tell Me Why’s, one book grabbed my attention called The Kuwait Urbanization. It’s an old book published back in 1964 and it was filled with old sketches and photos of Kuwait. Near the end of the book I even spotted artists sketches from the competition to design the Kuwait waterfront (Gulf Road).

I checked online to see if I could buy the book but I couldn’t find it anywhere but luckily a follower of mine on Instagram had a PDF version which she was nice enough to email me. I’ve also decided it’s worth sharing this book with everyone so if you’re also interested in old Kuwait you can download the 166MB PDF file from [Here]

A reader scanned the car ad above from a 1965 Kuwait Little Theatre show programme. I love how the dealerships phone number is just 5 digits. Check out the larger version of the picture above [Here]

Thanks Westwood Heritage

Old school. [Link]

I was trying to find information on the Anglo American School of Kuwait and by chance ended up finding a whole bunch of old photos of Kuwait dating back from 1960 up till 1984. I hadn’t seen any of them before and the one that grabbed my attention the most was the one above of a karting track in Ahmadi back in 1964. Most likely the first go-kart track in the region. There are a ton of photos, some are more interesting than others but all help paint a picture of life in Ahmadi back in the 60s and 70s. Check them out [Here]

I had lunch with two high school friends today, one of which I hadn’t seen in 16 years. We were mostly reminiscing about the past and how lame everything was for us back then. Those of you in high school today don’t realize how lucky you are compared to us kids who grew up in Kuwait back in the old days. I graduated in 1996 and back then we didn’t have any malls or restaurant chains or anything like that. For entertainment we just had a few options.

The only mall in Salmiya was Laila Gallery but we weren’t allowed in on weekends since it was families only. That was pretty common back in the day.

Even Sultan Center wouldn’t let guys in alone on weekends. It was really embarrassing. Until today whenever I go to the Sultan Center in Salmiya and I see a security guy standing outside I wonder if he’s going to let me or not.

There was a cool Hardees where Starbucks is right now in front of Al Fanar. But then they demolished it.

The ice skating rink was pretty decent in the early 90s but started going downhill after that.

Fuddruckers was like the only restaurant open on the Gulf Road back then. The place used to get crazy packed and at one point was the coolest place to be.

Then Johnny Rockets in Salmiya opened and a lot of the crowd shifted there. Johnny used to get super packed as well but most of us would go and occupy a whole table and just order one tea or one shake. So, they introduced a minimum order charge of like KD1.5 per person so everyone shifted outside Johnny to the sidewalk corner and I never saw Johnny that packed again.

Oddly that sidewalk corner became a hot spot where everyone went to meet up with other friends. It used to get pretty crowded so the cops stopped allowing us to hang out there.

McDonalds opened at around the same time over Johnny so some people started hanging out there instead.

But mostly, we just hung out at each others houses listening to music and talking. Every now and then there was a house party but really that was it.

Kinda miss the simplicity of those days now that I think about it. No cellphone, no internet, no car and just enough money to make the difficult but important decision of buying a music tape from The Video Club or having dinner.

Turns out Gladiator Fighting Championship is not the first MMA fight in Kuwait. Warriors War was an MMA cage fight that took place in Kuwait back in 2001 and not only was Bruce Buffer the announcer and John McCarthy one of the refs but UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes was on the fight card and he lost! Not sure how I never noticed Kuwait mentioned in his professional record on Wikipedia.

KUWAIT SHIDOKAN JITSU WARRIORS WAR I
Hughes, Pele, Newton, Menne, some of the top talent in lightweight world traveled half-way around the globe in hopes of winning $60,000 in an 8-man tournament on Kuwaiti soil. No easy victory as Menne would face Canada’s Carlos Newton in the first round and then Russian alternate Maro Magob before fighting the much heavier Kareem Barklaev from Russia in the finals. [Source]

The video on top of this post is of Antonio Tello versus Kuwait’s Khaled Mubarak [Video]

Here is a link to the full fight card of Warriors War Kuwait [Link]

Thanks lulz

A few digitized 8mm clips taken in Kuwait back in the 70s. Not too exciting and the music is annoying but there is one scene where for a split second you can see the Al-Salam building in Salmiya (the circle green building that got demolished) while it was still under construction. There are also shots of some parks, a parade and random streets. [YouTube]

Photos taken by a Red Crescent worker back in 1991 right after the liberation. [YouTube]

40 years ago, NASA’s Landsat program launched it’s initial satellite into space (July 23, 1972). Since then the program has been tracking and recording changes on the Earth’s surface via satellite imagery.

Since it’s been 40 years, NASA commemorated the anniversary by selecting and compiling a list of its top ten stories or revealing images which it had stored up during its four decades of existence. One of the stories that made the top 10 was the 1991 Kuwait Oil Fires.

As Iraqi troops withdrew from Kuwait at the end of the first Gulf War, they set fire to over 650 oil wells and damaged many more, just south of the Iraq border (yellow line). These Landsat images show before, during and after the release of 1.5 billion barrels of oil into the environment, the largest oil spill in human history.

You can check out the top 10 stories and images on [WIRED]