Category: 50s to 90s

I recently got a hold of this beautiful picture of the original Sultan Center in Salmiya taken back in 1986. Here is a link to a larger version of the photo. [Picture]

Update: This picture was taken in 1986, not 1982.

This is the last of the 3 part series. In this video we travel from Fahaheel to Abu Halifa and then take a tour of a grocery store from the inside. What’s cool is you get to see some old packaging like the old Aero chocolate packs that used to be brown, some old KDD packs, and a brief glimpse at my favorite corn flakes, Country Corn Flakes. Good stuff. [YouTube]

In case you missed them here are the first two parts
Fahaheel 1988
Abu Halifa 1988

Thanks Simon

A collection of vintage metal lunchboxes. I used to have a few when I was a kid but couldn’t find any of them in this collection. [Link]

Due to the great success of the video Abu Halifa 1988, they’ve released the sequel, Fahaheel in 1988. [YouTube]

Thanks Simon

OK be prepared for the best post yet on this blog…

I was talking to a friend of mine about Salmiya in the 80s and one thing led to another and I was telling him how strong a brand Tikka was back then. I was telling him about the “I like it spicy” guy (pictured above) and the Tikka commercials and how if you asked anyone who grew up in Kuwait back in the 80s they would remember the commercial and even sing you the jingle. It became a classic like the Pizza Italia and Hungry Bunny commercials.

Anyway I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be cool to find out who the “I like it spicy” guy was, what happened to him and how he looked like today? Well guess what… After a bit of research and digging around I found out who he was.

The actor who played the “I like it spicy” character was Galal Zaki. He wasn’t an actor, he worked in the ad agency that came up with the idea. Like Alfred Hitchcock, Galal liked to star in his own work and that’s how he ended up becoming the Tikka guy. the picture below is of Galal Zaki which I found on Google and is dated 2007. Although a lot older now you can still see some resemblance.

Today Galal Zaki is the CEO of Perception Communication in Egypt. He was also recently awarded the Rameh IAA Lifetime Achievement Award.

Update: Here is an old Tikka commercial. It’s not the famous one but its better than nothing…

[YouTube]

Update2: And here is the more popular one…

[YouTube]

Some random footage someone shot of Abu Halifa back in 1988 before the Gulf War. There is something eerie about the video. [YouTube]

Does anyone remember Dr. Sbaitso? I used to love impressing friends and guests with it back in the early 90s. [YouTube]

Fereej found pictures of Kuwait taken from old issues of LIFE magazine. The pictures are of very good quality, I love them. [Link]

Update: Check out all the pictures and more [Here] There are tons!

I got these pictures by email today. Unlike the drift photos I posted two weeks ago, these pictures are really from 1985. The funny thing is, the cars in these old pictures look newer than the cars at the drift track two weeks ago.

Thanks Fahad!

The other day I posted a picture of two guys in front of the Kuwait Towers while under construction. Turns out they were taken from the Flickr account of KuwaitStar (Ali Al-Houli). He also had one more photo in his account which I’ve posted above. Both pictures are great and hopefully he has more he can scan in and share with us. Here is the link to [Flickr]

I saw this picture on my friends facebook page and I thought it was worth sharing with everyone. It’s an amazing shot taken I’m guessing in the early 70s when they were still constructing the Kuwait Towers. Can anyone tell me what car that is?

Thanks Farah!

Update: Turns out its a 1977 Nissan Skyline. Beautiful car.

Update2: Turns out the photo was originally taken from KuwaitStar on [Flickr]

The other day I posted about Kuwait’s first drift track, well it turns out the picture above is from the original drift track in Kuwait back in the 1970s. Ok, that’s not true, I actually retouched the picture to give it a vintage feel because I found pictures on the blog Every Little Thing that were taken today at the track and literally ALL the cars in the pictures were from the 70s. Seriously its like every Datsun from that era was at the track today, it was like a vintage car meet. Check out the pictures [Here]

On the bright side its great seeing those guys drifting on the track instead of blocking the highway and making donuts in the middle of traffic…

Update: Thanks to a reader, here is a [Video]

Desert Girl scanned and emailed me a PDF of a National Geographic issue dating back to 1969 that had a pretty long and comprehensive article on Kuwait. I hate reading articles like this because it just makes Kuwait in the present look slow and untrendy compared to Kuwait in the past (I know I know I should GTFO). The architecture, the lifestyle and the exotic essence seemed to have vanished. I found the picture above of this really beautiful looking villa which I think belonged to Ibrahim Al-Shatti in the article and I was wondering how the villa looks like today. It would be very cool if it was still in excellent condition just like in the picture. If anyone knows where this villa is located or can take a picture of it and email me I can then post it here.

Here is the article [6MB PDF]

I found this video for the 80’s cartoon Al Rajoul Al Hadeedi on YouTube and was amazed at the quality. I’ve found and posted the intro video before but what struck me about this one was the fact the uploader said its in HD and the footage is very good quality for a cartoon from the 80’s. I am now trying to find the torrent for it on sharingcode.com so I could download it but haven’t had any luck so far. [YouTube]

I spotted this at the Free Trade Zone today and thought the name was very 90’s internet cafe like. The place was a shisha joint strangely…