2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003The other day out of the blue I remembered this drink I used to have back in the 80s called Hapi. I used to only have it in one place, a drive-thru car wash I used to go to with my dad. It was in their vending machine and I think it tasted like root beer. I doubt it was a popular drink and don’t think a lot of people remember it.
Anyway, just a random flashback for those who might remember the drink.
The 1976 movie “The Message” is one of the classics currently playing at Cinescape’s 1954 movie theater. What not a lot of people know is that the star of the film, Anthony Quinn came to Kuwait back then because of the movie. Kuwait, Libya and Morocco had originally promised to support the making of the film financially, but when it was rejected by the Muslim World League in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait still kept its financial support which is why I think the press conference was held here.
Above is a short clip from the conference which starts with Anthony Quinn and then is followed by the director Moustapha Akkad. If someone knows where I can find the full video, let me know.
Sitting two seats down to the left of Anthony Quinn is also Farouq Abdul-Aziz, the creator and host of the Kuwait Television cultural show “Cine Club” which aired from 1977 to 1992. According to a recent interview I found with Farouq, turns out he was later hired to document the making of Anthony Quinn’s movie “Lion of the Desert“. You can watch a short clip from that interview above.
And completely random but related, I just found out while researching the info above that Farouq was also responsible for the Kuwait scenes in Ron Fricke’s award-winning movie documentary “Baraka”. He had researched and produced those scenes which you can view above. If you haven’t watched “Baraka” or the follow up film “Samsara“, then you’re missing out.
I wasn’t planning on posting about this until I bought a watch for myself, but I don’t need another watch so I need people to go buy everything and not leave anything for me to impulse buy.
Al-Batel is an old watch store that was established back in 1959. Back then they used to carry a number of watch brands including Breitling, Heuer (before they were purchased by TAG), Nivada, and Zodiac. Incredibly, they still have unsold watches available for sale (New Old Stock) dating back to the 60s and 70s. They have some of them listed up on their website but they have more on display in their shop in Mubarakia next to AlFares (Google Maps).
If you’re into vintage watches then definitely check them out ASAP. Their prices are pretty much the same compared to online prices for used versions of these watches except the ones they have are all new. Link
MajorSamm is a YouTube account where they make anti-war music videos with the intention of introducing both music fans and history fans to lesser-known conflicts or aspects of conflicts by giving a glimpse into their look and feel. His latest video is a mashup of “Simon & Garfunkel – The Sound of Silence” with footage of the burning oil wells that were set on fire by the retreating Iraqi army during Desert Storm in 1991.
Thanks @syedfraz
Kuwait Little Theater started back in 1948 in Ahmadi under the name KUOCO Independent Players and is considered to be the oldest community theater in the region:
The first recorded theatrical activity in Kuwait’s oil era dates back to 1947 when a group of Kuwait Oil Company employees met in the old Magwa Club and called themselves “The KUOCO Independent Players”.
Their first production in 1948 was staged in a large nissen hut located in the Ahmadi Industrial area. Rehearsals were usually held in the producer’s or a member’s home. As the building was also the local cinema the sets were often built and painted and then assembled on stage at the last minute.
In 1950 KOC provided the group with a small hut next to the cinema with a mere 18-inch high platform serving as a stage. The hut was so small that it came to be known as Kuwait Little Theater.
Two years later the group moved to larger premises, (the former KOC food store known as Spinney’s on the Main Street), and this nissen hut has gone on to become the permanent home of ‘Kuwait Little Theater’.
Sadly, KLT no longer exists having closed down years ago (I think 2014) because the KLT hut which was still being used contained asbestos and so was no longer safe.
Recently I came across old photos as well as a list of every production that KLT held from 1950 up to 1990 which I’ve decided to upload to flickr. You can check everything out by clicking here.
Also back in 2010, I posted about a documentary that was released to celebrate KLT’s 60 year anniversary. You can check out that old post here.
I recently came across the picture above of a Kuwait Airways plane crash dating to 1966. Only a month after Kuwait Airways received their brand new plane, it crashed on landing due to pilot error and was written off.
On 30 June 1966, the Trident 1E registration 9K-ACG was destroyed when it crashed 4KM short of the runway at Kuwait International. The plane was on its way back from Beirut when the plane descended at a high rate and the pilot didn’t follow the proper regulations. No lives were lost.
A higher resolution of the photo is available here, and a full report of the incident can be downloaded from here.
A beautiful photo taken by Jules Pearson which I had to share.
I’ve been collecting old video game ads from the 80s and uploading them to my Flickr account. I’ve got over 20 ads so far in the album including ads for the Intellivision, Coleco, Amiga, and Atari consoles. I also found some newspaper clippings of old video game tournaments which I thought was cool.
The big players in the video game business back then based on the ads were Alamiah, Alghanim (Xcite), and surprisingly, Marafie. Check out all the ads I’ve found so far here.
If you have Netflix and are feeling nostalgic, the popular and hilarious Kuwaiti play Bye Bye London is available on the platform to watch. Link
It looks like it’s been there for a year now but didn’t really notice until someone pointed it out. The quality of the video is the best I’ve come across yet and it even has English subtitles.
Searching for “Kuwait” on Netflix brings up some other local shows and movies but the only other one I recognized is Back to the Future inspired movie, Back to Q82.
Thanks Nidal
A couple of weeks ago while flipping through an old newspaper I accidently found a Kids ‘r’ us 1-year anniversary ad. So right away I thought to myself, if I go back one year then I’ll most likely find the original opening ads, and I did! I found the pre-opening ads, the grand opening ad, and a few more and uploaded them all onto Flickr to be downloaded freely in full resolution.
Kids ‘r’ us officially opened on November 10th, 1983. According to the ads it was the largest toy store in the region at that time with over 10,000 toys. The original store was located in Dajeej near where Sears is right now. That location was destroyed during the 1990 invasion but post-invasion they had a smaller store in old Salmiya where Xcite is at the moment. Kids ‘r’ us was an Alghanim Industries concept, the same Alghanim that has Xcite and Chevrolet today.
If you want to check all the ads out, click here.
A reader shared some photos of an old Sinclair game he still had which he purchased from a computer store in Kuwait back in the early 80s. The store was called AL RUSHAID and the tape had the following info on it:
AL RUSHAID Trading & Contracting Co. (RTC)
P.O. Box 25443, Safat-Kuwait
Tel: 412404, Telex: 23721 KT
He also had this info to share (I’ve edited it slightly):
While I do remember the computer store at the Salhia complex and it was my favourite shop for a while (and my description on your website remains the way I remember it), I am not sure the branded cassette I’ve shared is from the store at Salhiha. There was another nearby computer store that I used to visit as well which also used to sell ZX Spectrums and games. I couldn’t tell you the street name, but I think it was on the main shopping street, somewhere between The Grand Stores, Salhia Complex, and Al Muthanna Complex. Definitely, it was not near Al-Sharq Tower because that was far away from the shopping area.
Another thing you probably know is when Al-the Khalejia department stores first opened, they used to have a small section that sold computers like the ZX Spectrum, they had some original games on sale. I think the computer section didn’t last long and it disappeared sometime later.
Later around 1985 I used to get games for my computer by visiting the Hilton Hotel, there was an international magazine shop inside the hotel that used to sell computer magazines from the UK, there were several ones for the ZX Spectrum (and the Commodore 64). Many of these magazines came with a free demo cassette with free games and previews of upcoming games.
best regards
SufianPS. My parents were expats in Kuwait, and I lived there until I was 18, then left abroad to the US to study, and then moved to Belgium as my mom is from Belgium. I still have lots of my school books from Kuwait in Arabic, and other things that I grabbed with me when I left Kuwait in 1988.
Since the game was branded RTC I thought it might be the same RTC as the electronics shop in Hawally since according to their about us page they’ve been around since 1983. But after talking to RTC Electronics I was told pre-1990 they were called Babel so they’re not the same place. If anyone remembers where Al Rushaid was or have any info on it, let me know!
Update: Found a news clipping and an ad in an old Kuwait Times newspaper
Last week I found the old ad above from 1984 for a video game store that was located in Sharq Tower in Kuwait City. I actually visited that store back then specifically to check out the Intellivision gaming console advertised in the ad but ended up getting the ColecoVision instead.
But this reminded me of a computer store that was located in Salhiya back in the 80s on M2 opposite the Korean restaurant that used to be there. I don’t remember the name of the store I just remember they sold computers and they always had Dig Dug playing in the display as well as having computer chess boards.
If anyone remembers it or knew who the owner was please let me know!
Update: Found the Coleco ad below in a 1983 newspaper. I guess now I know where I bought it from!
The first time I posted about Brett Jordan’s photos of Kuwait was over 10 years ago when he started scanning and sharing the photos on his Flickr account. Since then he’s added more photos to the collection and I’ve posted about them a number of times with the last time being back in 2013. As of now, he has over 300 beautiful high-resolution photos of Kuwait on his account, all taken back in the early 60s.
I got in touch with Brett recently to find out more about the photos that have been circulating social media accounts and WhatsApp groups in Kuwait for a decade now. Turns out Brett’s collection of photos were actually taken by his parents who were both English and were working for an American oil company in the late 50s and early 60s. Brett’s dad was a refrigeration engineer and after Brett’s mum gave birth to him, they left Kuwait in the early 60s and moved back to the UK. But while in Kuwait his parents were part of a lively expat community that enjoyed a lot of partying, amateur dramatics, and drinking. His mum always speaks fondly of her time in Kuwait with the only ‘blot’ being a serious car accident when his dad drove into a huge pothole during a sandstorm.
I asked Brett if he still had more photos so he called up his mum and according to her she has more slides up in her loft. So he’s going to look for them the next time he visits her and hopefully scan those as well. For now, check out all the photos he’s scanned so far by clicking here.
Update: Brett has gone ahead and grouped up the Kuwait photos into one album so I’ve updated the link to reflect the change.
I was just organizing some photos on my Mac and was moving some images into my “Vintage” folder when I noticed one of the photos in the album had Pearl Marzouq written on it. It was a photo of my parents (pictured on the right) with my aunt and uncle having dinner at the restaurant in what I presume to be the early 70s.
I had forgotten I had this photo and then I remembered just a few weeks ago I had spotted an ad for the restaurant in a 1972 issue of The Daily News. I need another trip to Lebanon so I can go through all the photos and see what other treasures I could find.
Below is also a photo of Pearl Marzouq taken in 1971 after construction. It was designed by SSH, the same architects behind JACC. I’ve tried getting more photos from them but they’ve been unresponsive so if anyone can help me get access to their archive, please let me know! SSH were behind a lot of big projects in the 70s including Messilah Beach Hotel and half of the buildings in old Salem Mubarek Street.
