This is the second batch of photos from Ian Caldwell’s collection, and there is one more batch I’ll be sharing after this post.
Ian was born in Magwa Hospital in Ahmadi in 1955 and lived in Kuwait until 1975. He’s scanned over 300 Kuwait-related photos from his family’s collection, which he’s kindly given me permission to share. Last month I posted photos of Souk Mubarakiya and Fahaheel Market from his archive, this time, I’m sharing photos taken over various weekends and holidays between the late 60s and early 70s.
The photos were taken by Ian, his father Arthur, and his younger brother Tom.
I could only share 20 photos on my Instagram account, but since you guys check the blog you get to see all the photos which amount to 121. To check them out, click here.
9 replies on “Life on the Weekends in 1970s Kuwait”
Wow, what a time to be alive, simple life, cool colorful cars, no internet, just making memories. I noticed the same green cooler I have in my collection, awesome to see it during the time it was made. Ahmadi life was booming back then!
Everyone is fit just like other beach pics from around the world. Hmm 🤔. Did something change in our food?
I wanna see photos like this from the 90’s! 😭
My type of post.
I was so happy when I reached the bottom of the album to find Page-2.
Thanks for sharing.
The face and character of Kuwait were so different back then. It was brighter, simpler and happier.
Crazy how the 70s were better, cleaner, safer, more fun & more free than 2025. Backwards process started in 2002.
The 70s and 80s weekends in Kuwait were so hot & happening although bird watching used to be a prime component of it all. All said and done the eye candy then was a class apart. Cruising along swanky Salem Mubarak Street on Thursdays was the thing with men in their Trans Ams & Porsches blasting loud Western music at pedestrians while scouring for nice pieces of skirt. People have turned more subtle and discreet now and cruising as we knew it, is now dead in Kuwait. The weekend meant spending the evening on Kuwait’s Champs Élysées : Salem Mubarak Street with people doing their own thing- shopping, people watching, jay walking, street food and repeat. A brightly lit Kuwait on the weekends used to be like pre-war Berlin – looking and feeling every bit like North Tehran in the heyday of the Shah of Iran’s rule. Incredulously, even Fahd Al Salem Street was not grim. Only thing was Fridays used to be absolutely dead with the majority taking their weekly conjugal duties to heart and you would hardly find people anywhere out on the street.
A+ post
Awesome glimpse into what life was like back then,
This was a time when weekends were spent either in balmy Kuwait, Beyrout or Cyprus and when Dubai and Bahrein were practically unheard of.