2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Spotted the brand new colored iMac at Gait this weekend. The price for the entry model is KD450 which isn’t so bad when compared to Apple’s US price of KD390 (not including shipping or tax). I ordered my iMac from the US store but only because I needed custom specs (1TB and 16GB of RAM) but if I was looking for a standard build I think I would have most likely purchased it locally.

The CAP Bookshop which carries amazing publishers like Assouline, Phaidon, Taschen and Thames & Hudson has moved into a much larger space next to their old location. The new location is at least 5 to 6 times larger than their previous space and they now have a lot more books on display.

This easily was one of my favorite bookshops in Kuwait and it’s gotten even better now. If you want to pass by and check it out it’s located on the top floor of Life Center in Shuwaikh, right next to Contemporary Art Platform. Google Maps

Here’s a feel-good post to cap off the week. A new cafe opened up in Salmiya called 3-12 and it’s run by adults with special needs. The cafe is located on the first floor of Dalal Mall, the same mall as Sky Cinemas and located across Zahra Complex. You can also check them out on Instagram @cafe_312

After picking up a coffee make sure you pass by Kane Mochi and pick up some ice cream.

The Khaldiya skatepark has been there since at least 2010 but I just found out about it for some reason. So now there are two skateparks that I am aware of, this one and the Extreme Sports one in Marina Waves.

Are there other ones I don’t know about? Here is the location of the Khaldiya Public Skatepark on Google Maps.

Summer is here and I know a lot of people either don’t have covered parking at home or tend to park their sports cars or classics until the weather is good again. A friend of mine recently wanted to get a cover done for her car and I passed her a contact I’ve had for years and never used. After she got her car done I decided I might as well get covers made for my cars.

The process is super simple, I just WhatsApped a guy, he came by the same day and took measurements of the cars. The next day he came back with the material and adjusted it to the size of the cars before sending it to his tailor. On the third day the cover was done.

The material used is durable for outdoor use and features a tough material on the outside with a soft velour-like material on the inside. Cost varies on the size of the car and how well you negotiate and in my case it was KD40 per car. If you’re interested you can contact them on 98727813‬, the business is called Al-Surur.

Back in 2014, a German documentary on used tires aired and Kuwait was featured prominently in it due to having the world’s largest used tires mountain. Recently the documentary made its way to YouTube and in English with no region lock and I just watched it now. Although a few years old I think the documentary is still worth watching although some things have changed since then.

Since the documentary aired I believe at least two tire recycling facilities have been set up including Green Rubber Recycling whom I posted about last year.

When I visited the tires graveyard back in 2012, the tires were all piled together in one large pile (pictured above). Due to safety issues and the continuous number of fires that take place there, the tires are now compartmentalized into smaller piles so that if a fire breaks out it’s contained in one area. Fires happen so frequently that it even shows on Google Maps.

While watching the documentary above just be aware that the info is not up to date. YouTube

Thanks Syed

Back when I was looking at automatic coffee machines, one of the brands that I was checking out was JURA. I hadn’t heard of them before since I hadn’t seen the brand in Kuwait but according to reviews online they had the best automatic coffee machines on the market. Automatic coffee machines are machines that make your coffee at a press of a button. They can grind your coffee, heat up and froth your milk and then mix it all together for you.

Al-Wazzan who carry the La Marzocco commercial grade coffee machines are now the dealers for JURA. Prices locally seem cheaper than Amazon UK. The JURA A1 for example costs 383KD on Amazon but 290KD locally while the JURA E8 costs 759KD and 550KD locally.

If you’re interested, they have a JURA display at their store in Shuwaikh as well as on their website.

Construction of the Sheikh Jaber Causeway Vaccination Centre is done and is now set to open soon. The drive-thru vaccination centre will be able to handle 5,000 cars a day and was built by KIPIC and KOC for the Ministry of Health.

KIPIC have posted some pictures of the centre on their instagram account and you can check them out here.

I’ve asked for more information like when they’re planning to open it and once I get the info I’ll update this post.

Update: Here is some more info, the center can handle 4,000-5,000 people depending on the working hours that will be set by the government. There are 20 stations and each can handle around 8 cars at once. It took only one month to set up. No launch date was shared with me.

I found a ton of old ads online and decided to go through them and pick out the most memorable ones to me growing up in Kuwait during the 80s. I think the one that caught my interest the most was the Al Khalejiah Complex ad. So very few people remember that when Al Khalejiah Complex originally opened it was one large department store. The only reason I remember it is because that’s where I used to go get my Legos from so it was pretty cool finding this commercial.

The Samsung and Indesit commercials were also great finds since I used to find their tunes extremely catchy as a kid. Anyway check out the full list below of my favorites:

7up
Al Khalejiah Complex
Americana 1
Americana 2
Coast
Crest
Dalal Oil
Filfila
Fotofast
Hardees
Hungry Bunny
Indesit
Kiri 1
Kiri 2
Kit Kat
KDD 1
KDD 2
Kentucky Fried Chicken
Kitco
Kuwait Dairy Co
Like Cola
National Bank of Kuwait 1
National Bank of Kuwait 2
Pepsi
Pizza Italia 1
Pizza Italia 2
Safeway
Samsung
Shani
Sultan Center 1
Sultan Center 2
Sunkist
Tikka
Toyota
Wazza Tea
Zest

If you want to go through all the commercials and find some other ones, click here.

Since it’s an odd posts day, here is another one. For those of you who aren’t aware, the first UFO sighting in the Arab world was in Kuwait back in 1978 and then again in 79. Reports of the sightings were published in newspapers and even the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) got involved.

I’ve posted about the sighting before but this morning I found an interview with the photographer who captured photos of the UFO (Ali Shash) as well as an eye witness who contacted the press. The interview was shot the same week as the sighting since the eyewitness starts off by stating it was Friday 11:30AM when he spotted the UFO from his window which faces the Qadsia stadium. Very interesting stuff and I love that this interview is available online to view.

This is an odd post I know but there seems to be an old myth that one of the dancers in Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It’ music video from 1982 was Kuwaiti. I first heard this from a friend a few months ago and shrugged it off, but this weekend I got an email from a reader telling me the same. So I decided to dig into this to see if it was true.

The story goes that the dancer in the white outfit who leads the rival gang in the music video is actually Kuwaiti (to the left of Michael in the picture above). Going by the way he looks I could see him passing as a Kuwaiti so I tried to dig up the full cast members list to see what his name was. Turns out that the dancer with the white top is Michael Peters, an American choreographer and director who has no connection to Kuwait.

I then decided to dig up the list of cast members in as many Michael Jackson videos as I could think of and I wasn’t able to find anyone that sounded Kuwaiti either. So I guess that myth is busted.

I don’t recall this place at all and only found out about it recently. It was owned by Mahmoud Alghanim, the same person behind Pizza Italia and Prego and I believe it opened towards the end of the 80s or early 90s. It was located right next to the Kuwait Towers which is why I find it odd that I don’t remember it.

Good Game, the popular tabletop gaming store is finally allowed to have in-game play at their store again. The only provision is that you need to be vaccinated to do so. If you are vaccinated then you will need to show your green vaccinated status on the Immune app to play or participate in any events at the store.

If you previously missed the announcement, Good Game moved to Salmiya into a much larger space. Make sure you check out their Instagram @goodgamekw

Back in 2009 I posted a scan of a liquor permit dating back to 1964 when alcohol was still legal in Kuwait. But a few days ago a friend of mine sent me a photo of a liquor permit which looks to be in really good condition. Kinda makes me want to find one so I could frame it.

One thing I’ve been trying to find for over a decade now is photos of the Gray Mackenzie liquor stores. Supposedly there was one location in Seef and I’m guessing there were other locations like in Ahmadi but I can’t find a single photo of one anywhere!

Anyway, here is a link to an article in TIME magazine dating back to 1965 talking about how alcohol was banned in Kuwait.

Thanks friend, owe you cookies

Update: A reader just sent me the picture below of a Gray Mackenzie liquor store from back in 1958 when alcohol was still legal. Based on the decorations it looks like it was taken during the Christmas season. This photo is also supposedly of the location opposite Seef. I couldn’t find a higher resolution photo but it’s a start!

This year’s curfew was completely different from last year’s. I think mostly because there was less fear since we’ve all been dealing with Covid for the past year and are more informed on it, while last year the whole thing was still a mystery.

One thing I noticed this year was how every area had different activities going on like at one point I think Surra had a carnival during curfew. In Salmiya once the cars disappeared everyone came to the old souk where I live and turned the streets to mini badminton courts. I didn’t post about it on my social media or on the blog at that time because I didn’t want to bring it any unwanted attention, but it was so much fun. There were even mini badminton courts drawn in chalk all over the streets. It was kinda like a block party.

What did your neighborhood do during curfew?