Comments on: Elect me as mayor of Salmiya

By: They filled the hole! - 2:48AM

They filled the hole! - 2:48AM — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:12:05 +0000

[...] I’ve lived on the street for 30 years now and I’ve posted about my frustration before (here and here) but now I feel there might be hope. Sep 1, [...]

By: I am still not the mayor

I am still not the mayor — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 19:37:04 +0000

[...] a year ago I posted “Elect me as mayor of Salmiya” because I was pissed at how the old shopping street in Salmiya was getting torn a part bit [...]

By: Nina

Nina — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 19:39:17 +0000

Hi Mark,
Its been over 17 years since I last lived in kuwait. Left after school although my folks are leaving for good in a couple of days after 32 years there. My days in Kuwait were among the happiest in my life. I can’t really relate to all these flashy new malls trying to outdo each other and when i think of Kuwait the old Salmiya high street is what comes to mind. Family bookshop and Fay were the regular places and hungry bunny and pizza hut. Boushari for the photos and Mogawi for Stationary and Mona laundry for dry cleaning and UTC or all sorts of sundries!
Last time i visited Kuwait in early 2007, i could not believe how much its changed. All the places of my childhood are no more…Another sad thing was seeing Salmiya cinema demolished.

Anyway thanks for taking me down memory lane again!!

By: khalid

khalid — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 09:31:14 +0000

bro ,you took me down memorylane that was my neighborhood the only toy shop at that time was Waleed’s .Hardees was Wimpy chicken tikka inn was chicken tikka .a ladies shop called Reem and shoe shop called Nabil otherside of the road was some exchange co., my family,s best shopping spot was UTC . the round building. millionaire etc
from the firestation till adidas was like bond street at onetime

By: Faisal

Faisal — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 22:24:31 +0000

Wait till you guys see what is planned for this area. Go to the back of the south salmiyah complex (where the bookstore is) and witness all the demolition in preperation for this plan :(

By: Aboud

Aboud — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 18:44:22 +0000

Oh man, how old are u Mark.

The time i should have spent in school was spent at Mr Donut, A&W, and eating pancakes at Hungry Bunny

By: da Angel wears Escada

da Angel wears Escada — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 18:37:48 +0000

Touché….those were the days when Kuwait had an uber cool air of sophistication about her that would not seem out of place with the Beirut of the 1950s. Not only do I not seem able to get over such places, as the New Supermarket, Fay Trading and Swan Lake recordings, but I also sometimes wished they had never existed in the first place to make my life miserable in their absence. I still remember going out with that ‘Funny Girl’ who used to live a few blocks down the street, or the smell of Chanel No. 5 wafting from across Wazzan Tea house and the sights and smell of La Patisserie further down the high street.
At the bottom of this road, remember, we used to be greeted by vintage opulence à la Mobilia House & Domus Scandinavia.
Those that were strikingly absent then, were the intolerant, the ignorant and the anti-modern. One would have to have incredibly thick skin to NOT feel the urge to cry reminiscing about Kuwait’s silk stocking district of the mid and late 70s and early 80s.

By: loulou

loulou — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 05:33:43 +0000

Well this is what I think.Sorry if my opinion is a little offensive.Kuwait is a nice country and it really has changed for the better.But really, there isn’t much to do in Kuwait. Besides malls, shopping,restaraunts,and maybe a few other things, thats about it.There are not many tourist attractions or archeological sites.I actually was a little bored during my stay in kuwait.I felt as if I did not have very much freedom as well.Maybe Im wrong maybe Im just a really tough critc.Convince me wrong my please.

thank you for your time
loulou

By: Kleio

Kleio — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 22:33:13 +0000

Being a historian, you can imagine how much it hurts me to see Kuwait constantly being torn down and built up in such a hideous manner. Your memories of Salmiya are ones we all share, down to the most minute detail. Because Kuwait was different then – there used to be a sense of community here that no longer exists. As for tearing things down, they just tore down most of Fahed Al-Salem street – Kuwait’s second oldest “modern” city street built up in the 1950s. It breaks my heart to see our government and our people keep making the same mistake over and over again. And like a couple of people have said above, why tear down the old and then rebuild a “replica” village? Don’t tear down the original, you won’t need to build a replica! And the few buildings that they have renovated in Kuwait City, like the Dickson House and the American Mission Hospital and the old Nurses Residence – while they might look nice to the unknowing eye, I can tell you that the renovations have very little to do with what they were originally like. Hire a historian, and just get it right!

I’m in town visiting for the week and I spent the whole afternoon today (before reading this post) driving around Kuwait City and just feeling so sad and frustrated. This is a very significant issue to me – what has happened to our country. I’m telling you, it eats at me constantly. And let’s not even get into what they’ve done to our environment, with all that land reclaimed from the sea – the new Seif Palace, Souq Sharq, Marina Crescent, and all the trash in between. It’s funny you mention being mayor of Salmiya, because as I was driving around I was actually imagining all the changes I’d make to this country if I were “president”.

Anyway, I’ve written a couple of posts on something similar recently you might be interested in:

http://kaleidokleio.blogspot.com/2006/10/why.html
http://kaleidokleio.blogspot.com/2006/10/why-ii.html

My original plan was to post something on the topic you’ll see in these links at least once a week, but unfortunately time is a bit of an issue.

By: Borzaiga

Borzaiga — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 17:54:33 +0000

ok lets say i voted for u to be mayor of salmiya :p Whats the first 3 things youll do ? that would be an amaizing post every body imagining himself what would he/her do ! i bet by the end of that post and comments, well have like the middle eastern las vegas ;) *2 thumbs up*

By: Eddy

Eddy — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 13:28:41 +0000

are there even mayors of different areas in kuwait???????? e.g. salmiya, jabriya, hawally, etc……

By: Delicately Realistic

Delicately Realistic — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 00:42:21 +0000

Soul II Soul, Bells and Swan Lake

made me cry….remember begging my mom to go in while she did her shopping….wow memories.

id vote for u!