I've found some more photographs which I'm sorting out and I'll try to post them in the near future.
Meanwhile, I came across a couple of books from the early eighties, which some of you may remember. Both were published by what is now Motivate but then was called What's On Publishing.
This was published in June 1984, written and photographed by another friend, Bob Milne Home, who was then Marketing & Tours Manager at DNATA.
Friendships made in Dubai have lasted I'm pleased to say. Bob's been back in the UK for a long time now but we keep in regular contact. We've visited him in his very nice old cottage in the UK and we also had dinner with him when he visited Dubai a couple of months ago on a short business trip.
He used to write a column in the early 'What's On' magazine and then put together this excellent book.
The other book I found was this one, published in February 1983 and compiled by Bryn Jones, a stalwart of Dubai Radio's Morning Show.
A regular feature of the show was the 'Dubai Diners Delight' segment, which featured recipes sent in by listeners. It was so popular that it was decided to put a selection of the recipes into a book.
In addition to the huge variety of recipes the book carries advertisements which are fascinating to look at. Here's what the Dubai Metropolitan on Sheikh Zayed Road, then simply called Abu Dhabi Road, looked like back then...
Hotels featured strongly in the advertising and here are two familiar landmarks:
Leisure facilities were fewer back then, but a foretaste of what was to come twenty years later...
Dubai's first mall, then known as the largest building in the Middle East, had a favourite children's area...
Other ads give some indication of the lack of sophistication in the advertising industry, because it was still very much pioneering days in the early eighties...
The DNATA book has some excellent photographs, Bob being a very gifted photographer as well as writer.
One of my favourites amongst his thousands of shots is this one of the Trade Centre, then our tallest building and the best known landmark.
14 comments:
I remember the Yum Yum corner in Al Ghurair - They had Hardees! lol. Hardees was the only branded burger joint at one point of time - till McDonald's came in.
Interesting post which I liked. Anyway, a question I have which you might be able to answer (or other old-timers) is: when did Dubai go from 6 digit phone numbers (landlines) to 7. The reason was that up to 1997, it was 6 as I was applying for jobs here from Saudi Arabia. When I finally arrived (1999), I think that they were already 7 digits. Nice to know the story and memories.
nostalgic. Where did Sindabad disappear. I remember spending whole weekends there burning our pockets playing daytona. Oh good old school days.
Siwash I wasn't here when the numbers changed so I can't help you with that, but maybe someone else remembers exactly when...
It was about 98.
excellent article, do you have any more pictures of the dubai skyline you can post?
I think the numbers changed in 1999/2000.I arrived in Dubai in 1998 and remember using the 6-digit numbers for at least a year and had gotten well used to them.
I also remember the "excitement" when the first McDonald's openened on Jumeirah Beach Road, haha!
oh thank you for this! i spent much of my childhood in Al Ghurair and Al Nasr Leisureland. The fruit garden was wicked! And then when we were a little older they opened Luna Park. Boy were we excited about that rollercoaster. Lol!
Anon@10.43, there are some on my earlier posts about the good old days, just click on my 'Old Dubai' label to go to them.
I've also found some more photos, some on 35mm slide but others are prints which have faded badly over the years. I'm working to try to enhance them and get tham back to something near their original condition. If I can get them to an acceptable level I'll post them.
Gosh!
I think I still have a copy of Diner's Delight.
Argh! Just the other day I was thinking, 'Must post that old Dubai Diners' Delight I've got upstairs on the blog'!!!
Seabee'd!
Don't forget the wonderful www.dubaiasitusedtobe.com!
Don't forget the wonderful www.dubaiasitusedtobe.com!
Wonderful it is Alex, it has some fabulous photos and memories.
I have a link to it if anyone hasn't visited it.
(I promised Len I'd send him some more photos for the site but they're so faded after all this time I'm struggling to get them up to an acceptable standard).
We are also forgetting the ever so popular (atleast back in the day) STOP5. Interesting to see what Dubai was 20 yrs ago and what it is now. I miss the Dubai that was.
Seabee, this is an awesome article...
you brought back amazing memories... we used to live in Abu Dhabi back then and every weekend my dad used to take us to Al Ghurair and Al Nasr Leisureland and sometimes to Mullaplaza.. lol
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