UAE | Society
Dubai's entertainment scene forty years back
Forty years ago, the Dubai we know didn't exist, but what the expats did then for entertainment and unwinding now constitutes a fascinating part of the city's rapid march toward modernity. Here are glimpses of that world
- By Muby Asger, Staff reporter, XPRESS
- Published: 00:00 December 1, 2011
- Image Credit: Len Chapman/www.dubaiasitusedtobe.com and XPRESS
- A glimpse of the Dubai Souq in the 1950s. It is now known as the Spice Souq (inset).
Dubai: You know how much you enjoy the restaurants and clubs at Madinat Jumeirah. Or love browsing through your favourite books at the Jumeirah Magrudy's. Or spending the first weekend of every December cheering on your favourite rugby team at the Sevens event.
Ever imagined what lay there a long time before they became your favourite hangouts? Say, 40 years ago?
Let's go to the movies
Ever heard of Jumeirah Cinema? Built in the 1960s on Jumeirah Beach Road, it was one of the city's first movie houses where the British and Indian expat population went to unwind on a weekend. It was demolished in the early1970s.
What stands in its place today? Magrudy's bookshop!
Similarly, the Deira Cinema in Al Riqqa, built in 1969, was another popular venue. Divided into an upstairs and downstairs seating area, with the upstairs seats being more comfortable and expensive, the movie was shown in two parts, with an interval in the middle. The snacks back then were nothing like nachos, Pepsi and popcorn combos. Vendors would walk into the cinema hall during the interval, selling 7-Up in bottles and ice-cream.
Al Watan Cinema, the first official cinema in Dubai, was open-air, located in Deira. Again, the old-time favourite was destroyed in the early 1970s to make way for the hub of activity that is now Al Nasr Square.
For Indian expats, there was an additional place where one could watch the latest Bollywood films - the Indian Association. Damayanthi Kisani, who first came to the UAE in 1965, recalls how the movies at the Indian Association in Dubai were very popular. "We used to watch these movies every Thursday. I remember how the host would keep us in splits with the jokes he used to crack," says the 69-year-old.
Entertainment wasn't limited to just movies. Expats wanted a residential community where kids could play in gardens and families could barbeque on weekends. The idea of the Chicago Beach Village was born in the late 1960s. However, it was only after the official formation of the UAE that the community was ready to be lived in. The first exclusive gated estate in the city, Chicago Beach Village, soon became the coolest place in town, only to be replaced a few decades later by the next generation of coolest places in town - Madinat Jumeirah.
While entertainment was a much-desired need, there was also the other all-important element to life that women craved: A shopping centre. Enter Jashanmal, the first consumer goods shop in the UAE. In 1956, 15 years before the birth of the country, Jashanmal opened its first store in Dubai, followed by another in Abu Dhabi.
Favourite Hangout
The Dubai branch in Al Baniyas Square in Deira was an instant hit with the female population, stocking international brands that expats dearly missed, including make-up and cameras. While the women went gaga, the men too, were drawn to the store. Back then communication with the outside world was poor. Local newspapers hadn't started yet and radio was limited to local services. Understandably, getting news from back home was an ordeal. To ease expats' woes, Jashanmal did a first. In 1971, they imported a range of foreign newspapers for expats to read. It wasn't uncommon to see residents driving from Jumeirah to Deira just to get the morning's copy of the Daily Telegraph.
Also, it wasn't uncommon to find all types of beverages freely available. Even in the early 1970s, popular brands were easily available in many cafés, clubs and restaurants across the city.
Urban legend
Rumour has it that in the 1960s a group of expats gathered frequently for evening and weekend catch-ups under a large tree in Ras Al Khor. Every evening they dreamt of an entertainment venue where families could meet and socialise. Since land had already been granted for an Indian Club in 1964, the British population wanted their own hangout spot. Eventually, in 1969, the dream turned into reality when land was given to the British community to build their dream clubhouse cum entertainment venue. The cherry on the cake? The old tree didn't need to be torn down. Two years of intense labour later, the Dubai Country Club hosted its first event on March 31, 1971. The club had the city's only golf course, albeit a nine-hole sand course using equipment borrowed from various construction companies.
David Burns, a long-time British national in Dubai, says, even in 1980, golf would be played on the "browns" at the Dubai Country Club. "Before the grass was laid out at the golf courses in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the surface was basically sand mixed with oil," recalls Burns.
Till last year, the Dubai Country Club stood proud as one of the oldest institutions for the city's British expats.
It's worth recalling one event that grew from success to success: the Dubai Rugby Sevens. Four decades ago, a small group of seven British expats got together and threw a ball around. It was a good-old fashioned rugby game. The day proved so much fun that each year more and more teams wanted to participate. The first ever championship, held in 1970, was won by Stafforshire Regiment. Today, of course, the Sevens is an international event, with people from all over the world flying in to attend the day of merriment, sport and festivity.
Did you know:
The Deira Cinema in Al Riqqa had two seating choices. Cine-goers could either pay more and sit on comfortable seats upstairs and buy ice cream from an attendant or pay less and sit on uncomfortable seats downstairs among an all male audience.
With inputs from Sharmila Dhal, Senior Reporter
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