Kodachrome Photographs of Beirut, Lebanon In May 1965

American Charles Cushman's photographs of Lebanon before the wars

Beirut Lebanon 1965

Parliament Square shoppers and traders by Charles Cushman, Beirut, Lebanon – May 1965

In May 1965, avid photographer Charles Cushman was on holiday from his native USA in Beirut, Lebanon. The city was a major tourist destination and banking haven, especially for the Persian Gulf oil boom. Cushman appears to have been staying at the city’s Excelsior Hotel in the  Minet-el-Hosn district, downtown between the Jounblatt and Minet el-Hosn quarters. The hotel opened in 1955. It hosted Jean-Prosper Gay-Para’s ‘Les Caves Du Roy’ nightclub, which featured in Georges Lautner’s film La Grande Sauterelle (1967), and a branch opened on the French Riviera, at the Hotel Byblos, Saint Tropez. The Excelsior closed when civil war erupted in 1975. In 1982 it reopened for one night to mark Raymond Daoud’s birthday.

In Cushman Kodachrome pictures, we can see the Saint George Hotel and beach club, the first to open on the coast of Beirut in the 1930s and shopping on Parliament Square.

 

Beirut Lebanon 1965

Beirut Lebanon 1965

Parliament Square, Beirut, Lebanon, May 1965

Beirut Lebanon 1965

Beirut Lebanon 1965

Hotel St. Geogre, Beirut, Lebanon,

Beirut Lebanon 1965

Beirut Lebanon 1965 Beirut Lebanon 1965 Beirut Lebanon 1965 Beirut Lebanon 1965 Beirut Lebanon 1965 Beirut Lebanon 1965 Beirut Lebanon 1965 Beirut Lebanon 1965

Beirut Lebanon 1965

Beirut roofs and shore line from top of Starco Bldg. North

Beirut Lebanon 1965 Beirut Lebanon 1965

Beirut Lebanon 1965

Mediterranean in morning form top of Excelsior Hotel

Via: L’Orient, Indiana University Archives.

Would you like to support Flashbak?

Please consider making a donation to our site. We don't want to rely on ads to bring you the best of visual culture. You can also support us by signing up to our Mailing List. And you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. For great art and culture delivered to your door, visit our shop.