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Women wore Western clothing, and drinking and dancing were favourite pastimes.
The Shah aspired to build a Las Vegas - style tourist trap to bring in international dollars and provide a haven for Iran's elite. He chose Kish Island in the Persian Gulf to be the site of his new playground. Kish had it all: warm weather, beautiful beaches, and a generally liberal, laid-back populace.
All that changed with the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini took power, and Iran's party scene became non-existent.
In 1989, dismayed by the lack of international tourists, the government declared Kish Island a free zone. This new status meant there would be no taxes, no visas required to enter, and a more lax enforcement of moral laws. Women are allowed to wear their hijabs with a generous amount of hair showing, and swimming (although gender-segregated) and dancing are encouraged. All of these activities are verboten in most other parts of the country.
Alas, Kish did not become a hot party destination. Instead of the island earning a reputation for its nightlife scene, it became known for its kidnapping scene. In 2007, former FBI agent Robert Levinson disappeared while visiting Kish. He's been captive ever since, which gives him the dubious title of the longest-held American hostage in US history.
After his capture, the US government issued a statement denying he was a CIA agent on a spying mission, and was simply there on holiday. Last year Associated Press broke the real story, a Jason Bourne-esqe saga of intel gathering CIA agents on a rogue mission that, the AP said, had paid Levinson to gather intel.
