Hey guys! I have noticed that there is a lot of nostalgic feelings about Second Life lately on social media. People are talking about scenic sims that they miss, stores that they miss shopping at, and the like. So I decided to go through some old landmarks and photos to see what I miss in Second Life.

This was a photo that was long overdue for me to blog 🙂

Hair/Hat: Stealthic x Toksik – 1. TKS Transit Hair (RARE)

Jacket: Stealthic x Toksik – 2. TKS Jacket (RARE)

Top: Stealthic x Toksik – 2. TKS Crop Top (RARE)

Pants: Blueberry – Cake Leggings – Under Boots – Maitreya

Shoes: [VALE KOER] LIBELLULE SUEDE HEELS MAITREYA

Glasses: Stealthic x Toksik – 10. TKS Sunglasses (Gold x Red)

Jewelry:

Stealthic x Toksik – 3. TKS Necklace (Gold)

Chop Zuey – Nirmala Ring

Photo Prop: Exposeur – The Elevator

Location: The Fashion Loft

Noobia

If you look at Xeno Cyberstar’s profile inworld, that will give you a quick overview of what Noobia was about. When I first started SL, I was looking for free places to live. Despite people saying that they did not exist, I managed to find a place that allowed residents who were under 1 month old to have a free 2-week rental with 25 prims. After 2 weeks, we could rent for 75 L a week.

Photo of how the rentals looked like – this was not my rental; rather my friends and I were getting bombarded by particles and we were looking at various apartments to see where they were coming from.

I had a routine where I would log into SL, go to the hangout area and stand around on a circular dance floor with several other residents and talk to them before starting my “day” shopping around the grid. I liked having a home base, and to this day I wouldn’t be able to function in SL without having a place to call home. Platform living just doesn’t cut it for me.



2. Orgy Beach

Funny how a place like this would allow me to find my first group of friends in Second Life. Sure it was an adult sim where I learned about things like RLV and the like, but I met my best friends at the time, and the “crew” I would go around Second Life with.



The owner, Antena Eourres, was a friendly person who wasn’t afraid to make guys her bitch if they stepped too far out of line. So that kept things fairly respectful considering what kind of place that was. Like Noobia, the beach was a good place to socialize. After a while the crew went off and started their own ventures (mostly clubs). I don’t have any (decent) photos of the beach – back then I wasn’t that into taking too many photos that early on in my SL.

3. No. 9 Nylons, Artilleri, and other niche stores

I think there is some power in everyone knowing where to go to get certain items. For a long time, people were able to confidently refer others to No. 9 Nylons for stockings, or Artilleri for their 1950’s retro apparel and decor. Would stores like these survive in today’s never-ending influx of events? Probably not. A number of people talk about a certain store at Collabor88 for not keeping within the event’s theme for the month. Content creators feel if they do not diversify, then they will see their sales decline. So they have to always change things up in this fast – paced life.

4. The Loveho Spa Resort

Loveho was probably the first time that I saw a significant amount of Asian people in Second Life. I thought it was cool to be able to go to a sim and encounter many people that lived on the other side of the world. I think my favorite part of the spa was the steam that would come up from the water…very relaxing visual to look at. Too bad I didn’t take photos of this place, either.

5. Costa Rica

I have probably spoken about Costa Rica to several people lately. I think this was the one place I could easily take a day to hang out and explore the sims. Some of my favorite things to do was to go to the beach and surf, or to fantasize about living on one of the sims while my friends and I cammed inside some of the homes to see what they looked like. One time I saw someone with probably 2 dozen boxes of Stiletto Moody shoes. For those who remember how much they cost, it’s no wonder that she could afford a place at Costa Rica, where homes were roughly 2.5 times the price of an average land rental.

This time I managed to take some photos (and even did some blog posts!), but still it was not enough. The following is an excerpt from the notecard that they used to give out when visiting:

Hola! Welcome to Costa Rica Sims. Within this notecard you will find landmarks for our amenities, information about our 70+ sim Estate, plus some RL pictures of Costa Rica.

The fastest way to travel around our Estate is using our Taxi Hud. The Costa Rica Taxi Hud will enable the wearer to teleport easily throughout Costa Rica Sims to all amenities.

You can also travel around our estate by using our hovercrafts. Hovercraft stations can be found all over our estate.

If you are interested in living in an Estate that has proven to be one of SL’s success stories, having grown to 70+ sims all connected by water for fabulous sailing, where you will have access to a wide variety of amenities some found nowhere else and a community with 350+ residents from over 50 countries around the world, visit our the land for sale section of our website at http://www.costaricasims.com . Or visit our Welcome Center & Land Store.

WELCOME CENTER & LAND STORE

COLONIAL SHOPPING DISTRICT

EMERY – Glam Rock 80’s! Fabulous store with a huge variety of clothing & accessories.

QUEENS & KINGS STORE – An elegant and upscale fashion store.

FASHION VENUE – Our posh estate houses the biggest names in the fashion industry. Want to learn what is hot and what is not? Attend our monthly fashion shows happening the second to last Saturday of each month at 12:00 noon SLT.

INFLUENTIALS LOUGE – With residents from over 45 countries around the world, Costa Rica Sims is home to some of the most talented, accomplished, and beautiful Second Life® residents. Every month we pay tribute to those residents that have contributed to the world of SL Fashion.

I did a blog post on one party that I went to

i-LEARNING CENTER – i-Learning Workhops is a campus for RL-SL blended activities focused around education and training.

FOREST OF HOPE – This forest is a sanctuary for those seeking peace, balance, and serenity as they travel on their respective journeys in life.

MARINO BALLENA NATIONAL PARK (WHALE WATCHING)

ARENAL VOLCANO NATIONAL PARK (HORSEBACK RIDING)

PALO VERDE NATIONAL PARK (BIRD WATCHING & WATER SAFARI)

LAS BAULAS NATIONAL PARK (LEATHERBACK TURTLES NESTING SITE, SURFING & BEACH CAFE)

VOLCAN TENORIO NATIONAL PARK. (RAINFOREST, CANOEING, FISHING, HANG GLIDING, & BIRD WATCHING).

MANUEL ANTONIO NATIONAL PARK (SCUBA DIVING & NUDE BEACH).

WHITE WATER RAFTING

LA CANTINA – Lounge with friends and enjoy the action or set the dance floor on fire at our all new La Cantina, where every month the excitement culminates with our sumptuously sexy “Hot Latin Nights” party!

LA TORTUGA FELIZ BEACH CAFE

ROMANTIC YACHT

SAILING

OPERA HOUSE

COSTA RICA LADIES’ SOCIETY BOTANICAL GARDENS

MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART



6. Euphoria

From the website:

Poised to change your shopping experience, E U P H O R I A is a place where fashionistas feels at home with spectacular frontage and cutting edge designs that brings together Second Life’s best loved brands all in one development.

I used to love their end of season sales and hunts…not to mention that the stores in the shopping center were all stylish in their own right. I also learned about new stores as well.

7. Guti Amusement Park

This was the place where I realized that I really liked playing bumper cars in SL. I also got to go on a balloon ride, and skateboarded around the park.

I believe on the upper left side where the tents are was where the bumper cars were.

8. Galaxy Dance and Strip Club

This was the first club I was introduced to in Second Life – always packed and laggy ^^ Even though it seemed like more people talked to me at Ambrosia, The Galaxy seemed to be one of the biggest clubs of its kind at the time.

9. Donna Flora A to Z

This is not only because I miss the creator of Donna Flora. It’s also because I miss

1. the pureness of helping to support a good cause

2. the power that comes about when bloggers band together

Nowadays when you hear about someone doing a fundraiser, it’s met with scrutiny. It’s probably because we see more events where designers create items to support another designer’s cause. So of course people want to know where the money is going.

And with the culture of Second Life events nowadays, do bloggers even have the time to come up with something like this? An event organizer comes up with yet another concept, and bloggers rush to sign up not enough time for careful planning.



10. Violator (& other avant-garde fashion stores)



I know we still have stores like Azoury and Zibska, but when you look at these stores, you can tell you don’t see too much of this in Second Life anymore:

Diktator

Mea Culpa

Violator

Eshi Otawara

I would imagine that these creations took some time to create, and when they were released, they were celebrated as not only fashion, but art.

I had more than 10 places, but I think this is a good place to end it. Thinking about all of the old places has me a bit misty-eyed lol 🙂