Our first stop this week was in California, on the misty, mysterious, magnificent waterfront of Monterey. This build, on Groovyverse Grid, was a group effort, and so we not only got a glimpse of some terrifically well done landscaping, but also of a warm generous welcoming team of builders.
Our Guide was Dee Zee, on horseback so it would be easier for the gang to see where she was going - great idea! and on hand to meet us was Grid owner Hyacinth Jean, builders Herbie Haven and Doc Indy
dee zee: Welcome to the Monterey Bay Region on the Groovyverse grid. My name is Dee, I am another of the builders and will be acting as your host / guide while you are here. Welcome to the Monterey Bay Region on the Groovyverse grid. We thank you for visiting us today and hope that you enjoy your visit.
Thirza Ember: mmmm smell that ocean air
Forest Azure: /me sniffs
dee zee: First off, I would like to introduce two of our "primary" builders here with us today.
Herbie Haven and Doc Indy. They are both wearing our Cacophony Society group tags.
Also, please say hello to our grid administrator/owner, Hyacinth Jean.
Lavia Lavine: Hi Hyacinth Hey everyone sorry I'm late.
Arwen Evenstar: Hi Hyacinth
Dings Digital: Hi all
Hyacinth Jean: Hi everyone :)
eva Nowicka: /me waves
Thirza Ember: have my meds kicked in or is Hyacinth on a reindeer
Hyacinth Jean: This is clearly a ferret.
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| dee zee on her white horse, and Hyacinth on a ... ferret? You decide. |
dee zee: The local chat distance limit is currently set to 1500 meters so you don't have to shout.
Feel free to wander a bit, you wont miss anything that gets said during the tour.
James Atlloud: Chat distance is thoughtful - thank you!
dee zee: Hopefully, you will all be invited to join our events group, the Cacophony Society. You are welcome to join the local regions group if you like, it may give you extra permissions. If you are just interested in event notices, regardless of the region, Join the Cacophony :)
dee zee: As you can see, we are beginning our tour on the "surf beach".
Dings Digital: looks great, I like that garage shop
dee zee: Monterey Bay is one of 8 regions in a collective we refer to as the Left Coast. We began construction on our first region [ Free Park ] in October of 2022. All of the Left Coast regions contain content related to our communal experiences in and around the San Fransisco Bay Area. Many of them have a connection to the origin and history of the Burning Man organization / festival.
James Atlloud: oh yes, burning man build is so memorable
Herbie Haven: Note: If you see anything you might want to take but cant,,, let me know later and I will see if I can give it to you....
dee zee: Each of the Left Coast regions is a 6x6 mega region [ or 36 SL sized regions ]. We apologize for some of the physics, specifically the sidewalk curbs. Some of them require a little "jump" to get over.
James Atlloud: Things are rezzing great for me.
Lavia Lavine: slow for me
Thirza Ember: jumping is good exercise
Dings Digital: the map is very detailed
dee zee: Monterey Bay originated as a project under the direction of Lilly Sparks. She started work in the second half of 2023. It was the 5th of our Left Coast regions, and the first to include "city" building styles. Throughout the project, Lilly collaborated closely with Herbie Haven, one of our best builders. Most of the Left Coast regions have been designed and built collaboratively. The focus of her plan was to replicate the famous Aquarium and add a portion of Cannery Row for shops. Her design also included this surf beach, which was used to develop surfboard models and mesh waves. Much of the east side of the region was dedicated to woodlands and houses. For a while there were plans to build a circus here.
dee zee: Let's follow the road to the West and then North along the shore. That will take us to Coast Guard docks. Our grid owner, Hyacinth, has taken charge of our "ocean defenses".
Thirza Ember: is that right that many of you were friends from SL who made the jump to opensim kind of together?
Herbie Haven: Yes a group of us came from SL around the same time.. some of us never went back to SL others go between both :)
dee zee: we have active coast guard boats that travel the sim and dock at other coast guard stations... I know of 3 more in our left coast space
Dings Digital: really brilliant
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| Herbie Haven at the Coastguard HQ |
Herbie Haven: Most of the stuff here are things we all can find around OS, with some edits and some custom builds or changes to the usual item you all can find around and collect
Hyacinth Jean: The aquarium is amazing!
dee zee: The Monterey Bay Aquarium, opened in 1984 on California’s Monterey Bay,
and is famous for being the first to exhibit living kelp and successfully keep a great white shark.
dee zee: Here are 10 fun facts about the Monterey Bay Aquarium: 1. The aquarium pumps up to 2,000 gallons of seawater per minute directly from the Monterey Bay into its exhibits.
dee zee: 2. They were the first to grow a living California Giant Kelp forest in an aquarium.
Herbie Haven: the building itself is designed from the "outside" of the real aquarium in Monterey Cal.... the inside is adapted to make room for avatars etc... if you've ever been, you might recognize the exterior
dee zee: 3. The aquarium is built on the site of the former Hovden Cannery, the last of the sardine canning factories on Monterey's historic Cannery Row.
Dings Digital: I appreciate adapting space for avatars
dee zee: 4. They were the first to create large-scale, specialized exhibits for jellyfish.
James Atlloud: oh I love the jellies
dee zee: 5. The aquarium is the first to successfully exhibit young great white sharks and return them back to the wild.
Lavia Lavine: This place is amazingly well organized
Arwen Evenstar: Gorgeous space here!!
dee zee: 6. The Open Sea wing features a 1.2 million gallon tank, which is 35 feet deep, and is home to sea turtles, hammerhead sharks, and tuna... a lot of effort went into the design and building of this space... and we are proud that it was a cooperative effort
We took a more or less group pic on the Aquarium stairs under a fabulous octopus wall fitting, as Dee continued to give us some fun facts about the building and its history.
dee zee: 7. They are a major center for rescuing, treating, and releasing stranded southern sea otter pups back into the wild.
James Atlloud: Was the Star Trek movie with the whales sort of showing this aquarium - in spirit anyway.
Arwen Evenstar: yes
Hyacinth Jean: Star Trek 4 - The one with the Whales.
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| Grid owner Hyacinth Jean |
Doc Indy: George and Gracie are no longer here. They're busy up in the 23rd century 8^)
Herbie Haven: its all designed for "midnight" the lighting and colrs are ok with the shared environment,, but all the lights and shadows etc are built for night
Dings Digital: oh , midnight is much better!
Thirza Ember: did you build as a team in SL? or is this something that has evolved in opensim?
dee zee: and yes Thirza. Herbie and i built together in SL.. however Lilly was new to the team when this project started
dee zee: 8. The Monterey Bay Aquarium was the first public aquarium in the world to have its interior mapped for Google Street View.
dee zee: 9. They were pioneers in displaying deep-sea creatures, including specialized "Deep Sea" exhibits that showcase animals never before brought to the surface.
Thirza Ember: hey no horses allowed in this aquarium
Lavia Lavine: What if they are seahorses?
dee zee: 10. They are one of the only aquariums in the world to successfully exhibit the elusive and massive ocean sunfish (Mola mola)
Thirza Ember: oh wow sunfish those things are weird lookin.... do you ever have music events here?... feels like it would be a great venue
Hyacinth Jean: That is an awesome idea!
Herbie Haven: there is a club down the street, but its just being finished up
Hyacinth Jean: Aww no one went around the walk-thru aquarium
Doc Indy: some did
Dings Digital: I did
James Atlloud: I like the 'touch' tanks in the aquarium.
dee zee: Lets all gather outside the main entrance and start the last leg of our tour.. Cannery Row. It is unique and we spent a lot of effort to replicate its "feel"
eva Nowicka: a nice place to ride bikes... i did it sometimes
Hyacinth Jean: I have never seen this. I usually arrive by boat, and hang out in the aquarium :) You can pretty much sail from anywhere to anywhere here. The whole grid is all connected mainland
dee zee: you will see some "for lease" signs on empty shops... we are still trying to add to our collective of builders.... if you see a space thats screams at you to fill it ... please talk to me :)
Herbie Haven: Not to brag , but i think we have one of the greatest head shops in all of OS... haha.... ok, ok Im braggin a little :) Also, back by the surf shop is the start of a trail that goes all the way to the golf course, you can ride bikes... the pink flowers are a real life thing along the Monterey coast certain times of the year they all bloom, its pretty cool to seedee zee: Here are 10 fun facts about Cannery Row: 1. The street was originally named Ocean View Avenue, but was officially renamed Cannery Row in 1958 to honor John Steinbeck’s famous 1945 novel of the same name.
dee zee: 2. During the 1930s and 40s, the street was home to over 16 canneries, making it the largest sardine-producing area in North America.
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| Arwen Evenstar |
dee zee: 3. The Monterey Bay Aquarium removed the original smokestacks, but later installed fiberglass replicas because locals used them for navigation.
dee zee: 4. The character "Doc" in Steinbeck's novel was based on Ed Ricketts, a real marine biologist who ran Pacific Biological Laboratories on the Row.
Thirza Ember: it's crazy how something can go from being old fashioned and awful, to being historic and in need of preserving... all you need are a couple of decades
dee zee: 5. Cannery Row overlooks the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, which features an underwater canyon deeper than the Grand Canyon.
Herbie Haven: The shops are meant to be part of the build. not your usual os shopping spots, so the items are out more like rl and used as decorations in the stores, more like rl in a way
dee zee: 6. Hidden among the historic sites is one of only two operational abalone farms in California, which raises shellfish in a semi-secret location.
dee zee: 7. The Monterey Bay Aquarium served as the primary inspiration for the Marine Life Institute in the Pixar film Finding Dory.
Arwen Evenstar: I like the fractals gallery!
dee zee: 8. In the late 1940s and early 50s, the sardine population completely collapsed, which led to the closure of most canneries.
dee zee: 9. The area has its own interactive adventure called "Treasure Hunt: The Ride," based on the historic, true story of a 19th-century treasure ship that sank in the bay.
James Atlloud: These wides streets make shopping really easy! luv it
dee zee: 10. The Aquarium on the Row is famous for exhibiting the only "gender-bending" clownfish and the first great white shark.
dee zee: Another of our collaborative building projects can be found at the north end of the street. Our very own GroovyBucks coffee shop. One of our newer builders, Doc Indy, has been adding these shops to regions all over Groovyverse. At last count there were 16 of them in as many different regions. Each of them is customized to fit in the "local theme".
James Atlloud: Lovin' the Groovybucks logo
Doc Indy: Free t-shirts are available
Thirza Ember: question for the builders, how did you construct this? did you have a master plan, or was it more organic ?
dee zee: there have been "a few" plans the area we have toured today is pretty much as it was first built
Herbie Haven: Most of it is loosely based on the real life Cannery Row. mostly from pictures etc,, some is improvised and some is real life inspired
dee zee: the boardwalk at the north end was added later,, and we -redesigned the eastern 1/2 of the region
Doc Indy: Many of the regions in GroovyVerse are based on rl locations, so that helps provide a base template for the builds
Herbie Haven: we have a lot of nice boats here also.... they are across to the East of here, if you sail at all,, they are very nice... GV has oceans you can sail for days without border crossings
dee zee: catch a passing view of the marina
Thirza Ember: i do love fantasy builds, but there is something so special about a build that reflects a real place, build by people who really know the place
dee zee: One of the things we have here in groovyverse is a LOT of land and trains are a great way to check it all out, all our roads go "somewhere" as do our train tracks.
James Atlloud: We rode the trains around burning man once I seem to recall
eva Nowicka: and area 51 :)
Herbie Haven: The train tracks go through many many regions in Gv that are all connected by trains, roads, or ocean
dee zee: we are still working on getting trains running to this staion...as it is one of the most remote in Groovyverse but Hy and another of our great builders {Sam} have incredible amounts of working track :)
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| The Monterey Station |
Many Safari goers will remember visiting Sam on Ariadne and also on Eday region, back in 2023 - two gorgeous builds.
Hyacinth Jean: Sam lays down most of the railroad, and he builds gorgeous little villages and scenes as he goes
dee zee: before you go we want to thank you again for visiting us, and we want to invite any of the builders who may have felt inspired to come back and talk to us. We also want to invite you back for our grids 5 year anniversary Put it on your calendar now.... June 23
Herbie Haven: if you want to see the golf coarse before you go,,, you are welcome to pop over there. its worth a look i think. The course is complete but the "game" itself is still a work in progress...
Taarna Welles: Thank you Dee, it was a great tour and much to see
James Atlloud: The gold course is HUUUUUGE.
Hyacinth Jean: you can see it from orbit. I don't even know when they build all this stuff. They are like magic elves
Herbie Haven: its a 9 hole course, the signs, if you click them explain the holes and game itself sort of works but its a work in progess before a group can play a full game. I could not find a decent golf game in OS, so I made the course and DZ is working on the game play itself
Forest Azure: we should play a safari game!
James Atlloud: yes - I'm usually mini-golf, but I'll give this a go!
Forest Azure: i warn you, though, i'm dangerous with balls
Forest Azure: ty, this was fun! nice shops too!
Dings Digital: fantastic place
James Atlloud: Excellent - thank you good groovyverse peeps!!
Herbie Haven: feel free to come back anytime :)
HG Address: groovyverse.com:8002:Monterey Bay
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