SL Vintage fans?

Hello everyone.....
I run an 1940s dance club. Now I have purchased more land near it.
I am trying to get ideas of what people might want to see there also.
This is not a RP area, just a place to enjoy the era of the Big Bands.

I don't have a lot of prims left (350) but I do have a good amount of land.

I have a shopping area in the club so that is covered.

I have started out with a little 'lovers lane" on the new land with vintage cars and cuddle poses , but that is it so far.


Anyone have any suggestions?

GOT to have a soda shop.

Soda shop with old fashioned pinball machines, this is what a relative used to do every day after school...soda fountain and pinball.

I think the place had hamburgers, too.

How about a small, faux record store in the style of the era, where clicking some of the racks and displays will give notecards explaining the music of that time and maybe including links to CDs by the artists that can be bought from places like Amazon, as well as links to websites about the artists, and so forth? Just an option to find out more about the music and how to obtain it in RL.

Ooh! Yes that is a great idea as well.

People used to be allowed to take a 'vinyl' record album into a little room and play it. You can see this in films like "That Thing You Do" and "Pleasantville."

(Hm only drawback - people might want to hear the music, which isn't legal. Maybe patch the playing-rooms into 'vintage' radio stations.)

those are both good ideas.......thank you!

You might try this website http://www.best-otr.com/Best-OTRMusic.html for free music by the greats like Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong. The links are Quick Time so you might be able to use a media tuner to allow people to switch from one song to another, everyone watching the media will hear the same song.

Lois Armstrong....http://www.best-otr.com/mp3/Shadrack.mp3

How about featuring some 1940's pin-up girls posters? Have AVs dress up and take photos for the walls. Stuff like the army/navy recruiting posters for the war effort, that kind of thing?

This site - http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade40.html - seems to have some interesting factoids about the era, maybe something you can use there? You could maybe play up the whole rationing & victory gardens "culture" that arose during that time.

The 1940's is also when TV was launched, so maybe some screens showing early broadcasts? Isn't that type of footage now out of copyright and such?

Ooooo, and you could sell frozen TV dinners! And that same site says that's when the Slinky was invented - definite possibilities there. *grins*

I'll have to check out your place...I assume there's a link in your Picks? I'm not much of a clubber, but for Big Band stuff, I'll definitely make an exception. Good luck on your venture, it sounds lovely!

I think Madison's sim is the USO sim. It's very nice.

I just went and visited it, Clarissa - we'll definitely be going back.

It's funny, but I never thought to look for "big band" type clubs in SL (which I feel incredibly stupid about). I love the music... makes me very glad I popped onto the forums tonight so I could hear about Madison's club. Something new to explore in SL for me... hooray!

Oh there are other ones, too! But that one is the least laggy among those I've seen.

thank you! I dont' know that I can post links as that might count as spam, or in the wrong category at the very least. But, yes, it's in my profile picks

I think it's generally seen as alright as long as it's not the primary purpose for the thread and/or posted repeatedly the same day, etc.

Your shops are nice too. See, I did it for ya. LOL

(Worth publicising good SL places, though!)

Or provide out-of-copyright material from before 1923. There's a lot of out-of-copyright jazz and ragtime that would be fine for the '40s.

Edit: I'm pretty sure most of the material on that OTR site is NOT out of copyright, the Mickey Mouse date is some time in 1923 as I recall.

A little over 2 years ago there was a 1940's Big Band/Jazz club called The Paradise Ballroom. It became hugely popular with a large group list.

I think the popularity of the club was due to the owners setting the standard and hiring great people. There were managers (both male and female - part of their duties were to ask unescorted patrons to dance); bartenders and Cigar Girls like in the 1940's cantinas. (I was the original Cigar Girl at the club...a patron took the photo below.)

http://www.sluniverse.com/pics/pic.aspx?id=176982

There were vintage cars parked outside and across the street from the club was a small shop that stocked vintage clothing of the era from a variety of designers. It was the first place I saw a dressing room in SL.

There was a back patio with Japanese lanterns strung on poles for more private dancing. The landscaping was gorgeous. Eventually a boardwalk was added that had games, etc.

The owners were adamant about not having any "gimmicks" such as sploders, lucky chairs, camping, etc. and, as stated, it was one of the most popular clubs of that time for those who enjoy the era.

Unfortunately the club closed (due to personal reasons, not financial) and since then I have sought something like it and have found nothing. I ran into someone I hadn't seen in two years last week and the first thing he said was "I really miss The Paradise Ballroom...I can't find another club like it."

Perhaps your's will be it. Good luck with it.

wow! that looks like a great club!
ours is more humble looking as it is modeled after the USOs of World War ll.
but I agree about sploders, lucky chairs etc....I dont' allow any of that.
I don't even do contests, which may leave me with less patrons...but,
the ones that come time after time are very lovely people.
it is always a very friendly crowd.
there is hardly ever a person there not dancing with someone.
it's just kind of a standard now, people ask each other to dance.
it's social dancing, it doesn't mean anything more than that, as it does in modern times.

I *so* wish you were in Bay City.

Slurl please!!! I would so love to see this!!! (Still pining for the old phat cats- today's is a pale reflection )

Czari - Bogart's.

No way. I haven't been to Bogart's in ages, but there's no way it could hold a candle to the Paradise Ballroom. The build, maybe, but not the same feeling at all.

I think it was a combination of personalities, rather than the particular era or the build, that made the Paradise such a great place. I've never found another club quite like it.

I think I prowled around the USO sim - a USO build, anyway - ages ago. I'll have to try to make it there during an event.

(And I found a photo with me in it, right next to the one Czari posted... I'm the blonde with a rose between my teeth, holding an umbrella. gotta love the full-bright hair...)

pulls out her trunk of vintage clothing and hair and shoes!

yes!!

Paradise was 'before my time' in SL. I just thought she might enjoy Bogart's also. It's laggy as can be, though.