Roadside Attractions: The Diners of Second Life, Part 2

By DrFran Babcock

Hello again, dear readers. I am glad you are back to take a trip with me to those symbols of the American way of life—the diner. The United States of America was the first country to become automobile-centered, so people on long trips would look for places along the road to stop and get cheap and plentiful eats. Here are a few more places you can try:

Sharon's Diner: According to owner, Sharon Scofield, her diner has been around since 2006. The special of the day, and every day is trivia. Folks come every weekday at 9:00 am SL, to participate in trivia games with money prizes. I stopped in one day and there was a spirited crowd, yelling out answers to the Gogomedia trivia challenges. The crowd was dancing outside the diner, and Sharon was happily interacting with the residents. This seems like a fine way to spend what would be lunch hour for me. Are you good at trivia? This might be a necessary stop for you. If you need food items there are free ones in the diner. If not, you can just come and listen to the Oldies on the music stream, dance, eat calorie-free food, and socialize.

Sharon’s Diner is located at: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Doldari/113/120/3001 and was built by Rocky Sassoon, an oldbie with a great reputation

The Bealiner Diner : The few times I have been to the Bealiner, it was vacant. I thought to pass on writing about it, until I did some reporter investigations. It seems that this little piece of Americana has some real history to it. The diner is located off the main road of the Montara sim, on the old original mainland continent of Sansara, very close to my favorite SL Bridge, that links Montara and Hooper. In order to get to the diner you have to climb up a very steep drive. What makes it a part of Second Life History is some of the people involved in its creation: Beabear Rebus (2004) and Fleabite Beach (2003 Charter Member!), who is famous to us historians for her role in the Second Life Tax Revolt of August and September 2003. (http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2003/09/tax_revolt_in_a.html )

The magenta and pink décor are pure Art Deco, and the owners really aim to please. According to the Beabear’s profile, the goal of the Bealiner is: To provide Rural SL's finest deep fried cuisine and the muddiest cuppa joe in town.

It seems that there used to be more activities at this venue. A notecard I was given speaks of “Beaball” and shooting hoops, but I walked around the whole place in vain searching for a playing court. The notecard speaks of a Bea’s Chines, which doesn’t seem to be in existence any more, but I am glad this diner remains. I think most beta members of Second Life were not aware of the history they were making, and did not take pains to preserve their early prims. The Bealiner seems to be one of landmarks of the early days. Here are the credits for the place, according to the notecard: LINE COOKS: Beabear Rebus, Lleah Lupis, Fleabite Beach. IRONCHEF COOKS/FRY COOKS: Jai Nomad, Zenny Rhodes, Bosozoku Kato.  STUNT SCRIPTER: Garth Fairlight.

 There are some freebie textures, but most of the items in the store are 1 Linden. I couldn’t resist scooping up a basket of deep-fried prims before I left.

The Bealiner Diner is located at: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Montara/163/74/47 , and was built by Beabear Rebus.

Psy City Diner: The meshy goodness of this diner is planted on a sim that is billed as the place where music comes alive. If you have never been to Psy City, you need to teleport there and take a stroll around this detailed urban build. The textures and attention to detail distracted me from writing about the diner. I just couldn’t stop walking and gawking. All that trekking made me hungry, so I headed over to The 69^th Street Diner, aka Psy City Diner. The diner is built in the old deco, red and chrome style, and sports textures that have that real-life worn quality poularized by Arcadia Asylum many years ago. Inside, there are dishes in the sink, and mud on the floor, but the curvy baked in design of the booths and counter are worth a teleport from anywhere.

Things to do: There is a jukebox which allows you to choose a genre of music to play, dance balls, and, er, um, even some balls that say "Love" above them. There are not many freebies. In fact, the only thing I found was a bottle of Coke from the dispenser, but I encourage you to come take a look at the sim.

The co-owner Felizitas Barbosa/Louise Françoise de Dampierre wanted me to let you know that the sim is celebrating its five-year anniversary in 2013. I expect there will be festivities, and I will let you know about them surely.

The Psy City Diner is located at: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Altha/137/65/38
And was built by Rica Broome, who no longer seems to be inworld.

Club Enchanted Diner: Similar to the 69^th Street Diner, The Club Enchanted Diner is part of a larger sim build. Across from the red and chrome structure is a huge ocean liner: The MS Enchanted. Unlike the other places, it is a doublewide that allows a lot of room for dancing. There is a large dance floor in the center of the structure, and lots of animations for couples and singles. There is even a set of line-dancing poses on the dance floor. Fun! This is clearly a venue for DJs, music and dancing, although it was empty when I visited. There are DJs and contests on Thursday and Friday nights, playing Oldies from the 50s to the 70s. A full menu behind the counter offers a large assortment of freebie food and drinks.

Directly in front of the diner you can hop on a horse-drawn carriage that will take you on a cruise through the sim, which, at this moment, is covered in snow and is exquisitely appointed. I didn’t go into the cruise ship, but will save that for the future.

The Club Enchanted Diner is located at: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Enchanted%20Seaport/125/141/24 and was built by the owner Arlene Bronet Claven.

So, that’s the roundup for this week. If you are looking for something to do, maybe a trip to a diner is just the thing. Folks often say there is nothing to do in Second Life, but a little searching and the world opens up. Sit down, have a cup of java, listen to some tunes, play trivia, and before you know it you will be smiling.

Next week I will cover a diner that’s been in the news a few times, but really deserves more attention.

DrFran Babcock