Mariko Nightfire: A Virtual Life: Goodbye Hallelujah

Monday, September 13, 2010

Goodbye Hallelujah

The sun sets on Hallelujah Azul

Hallelujah Azul is gone. This community had been an important part of my second life. I was introduced to the sim over two years ago, and it has been my home for the past year. And here, I made friends and enjoyed a convivial and comfortable social life. The end came slowly. Ultimately, it was the economy and the high cost of sim ownership that brought the community to a close. I have great respect and admiration for owners of virtual communities and the owners of Hallelujah in particular - PT Beardmore, Owly Indigo, and Gwendolyn Bieler - as they bear a significant out-of-pocket cost to create something truly special. Certainly, I am feeling sad. But I have such warm memories. So, rather than dwelling on the sadness, I want to celebrate here a wonderful community that enjoyed a long and magnificent run.

Click on the pictures to enlarge them for better viewing.

Hallelujah Places

Hallelujah had small town charm and plenty of character. We had a retail district of shops, apartments, and art galleries that ran along a water front and formed a picturesque Town Square in the interior of the district. I loved the beautiful Garden District where I lived in one of the district's townhouses. On the outlying areas were island parcels where residents could build homes to their preferences. Add the people and it all came together to form a wonderful community.

Hallelujah Town Square

Retail District Water Front

Hallelujah Town Square Performance Stage

Gwen, the last owner of Hallelujah, had a shop on the Town Square

Lulubelle Muircastle and Scylla Rhiadra brought their Shakespeare's Sister to Hallelujah. Shakespeare's Sister is a bookshop specializing in the works of women writers.

Shakespeare's Sister in the Town Square

The Garden District

A Gathering of Friends in the Garden District

Townhouses of the Garden District

My Townhouse

The interior of my townhouse.

Townhouses of the Garden District

The Townhouses at night.

Residences on the outer islands.

Hallelujah Boathouse

The Jittery Junco Coffee Shop

Bumble Cafe

Interior of the Bumble

Most of the socializing at Bumble was outside on the back deck.

Happenings in Hallelujah

January 8, 2009 - Before I was a resident, I would come to Hallelujah for the weekly Tub Talk. Tub Talk was a ladies only event that was hosted, on a rotating basis, by one of the residents. We would gather in a hot tub and engage in lively girl talk. Later, Tub Talk was opened to the guys.

October 2008 - Tub Talk wasn't only talk. There was an infamous Tub Talk where 8 bikini clad babes in cowboy hats (including yours truly) piled on and rode a poor rubber ducky. The incident is known as the 'Cowboy Hat Duck Ride Orgy'. The duck loved it.

February 20, 2009 - Shakespeare's Sister opens in Hallelujah.

February 20, 2009 - Friends gather at Shakespeare's Sister to congratulate Lulu and Scylla on the relocation to Hallelujah.

June 12, 2009 - I become a resident of Hallelujah and move into my townhouse.

June 20, 2009 - Grand Opening Party for the Jittery Junco Coffee Shop. The square in front of the coffee house was filled with friends. Everyone was glammed up and looked fantastic. The girls put on a veritable fashion show. We all danced until early morning.

July 21, 2009 - The first appearance of Nine Warrhol at Hallelujah.

He is sitting on the floor at the lower right

October 9, 2009 - Kasbah comes to Hallelujah and holds a truly memorable grand opening with live performances throughout the day. The crowd grew and grew and reached epic numbers. And I never before experienced such stupefying lag as on that day. But, the club was a welcomed addition to the community, in my opinion.

October 23, 2009 - Sylar Morrisey gave the first live performance

at the Town Square Stage.

November 14-30, 2009 - Hallelujah Azul Art Walk. A wonderful event that brought the work of 15 artists from across the grid and the world to Hallelujah.

March 7, 2010 - It was Academy Awards night at Hallelujah, and the community and its guests celebrated in a grand style.

April 24, 2010 - The Bumble Cafe replaces Jittery Junco and becomes

the new social center at Hallelujah.

People of Hallelujah

I would like to end this homage to Hallelujah with pictures of some of the delightful and dear people of the community. This is my no means a complete gallery of people. I do have a large gallery of Hallelujah people in an earlier post called 'Jittery Junco Coffee Shop - The People'. A link to the post can be found below.

Gwendolyn Bieler

PT Beardmore

Owly Indigo

Shyla Bookmark and Janelle Darkstone

Nine Warrhol, PT Beardmore, and Ariel Wingtips

AngieBabe Perl

Lulubelle Muircastle

Scylla Rhiadra

Jaysun Dagger

Rocko Olifone and Tricia Frischein

Leesa Donner

Dagmar Heideman

Geesus Lisa

Lafite Abeyante

Michael Langway

Sasha Bazilinski

Howard Niosaki

Soy Source

Me with Syd Straaf and Stig Tiratzo

Scarletoke Susanowa

Samantha Kazakov

Johnny Firehawk

Me and my sister Victoria

A Special Thanks to Frey Brevin for bringing me to Hallelujah.

1 comment:

Scylla RhiadraSeptember 13, 2010 at 5:07 PM
Thank you for this post, Mariko; it's lovely to have Halle documented for posterity in this way. Hallelujah was becoming home for me even before Mill Pond closed, and before Lulu and I opened Shakespeare's Sister there: I was enormously impressed by the sense of community there and it was, on the whole, a great deal more drama-free than Mill Pond had ever been. I have some absolutely wonderful memories of the place -- moments at the bookstore, or skating on the rink and peppering people with snowballs, chatting at Minor Fall, then at the Junco. And I met some terrific people with whom I hope to keep in touch.

It's a bit rough to feel that one has lost one's home twice, as has happened now. Such is SL, I guess. But at least the people remain.
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