Come to the Cabaret! ... 1920's Berlin

Jo Yardley, founder of the 1920s Berlin Project sim, beckons SL residents to "Come to the Cabaret"  and venture back in time by experiencing her authentic representation of Berlin, Germany during the 1920s and early 1930s, the Weimer period.

Yardley loves the music, art and movies of that time period and recognizes that Berlin was widely considered the center of the cultural world as well at that time.

With great care and dedication, she has painstakingly recreated not just the look of Berlin in terms of buildings, streets and winding alley ways, but the feel as well so visitors can immerse themselves in this journey back in time.

This is why she does require visitors to dress in the style of the 1920s and early 1930s. When you arrive in Berlin, appropriate outfits are available free of charge at the landing point. However, nearby are the Sonatta Morales Store for exquisite women's period fashions , The Swank Brothers Shop for the most dapper of the men's apparel  of that era and the Old Time Prims shop for domestic and casual wear. Once you are attired properly, you are free to explore the many interesting and entertaining venues that are provided.

Visitors can dine on traditional German fare at the Zum Nuzbaum Hotel/Restaurant on the town square.  They can take in German movies and newsreels of the era at the Asta Cinema, attend a performance at the Odeon Theatre, or peruse the shelves of books in the Buchandlung Baal bookstore making sure not to miss finding the naughty selection hidden from plain view.

Strolling further through the twists and turns of the alley ways lined with brick walls adorned with a variety of aging posters, past the Hof Apartment Building, you venture into the bohemian side of town.  Here you encounter a lady of the evening waiting patiently for a willing gentleman to approach and beyond a stairway down to a lower level of the alley where you find the Der Keller Night Club off the beaten track.

Inside the cabaret, the friendly banter among the merry crowd is interrupted periodically with cheers and applause as entertainers help to enhance the enjoyment of the patrons. Some gentlemen and their flapper sweethearts take to the dance floor to cut the rug to original 1920s German music while dancing the classic dances of the day like the Charleston.

A regular at the Der Keller Cabaret, Sonata Morales, is SL's premier designer of stunning women's vintage fashions of the 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s. Her designs are so perfectly created that you immediately feel like you're taken back to those eras of elegance, glamour and sophistication.

Her 1920s Weimar Collection was inspired by the 1920s Berlin sim where flirty flappers party the night away at the back street Der Keller cabaret. Morales has captured that feel of a frivolous culture focused on fun, daring and walking on the wild side.

Morales talked about how her Weimar Collection came to be, "Jo (Yardley) is a visionary and, like me, she loves the past. Her idea of creating old Berlin was so exciting; I wanted to be part of it somehow.  I love the timeframe in history not only the fashions but the zeitgeist, the hedonism and the whole revolutionary thinking that took arts and culture by storm.

"This was enough to inspire me, and I developed a whole 1920s Berlin in my mind, the cabarets, theatres, fancy hotels and trendy places to be seen. The name of each dress evokes something meaningful at that time and place. Berlin ueber alles!"

When Yardley joined SL, she first explored looking for something nostalgic and discovered some historical sims.  This is when her dream began.  Of her passion for nostalgia, she says, "I am fascinated with early 20th century Europe, but also realized that if I wanted to start something myself, it would have to attract other people as well.  I immediately got the idea for an l920s Berlin themed sim.  To me this era is one of the most fascinating, especially in that city.  Culturally, so much happened."

What's important to Yardley is the educational ideal the sim exemplifies.  Being a full time historical consultant/researcher in First Life she explains, "Most of the knowledge was already in my head and computer." Although she did do some extra research to create the detail of the Zum Nuzbaum Hotel in the town square.

Of the hotel she recalls, "When looking for a name to call the hotel, I discovered a lovely guesthouse that still exists in Berlin and decided to research it more so I could copy the way it looked as well as its name."  Yardley talked about the authentic textures used when she said, "Most of the textures I used were already in my computer. I have been gathering and collecting historical images and textures for ages." However, in situations where she wanted a specific atmosphere, she added, "I really had no choice but to make a lot of them myself."

Yardley describes her inspiration for the Hof (courtyard) on the ground floor of the apartment building, "When I visited 'Hofs' in Berlin, I loved them.  Little places where people lived close to each other. I recreated a Hof for my tenants, four small apartments around a little court where they would share a toilet and water pump. This is how people lived in Berlin!"

Looking forward, Yardley would like to expand Berlin since she has lots of ideas including adding a section that is more up class with wide lanes and trees.

Yardley wants the SL community to know that Berlin is, "A historical experience...We are not really another role-play sim or a huge shopping mall with just a semi-historical theme."  She invites SL residents to "come spend an evening here and don't leave until you've seen it all. It is so easy to get lost in the narrow back-streets."

More information can be found at http://www.1920sblerin.com. Also, be sure to check out their youtube at http://www.youtube.com/user/1920sberlinproject and flickr at http://www.flickr.com/groups/20sberlin/.

To visit the sim, teleport to http://slurl.com/secondlife/Dudintsev/122/61/501