Casa Loma-A City in Death Valley

[spacenuteskimo 0]

    Welcome to my third City Journal, Casa Loma.  My first CJ was lost due to building problems and my second to a big, bad virus, I am fully ready to start and keep my third!  Anyway, here's the story:

 

    The city is just northwest of the Grand Canyon in northwestern Arizona, and is now its own country.

 

    The city started when a rail line was built to connect the cities of Phoenix and Salt Lake City.

 

 

    To the rail builders request, a station was built near an oasis where the workers could have a well deserved drink.  By the time this picture was taken, the oasis was gone but the name stuck...

 

 

    The city, when registered, was named Oasis City, and a highway was built from the I-15 to the site to accomadate new-comers, not just the rail workers.

 

 

    The town soon got much bigger and was called the area of Parkview.

 

 

 

    An example of the suburban feel in Parkview, Oasis City, Casa Loma (whew!).

 

 

    The city planners soon realized that they needed some kind of comercial area.  So, in the spring of 1981, they built the Venture Commercial Park.

 

 

    The main part of Oasis City soon 'bought out' Venture, and used it as their downtown.

 

 

    Somehow, there was so much demand that the city approved building high-rises in the Southwest Downtown Area, otherwhise known as the Bluetile District.

   

 

    Since the city was part of the seperate country and an unlimited budget from the discovery of oil in the southeast, it built a federal area similar to that of Washington D.C.

 

 

    Back to the Downtown, which was building extremely quickly.

 

 

    Another view from the Bluetile District.

 

 

    The new Mayor Park, where the mayor and important guests, reside. 

 

 

    A final view of Oasis City.

 

 

    And the city newspaper of Oasis City, on one of its first days of production.

 

 

    Well, what do you think?  The updates might come a bit slower because I click historical on every building to stop my crazy population changes and to stop the housing changes.

 

    Cheers!

 

    Matthew

[sloppet 3]

very original region... the closer pics of the new buildings are nice! Keep it up!

[mayormommy 8]

Nice start - you did a good job showing the early evolution of the city. And it's becoming more attractive as it grows, which is not always the case with my cities.

[Fabiocb 1]

really nice start, I like it a lot so far.

keep on the good work

 

[GreekMan 246]

very nice city. I request a region pic.

[Sisu 1]

Great work. The city is like an oasis in the middle of desert.

[mtbrocket 2]

Good start. I will be watching for more. The solar power in the desert is so fitting.

-Dan

[moomoocow 0]

keep it up

[profecy 2]

hey u had me goin there for a sec, when i seen Casa Loma i nearly flipped,(wit excitment of course) i thought it was Casa Loma, the castle in Toronto, but nice city by way

[dgrid 0]

One thing I want to know... how did Casa Loma defend itself from the U.S. after secession?

 

[zeke12 49]

The suburbs really remind me of Las Vegas, quite nice. The desert surroundings bring out the town nicely.

[storms991 0]

really good, spacenuteskimo, although don't you think that it's going a bit fast? I mean one sec its a desert in america and then its a vibrant city with a large downtown and many skyscrapers?
Really beautiful, I like the Oil idea, funny

[tracer1138 1]

Were cool as long as you don't start suggesting that we divert water from the great lakes when you start having water shortages .

-But we need more water!!! the chemicals aren't keeping the grass green anymore

-Well, um... you do live in a desert...

[Mikeaut1 261]

Wow, nice start to this city journal. The only thing I would advise is the trees covering the highway, they grow through it in your pictures. Just be careful on that, because I've experimented and things blocking the highway could cause a problem in transportation on it.

Great work with this city journal, I like desert city journals because you can actually see exactly all the development regionwide since its a different color than the ground itself. Usually the ground is green and it blends into the rest of the region development. Awesome work! Keep it up!!

[Scaley McSlither 1,714]

Date: 1/25/2006 5:03:59 PM
Author: dgrid

One thing I want to know... how did Casa Loma defend itself from the U.S. after secession?

quote>
I think it didn't actually belong to the U.S. Seems to me that it's a similar situation to Petoria (named that way because Peterland was already taken). See? Family Guy has all the answers to life's burning questions.

Great start to your C.J. I look forward to more updates!

[GMT 389]

apart from trees growing through the highway, its some cool work your doing here.

keep it up. i think this could get some cool cj!

[spacenuteskimo 0]

    Update 2: It's Getting Even Bigger!

    Welcome to my second update.  By the way, sorry for the wait.  Anyway, I hope to answer a few question with this.  So, we'll go back in time to February 13, 1945.

 

    A civilian pilot flying from Salt Lake City to Tucson saw this airplane just northwest of the Grand Canyon.  He took a quick small picture of it.  Color added for effect.

 

 

    The pilot noticed that the plane dropped some sort of purple package from the fuselage.  Once hitting the ground, it exploded on contact.  Three railworkers were killed in the explosion.  There is a newspaper at the bottom explaining more.  Color, once again added for effect because there weren't any color cameras in the 40's.

 

 

    Eventually, the plane's base, Edward's Air Force Base tried to cover up the unexpected radiation from the bomb and built a big mesa on top of the crash site.

 

 

    Well, I hope that answers your questions on the history!  So now, here are some pictures from all around Oasis City.

 

    Here is the grounds for the Casa Loma Federal Building!  It is surrounded by high priced offices and a tourist attraction known as The Politician's Dairy Queen.

 

 

    There, a less blurry picture!  Here is Hall Park, a park very close to downtown.  It is probably the biggest park in all  of Oasis City.

 

 

    A typical downtown area in Oasis City.  I think I'm getting tired of all those Blue Patter Limited buildings!

 

 

    Another view of Hall Park, but this time staring over the city's tallest 'scrapers.

 

 

    Oasis City is ahead of its time...  Here is the airport and the space port.  If needed Casa Loma's shuttle can dock with the International Space Station, and it has, twice.

 

 

    The Politician's Dairy Queen, where one can almost always see someone important buying a Blizzard or a burger.

 

 

    In Oasis City, there a re no waits for trains.  At all rail-road intersections, the rail goes up and saves commuters valuble time to pour into downtown.  Also in this picture is the old train station that started it all...

 

 

    A part of Parkview. 

 

 

    Here is a view of the whole city.  There really wouldn't be much more to see if I put on a region view since this is the only city so far, but I am starting to work on a city in the northwest.

 

 

    And the same picture, but this one shows the division of districts within the city.

 

 

    And, as promised, here is the newspaper.

 

 

 

    And a very small preview of what I'm working on...

 

 

 

Replies:

 

    Greekman: Well, I have the closest to a region picture up there.  And, there really wouldn't be much to see from up there.  But, as the region gets bigger, there will be many more region pictures.

    Profecy: Sorry for the confusion there!  But, the name Casa Loma was what I was looking for...  it sounds kind of Spanish doesn't it?

    Dgrid: Well, the American government gave the land up rather willingly because they thought it wouldn't amount to much and that there was a bunch of radiation contamination in the area.  The first generation of Casa Loma citizens cleaned it up.

    Storms991: The city has a revolutionary water piping system, whihc I forgot to put on the site this time...  When it's really dry, it pumps water up into the air where it falls like rain.  Expensive, yes, but Casa Loma is getting all that money from oil!

    Mikeaut1: Yes, that's one of my aggrevations with the game, but I'm too lazy to go back and rebuild the highways.  And so far I haven't noticed any traffic problems.

    Mike_oxlong:

   

    And to everyone else thanks for following Casa Loma!  Stay tuned...

 

    Matthew

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Fabiocb 1]

nice update, and wow, the city grew a lot.

[Equilibria 16]

I like the work you've done here, but I would agree with Mikeaut's earlier comment on god mode trees not because of transportation (which you have responded to), but because they take away from the otherwise admirable realism of this CJ. I've fought with this for a long time, and I've found that the problem can be helped by adjusting the plop range size with the shift key and numbers when placing trees. Otherwise, I like this a lot, and to be honest, American desert cities do actually seem to grow this way. Nice work.

[Chicagolife 0]

WOW like the way that city started small town and grew big like that how did u do that '); height=15 alt=Insert smilie src=https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/images/smilies/6.gif width=15 border=0>.. cant wait to see more updates iam keeping my eye on this for sure.. GOOD LUCK

[spacenuteskimo 0]

    Update 3: New and Improved (or at least new...)!

    Here's a new entry for my Casa Loma City Journal.  In this update, you'll see the French Quarter and some other stuff...

    As promised, here's how my city gets watered...  This nifty thing has a giant reserve of water and during dry spells, in can blanket around 85% of Oasis City with a soft cool mist.  It's expensive, but Oasis City is getting black oil money ().  This picture was taken in a wet week, so the water does not go up very high.

 

 

    And, here's the full version of what I had a sneak preview of last time!  Oasis City's French Quarter.  In Oasis City's original population of 127 people, 41 of them were French.  Today, 9,573 people in the city are French, so they pushed a bill through letting them build an area for themselves (on their expense)!

 

 

    Here's another picture from the French Quarter.

 

 

    And another...

 

 

    This is the enormous Oasis City Radio Tower, which sends TV and radio waves all around the country and the states of Arizona and Nevada.  It is just west of the Casa Loma Federal Building grounds.

 

 

    Bakersfield

 

    Here is the first suburb of Oasis City: Bakersfield, a neat small town just west of Oasis City.

 

 

    Here is the Bakersfield Train Station.  It might look like it, but it is NOT a solar power plant!

 

 

    This is the final city of Bakersfield, with a population of 2,995.  You'll notice that there's no development on the left, but I tried to make it look a bit like how a city with suburbs should end.

 

 

    Odessa

 

    This is the county of Odessa, west of Bakersfield.  There is a town in it called Odessa, but that is the way that the counties will probably be named:  by the largest village, town or city in it.  Anyway, here is downtown Odessa.

 

 

 

    And another picture of Odessa, but this time at night, and zoomed out a bit.

 

 

    The county jail in Odessa, a few hundred feet away from the border.

 

   

    But, if there's an escape, they will be caught by the Border Crossing Police.

 

 

    The final county of Odessa, with less than 1,00 people.  Quite a switch from Oasis City!

 

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    And, finally a full region view of Oasis City, Bakersfield and Odessa.

 

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    And here's the newspaper from Oasis City.

 

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   Fabiocb: It is really growing fast!  I did a quick regionwide check, and here as the up-to-the-second stats:

 

                    Oasis City                    Bakersfield                    Odessa

Residential:     67,586                           2,995                           414

Commercial:    64,977                           1,383                           335

Industrial:         537                              446                              0

 

Total: Residential: 70,995  Commercial: 66,695  Industrial: 983

 

   Equilibria: Well, I thought for a while, and in the end, I decided to take all the trees out by demolishing the highways and then putting them back in.  It looks a lot better now.  Thanks for the help from you and Mikeaut1!

 

Chicagolife: Great!  Thanks for your support!

 

And to everyone, thanks for following!  Tell me what you think!

 

    Matthew

[spacenuteskimo 0]

    Update 4: Short but Sweet

    Here's my fourth update.  It's not as big as the other ones, but this update some the progress of some of Oasis City's suburbs, as well the country's oil producer.

    Oak Lawn

    This is Oak Lawn, Casa Loma's major oil refinery.  First, workers come to this giant parking lot on the east side of town.

 

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    Here is a picture of the refinery.  It takes up most of the city!

 

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    This is the pipeline that carries the large amount of oil from the site to the city.  There must be roads on both sides so that emergency workers can get to the pipe quickly if there is a leak...

 

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    This is the large centre 'forest' between the two neighbourhoods in Oak Lawn.

 

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    The final city of Oak Lawn, with all its smokestacks!

 

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    Lyletown

 

    This is the original street system of the town, or the Coathanger as it was known by the Oasis City press due to its shape.

 

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    This is the town centre in Lyletown.  The tallest building is the Lyletown Hotel.  It is 8 floors high!

 

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    This is the home of Joel Hugo, the operator of the Lyletown Power Plant.  There are rumors that because he is so busy, he hasn't slept for 20 years!

 

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    This is the final town of Lyletown.  The border crossing for Highway 1 is on the right.

 

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    And that's all!  Tell me what you think!

 

    Matthew

[spacenuteskimo 0]

    Update 5

    Here's part five of my city.  In this one, you'll see some more city pics.  And, I'm not really sure what's happening with those new pictures up there.  Anyway, here goes!

    Zed Village

Yes, the name is a bit weird.  The story goes that a guy named Zed was lost in the desert when he same to an oasis.  He rushed to build a shelter and lived there until he died, in 1976.  His hut was demolished in 1985 to make room for new buildings, as you can see below...

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    This is the Zed Village Soccer Grounds, where one can enjoy a day playing soccer, where the little Sims play with their little model airplanes...  The hut in the middle is a rainy day shelter.

 

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    Zed Village also happens to be home of a rail proving grounds.  This is where the trains come down the track at top speed to see how fast they go.  If they're going too fast, they can go down one of the four slowing down tracks.  The best one is the one on the left.

 

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    Here's a new neighbourhood south of Zed Village downtown.

 

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    This is Oasis City, now, and this is its CBD!  Notice the firworks on the right!

 

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     This is Brinks Stadium, the largest such building in all of Casa Loma.  It can ost everything from the Olympics to the Oasis City Annual Antique Show and Sale!

 

https://www.simtropolis.com/idealbb/files//60.jpg align=baseline>

 

    Okay, time for a bigger picture.  This one shows the limits for all the neighbourhoods in Oasis City, as well as my interpretation of the skyline, on the top right.

 

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    And now back to a smaller picture.  This is a region pic of Casa Loma.

 

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    And finally, the Casa Loma Times, dated October 2nd, 1987.

 

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    The End!

 

    Matthew

[mayormommy 8]

Nice update. I'd like to see a little more medium density development in Oasis City like you have in the French Quarter. But you're doing a great job growing this city.

[spacenuteskimo 0]

    Update 6: Oil

    Not the longest title, but...  Well, I've been away from the computer for a while and only now have I grown my region enough to make an update, so here it is!

    Dingham

    This has nothing to do with oil, but here's the suburb of Dingham, a rather large and unique city east of Oasis City.  This is its downtown area.  The tallest building is the Odam Tower, a 15 floor apartment high rise on the top right.  The white building is the county hospital...

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    This is the richest part of Dingham, where the treed parks and multi-million dollar mansions abound!

 

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Oak Lawn

 

    And remember this picture?  Ever wondered where all the oil comes from?  Well, my friend, scroll down and see!

 

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 Plymouth

 

    This is where almost all of the oil comes from!  The two tallest structures are oil drillers which can drill down over three miles with current technology.  The smokestacks give off steam from the simple refining done here, leaving the more complex parts to the folks up in Oak Lawn.

 

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    And you might be wondering why there can be farms in such a hot place...  Well, an amazing smart scientist, Martin Oclur, who had designed an irrigation canal in North Miami, thought this area could use his services.  He was right, and now the area is a large exporter of fruit and grains.  The canal's main headquarters is the water pump in Oasis City.

 

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    This is the county of Plymouth today, with all the drillers, pumps and farms.

 

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    And this is a region shot of Casa Loma!

 

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Comments:

 

Mayormommy: You're exactly right!  This is what I'm planning at the moment, to have a bit of medium density out of downtown.  What I kind of wanted it to look like is that Oasis City has a population spike, builds the high-rises, and then the demands falls and the economy can only handle smaller apartment buildings.  Thanks for the comment!

 

    As mentioned, next update will have a bit more of Oasis City!  Enjoy!

 

    Matthew

[Alkaola 18]

to be honest :

 

I REALLY like this CJ.... the city is just beautiful and so are the suburbs

 

but like i said if i have to be honest; i totally dislike the ' desert' texture, i think it's unrealistic and boring ..... but that's just my opinion.  Teirusu made an amazing desert mod few years ago, you really have to try that one..

 

just an advise you know

[Fabiocb 1]

really nice update, the city is becoming very green and your roads layouts are quite good.

 

Keep on the good work.

 

[seemurray2 21]

Nice looking suburbs and downtown!  And I really like that park/plaza between the highway and avenue!

[spacenuteskimo 0]

   Update 7: After a While, It is Back!

Well,

[Yoshi25 0]

WOW! Im spechless!