# Grind City Meet

> Memphis's photographer community, celebrating 10 years of exploring the city. The site is "Grind City OS" — a macOS-style desktop where past walks live as apps: GCM26 (the 10-year anniversary photo walk of May 3, 2026) opens in a window, and Mane Street is the live community chat room.

The home page (/) is the desktop: menu bar, dock, desktop icons, windows. The archived GCM26 event site — real-time route map, five stops with photo tips, timeline, after-party details — is fully preserved at /gcm26 and also opens inside a desktop window. Built with Next.js 16, React-Leaflet, and Supabase realtime.

This file follows the [llms.txt](https://llmstxt.org/) convention so AI agents and LLM-powered search engines can quickly understand the site and surface accurate, well-structured answers about it.

## Site map

- [Grind City OS desktop](https://www.grindcity.org/): the home page — open GCM26, browse Past Events, chat on Mane Street
- [GCM26 archive](https://www.grindcity.org/gcm26): the 2026 event site, preserved as it ran on event day
- **Mane Street**: the chat room app on the desktop — live and ephemeral (messages are broadcast to whoever is in the room and never stored)

## Programs

- **Grind City Meet — 4-Week Photography Series** at the Cossitt Library, downtown Memphis: a four-part series covering the essentials and fundamentals of photography, from camera basics to photo editing. Sessions (second Thursdays): June 11, 2026 — Intro to Film Workshop · July 9, 2026 — Editing Basics · August 13 and September 10, 2026 — topics TBD. Thursdays 6:00–7:30 PM. Free; registration recommended: https://memphis.librarycalendar.com/event/grind-city-meet-4-week-photography-series-47439
- Upcoming classes appear on the desktop's calendar widget (clickable) and in the Reminders widget.

## GCM26 — the archived event (Sunday, May 3, 2026)

- **Name**: Grind City Meet 2026 — 10 Year Anniversary (GCM26)
- **Date**: Sunday, May 3, 2026 · 5:30–10:00 PM CDT
- **City**: Memphis, Tennessee, USA
- **Start / End venue**: Exchange Building, 123 S Court Ave, Memphis, TN 38103
- **Distance**: ~0.7 mile loop walk
- **Cost**: Free, open to the public
- **Organizer**: Grind City Meet (@grindcitymeet on Instagram)
- **Hashtag**: #grindcitymeet2026
- **Sunset on event date**: 7:51 PM CDT

### The walk · 5 stops

1. **Start — Exchange Building** · 123 S Court Ave · 5:30 PM · meet, sign waiver, kick-off
2. **Stop 1 — Sterick Building** · 8 N B.B. King Blvd · 6:00–7:00 PM · photo walk via Stereo (Bates) Alley, lobby access, 2nd-story balcony group photo at 6:15 PM
3. **Stop 2 — First Horizon Bank** · 165 Madison Ave (Maggie H. Isabell alleyway) · 7:00–7:20 PM · mid-century skyscraper façade
4. **Stop 3 — Charlie Vergos' Rendezvous Parking Garage** · 52 S 2nd St · 7:20–7:40 PM · west-facing rooftop sunset hangs
5. **After-party — Exchange Building** · 123 S Court Ave · 8:00–10:00 PM · DJ set (@patoxdj + @katieloopz), fire spinning (@grindcityflowarts), DIY screen printing (BYO blank shirt)

### Path

Court Avenue → Stereo (Bates) Alley → Madison Avenue → Maggie H. Isabell alleyway → November 6th alley back to the Exchange. All polylines are snapped to OSM-verified street and alley geometry.

## APIs (GCM26 event data)

- [Beacon endpoint](https://www.grindcity.org/api/beacon): JSON `{ beacon: { lat, lng, status, current_stop_id, note, updated_at } }`
- [Route polylines endpoint](https://www.grindcity.org/api/route): JSON `{ legs: [{ id, from_stop, to_stop, color, label, points: [[lat,lng], ...] }] }`
- [Stops endpoint](https://www.grindcity.org/api/stops): JSON `{ stops: [{ id, order, name, address, lat, lng, arrive_time, description, photo_tip, leg_color }] }`

## External links

- [Instagram — @grindcitymeet](https://www.instagram.com/grindcitymeet/): canonical community account and walk archive
- [Linktree — grindcitymeet](https://linktr.ee/grindcitymeet): consolidated link list
- [GitHub repository](https://github.com/sardoru/grind-city-meet-2026): source code (private, request access)

## Optional

- [Memphis tourism · Downtown Memphis Commission](https://downtownmemphis.com/): broader downtown context
- [Sterick Building Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterick_Building): venue background
- [Exchange Building Memphis Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exchange_Building_(Memphis,_Tennessee)): venue background