{{Short description|Defunct Chicago-centric web publication}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox company | name = Gapers Block | logo = Gapers Block.gif | logo_size = 200px | type = Privately held company | foundation = {{start date|2003}} | founder = Andrew Huff<br />Naz Hamid | location_city = Chicago | location_country = United States | key_people = Andrew Huff | services = Online magazine | num_employees = | homepage = [http://gapersblock.com/ gapersblock.com] }} '''Gapers Block''' (Gapers Block Media, LLC) was a Chicago-centric web publication focused on covering Chicago culture under the tag line: "''Slow down and check out Chicago''". The site, gapersblock.com, lists local events, aggregates other Chicago blogs and news of local interest and features many topical blogs: A/C (arts and culture), Drive-Thru (food related), Transmission (local music), Mechanics (state and local politics), Tailgate (sports coverage), and Book Club (book club and literary scene coverage).
==History== Conceived in 2003 by Andrew Huff and Naz Hamid, the stuck-in-traffic themed section names, such as Merge (blog, links aggregation), Slowdown (calendar event listings), and Rearview (noteworthy local photos), are inspired by the Chicago-coined term, "gapers' block", a synonym (with "gapers' delay") for rubbernecking. The site was the first city blog in Chicago and one of the earliest examples of the genre; Gothamist and the Metroblogging network were also founded in 2003.
The site was written by volunteers from various backgrounds and professions, with content organized into topical sections, including arts & culture, literature, food, music, politics, and sports.<ref>[http://gapersblock.com Gapers Block - Chicago news, reviews & commentary<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
In 2010, the cookbook ''The Everything Cast Iron Cookbook'' was published, based in large part on author Cinnamon Cooper's "One Good Meal" column<ref>{{cite web|title=One Good Meal archives|url=https://gapersblock.com/airbags/archives/one_good_meal/|work=Gapersblock.com|accessdate=10 December 2012}}</ref> on Gapers Block.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cooper|first=Cinnamon|title=The Everything Cast Iron Cookbook|year=2010|publisher=Adams Media|location=United States|isbn=978-1440502255|pages=304}}</ref>
In December 2015, editor and publisher Andrew Huff announced the site would be going on "indefinite hiatus" on January 1, 2016.<ref>{{cite web|title=A Letter from the Editor|url=https://gapersblock.com/goodbye/|work=Gapersblock.com|accessdate=21 December 2015}}</ref>
==Accreditations and awards== * It was named a "Forbes Favorite"<ref>[https://www.forbes.com/bow/b2c/review.jhtml?id=7859 "Gapers Block"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304034624/http://www.forbes.com/bow/b2c/review.jhtml?id=7859 |date=2016-03-04 }}, ''Forbes'', Web Site Reviews, accessed May 31, 2010.</ref> in Forbes.com's Best of the Web directory, in the category "Best City Blogs." * Web design site Typesites credits Gapers Block’s aesthetics, “well-crafted layout”<ref>[http://typesites.com/gapers-block/ gapers block | Typesites<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> and noteworthy typography. * Chicago Community Trust awarded Gapers Block $35,000 in an effort to boost new sources of local news and information and “increase the amount of neighborhood-based, original local coverage ... with priority given to stories about underserved communities and issues that affect them.”<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.knightfdn.org/news/press_room/knight_press_releases/detail.dot?id=353465 |title=The Chicago Community Trust Announces Community News Matters Award Recipients – Knight Foundation<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2010-01-28 |archive-date=2010-07-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100713133414/http://www.knightfdn.org/news/press_room/knight_press_releases/detail.dot?id=353465 |url-status=dead }}</ref> * The Chicago Sun-Times in 2009 named the Gapers Block Book Club the #2 best way to find romance in Chicago.<ref>https://www.suntimes.com/-1,romance-places-092509g.photogallery?index=2 {{dead link|date=January 2011}}</ref> * Gapers Block Editor and publisher Andrew Huff was listed in Crain’s Chicago Business’s “40 Under 40”<ref>[http://www.chicagobusiness.com/40under40-2009/index.html#introduction 40 Under 40: 2009 | Crain's Chicago Business<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> in 2009. * David Schalliol, Brian Ashby, Dave Nagel, Akemi Honga and Natalia Echeverry were the recipients of the Peter Lisagor Award for Best Use of Features Video<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://headlineclub.org/2014/05/03/congratulations-to-our-lisagor-winners-3/|title=Congratulations to our 2013 Lisagor winners!|date=3 May 2014}}</ref> for "[https://gapersblock.com/thegrid/2013/02/18/the-area/index.php The Area]" in 2014. Jason Prechtel was a finalist<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://headlineclub.org/2014/03/19/congrats-to-our-lisagor-finalists/|title = Congrats to our Lisagor Finalists!|date = 19 March 2014}}</ref> for the award for Best Individual Blog Post, Independent for “[https://gapersblock.com/mechanics/2013/11/11/ventras-parent-company-an-international-history-of-fare-card-glitches/ Ventra’s Parent Company: An International History of Fare Card Glitches]" the same year. * The site was named Best Local Blog in the Chicago Reader's "Best of Chicago" poll in 2013,<ref>[http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/best-local-blog/BestOf?oid=9962212 Chicago Reader - Best of Chicago 2013 - Best Local Blog] Accessed Sept. 5, 2013.</ref> 2014<ref>[http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/best-local-blog/BestOf?oid=13795502 Chicago Reader - Best of Chicago 2014 - Best Local Blog] Accessed June 25, 2014.</ref> and 2015<ref>[http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/blog/BestOf?oid=18030199 Chicago Reader - Best of Chicago 2015 - Best Local Blog] Accessed June 24, 2015.</ref>
==Notable contributors and alumni== * Danny Fenster, journalist * Anne Elizabeth Moore, freelance journalist, artist, and author * Nilay Patel, editor-in-chief of The Verge
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://www.gapersblock.com Gapers Block website]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gapers Block}} Category:Online magazines published in the United States Category:Magazines established in 2003 Category:Defunct magazines published in Chicago Category:Local interest magazines published in Chicago Category:Magazines disestablished in 2016