For myself and most of the world, the rumblings of the internet started about 25 years ago. At this time I had started The Chopping Block from a partner’s couch in a small NYC walk-up apartment crammed with three other roommates (not to mention each one of our random girlfriends at the time). 

This is the first web site I had ever uploaded for all the world to see. Not much to say about the design except to note that it is pretty terrible. It was a placeholder with a very intentional “raw materials” look to it. For several years, websites were made to look futuristic because… they were built in cyberspace, don’t you know?! This was very much a reaction to that trend, not a bevelled button to be clicked upon (how will people know to click?).

I am going to be looking back 25 years every once in a while and post what I was working on at that time and hopefully some interesting stories will follow. Remember, this is a time when an animated roll-over effect was considered high-tech and America Online was king. Also bear in mind that screen resolutions were 600×400 — which means you may need to squint to see anything.

That is me on the left. The right is co-founder Mike Essl. In the middle is Stephanie Reyer who was a partner in The Block for about a week or so. Interestingly Chopping Block closed in 15 years later and I married her.