Gapers Block has ceased publication.
Gapers Block published from April 22, 2003 to Jan. 1, 2016. The site will remain up in archive form. Please visit Third Coast Review, a new site by several GB alumni.
✶ Thank you for your readership and contributions. ✶
TODAY
Friday, January 24
Merge
The sock monkey was invented in 1890 by John Nelson, owner of Nelson Knitting Mills in Rockford, IL (maker of the distinctive red-heeled socks used to make the dolls). To celebrate this indelible contribution to popular culture, the city of Rockford has crafted a seven-foot sock monkey named Nelson, who's travelling cross-country as an ambassador for Rockford. Godspeed, Nelson!
Elsewhere on Gapers Block Right Now:
A/C Arts & Culture
- Bye Bye, Gapers Block from the A/C Team
- At the MCA: Pop Art Design Gives Us a Refresher Course on the '60s and '70s
- Black Ensemble Theater's Dynamite Divas: See It for the Music Feature:
- Paul Goldberger Describes the "Pragmatism and Poetry" of Frank Gehry's Architecture in His New Book Steve at the Movies:
- Best Feature Films & Documentaries of 2015
Book Club Books
Drive-Thru Food
Mechanics Politics
- Where are the Peace Candidates?
- On Gapers Block and Chicago
- Recall: What Could Happen Next? Revenge of the Second City:
- Ventra's Parent Company: An International History of Fare Card Glitches Classroom Mechanics:
