We programmed and programmed. We designed and designed. We drank gallons and gallons of coffee. We even found time to move a piano. So once the final piece of code was in place and congratulatory high-fives were given out, it was time to step away from the computer because the moment had finally arrived; it was time to celebrate.

And thanks to the good people at Moxie, we celebrated the nationwide launch of Indylist in style. It was great to hang out with all our friends and family as well as meet some of the faces behind some fantastic local Chicago businesses. Thank you so much to everyone who came out. You all made our launch night truly memorable.

So now that the party is over and the last ounce of beer has been guzzled (I’m sure the last late night burrito has been polished off too), we are excited to begin this new era for Indylist. We look forward to seeing you in your own hometown. Let’s meet up for coffee.

Well hello, we’re Indylist!

Indylist is a website that makes it easy to support local businesses by helping you find the most unique places in your neighborhood.

We’re having a great time discovering Chicago and are now ready to explore other cities! Join our celebration where there will be complimentary drinks, delicious appetizers, booty shaking, and sweet prizes.

Bring your friends and make new ones!

Friday, July 31st 2009 @ 9pm
Moxie, 3517 N Clark St

On Saturday, Reverend Aitor from The Misantrope Specialty Co. will be at Uncle Fun, making unflattering portraits by appointment. The portraits are quite cool, and take about 45 minutes to complete. If you’re interested, be sure to post in the comments on his site to reserve a spot!

Then on Sunday, Becky Johnson from Toronto’s Sweetie Pie Press will be in the same window, hand making buttons from security envelopes and perhaps other materials. She’s done quite a lot with these seemingly simple envelopes. For more info, check out her site.

Uncle Fun is really cool place, so stopping by is a great idea! Have fun out there this weekend.

Hey Everyone! We’ve had a pretty busy year so far here at Indylist, but it’s been fun and we’re looking forward to the summer. We have big plans coming up, starting with a new version of the site (version 3!) set to launch in the next month.

For a long time we’ve been hearing from people wanting to know when Indylist will support cities outside Chicago. I can happily report we will be supporting the entire United States when version 3 launches. This is a big step for us, but thanks to all the feedback we’ve received in the past year we feel ready to start expanding beyond our hometown.

Our plan is to launch a beta version of the new site first, with some of our colleagues in other cities taking the site through its paces. We will also be asking for some interested people to help us in this process. If you’re interested, please go to our sign up page and enter your information so we can contact you once we’re ready for beta users. And if you know someone in another city that would be interested, please be sure to let them know to signup to stay informed.

In addition to supporting a much wider area, the next version of Indylist has been entirely redesigned to be easier to use and cleaner looking. We’ll be posting more screenshots and information as the official launch date nears.

As the summer starts to trail off, we’ve been busy working on Indylist. A few weeks ago we began the huge task of distributing window clings (pictured to the right) to the businesses listed on the site. These will help raise awareness of the site, and so far the response from business owners and employees has been very positive. Look for these clings around Chicago!

In more technical news, the search engine Indylist uses has been completely overhauled. Searching is now much faster, and yields more useful results. Be sure to create some locations to make the most of it.

To check it out, point your phone to m.indylist.org. And please drop the by forums to tell us what you think!

Tour Da Fat

New Belgium Brewing Co. Bike Festival & Freak Show | 10-4PM

The makers of Fat Tire Beer are throwing a party out in Palmer’s Sqaure (Palmer Blvd. at Kedzie Blvd.) were festival-goers dress up in sweet costumes and decorate their bikes for the opening parade. West Town Bikes website describes the event on their site:

“While partying might be one theme of the bike fest, at its heart it celebrates the bicycle, informs how to reduce our waste stream, encourages people to ride bikes to work and for errands, and raises money for West Town Bikes.”

If you end up stopping by the event and have a camera take some photos and send them are way because we’d love to post them on the website! I and Jim both live right around the bend from this event so if you see us there stop and say hello!

Zombie March Chicago

ARE YOU READY TO GET YOUR SHAMBLE ON? | 2 – 6PM

There is a gathering of zombies in roves downtown in the loop! Do you like brains? This is quite possibly one of the coolest things I’ve seen take place since I’ve lived in Chicago. Yet another reason why I am torn between the two! The organizers over at ChicagoZombie.com ask you to:

“Dress-up and make-up as your favorite undead and come to Chicago’s first-ever zombie walk! These things have happened all over the U.S. and Canada, but never in our lovely city. We look to change that…”

They ask that you RSVP with them on their Facebook event page but I don’t think that would ever discourage anyone to just show up with their friends. Please again if you go and happen to take some snapshots between victims share them with us! Send us a few so that we can post the images on the site! Or if you find that brains are not your delicatessen and between shambling stop at a local food source snap a few photos and upload them to the places Indylist page!

I hope everyone enjoys their weekend either way and I hope to see you guys either riding a decorative bike or shuffling around the loop undead!

How are things going with your summer? Going to the Taste? Got your tickets to Lollapalooza yet? What are the things you are all excited about this summer? Stop by our thread in the forum and let us know where your good weather plans are taking you.

Things are going well here at ye’ ol HQ. We want to give a nod to Gapers Block for the honorable mention on their awesome website. It was exciting to see Indylist featured there! Currently we are getting some window clings produced for all the fine local establishments that are featured here on the list. So keep a eye out for those, because once we get our shipment we plan to paint the town Indylist! And anybody who would also like to volunteer and help drop me an email, we would love to have you join the crew!

As well a big part of why Indylist exists is to start building community within our neighborhoods here in Chicago. To help in this process we are looking to get to know you better. Stop by our forum at let us know a little about yourself, won’t you be our neighbor?

Now I hope all of you are enjoying the city like we are and don’t forget to stop here and add those special local joints on your travels!

It’s great to see a site that gives attention to smaller websites that are just starting out!

With the introduction of spring and the amazing weather transitions, all of us here at Indylist are growing excited for the summer. This city is buzzing when it gets warm out. And all Chicagoans have to admit, this is an awesome city to spend the summer in.

So while the weather leans towards the warm side and you’re finding yourself out and about, don’t forget to capture all those new local spots. If you discover a new place bust out your cellphone, take a snapshot, and come share it with us! I am in dire need of some new places to eat!