When the Internet was just getting started in the mid 1990s, I was really excited to start learning HTML.
Once I got tired of Geocities, I wanted to start my own website and host it myself. At age 13, I gathered up all my allowances and sent Network Solutions $100 to register the domain name lespaul.com (It’s kinda funny that 12 years later, my CDNow ad still renders on archive.org).
This website was basically my sandbox. I was a guitar enthusiast, and I wanted to build an online catalog of the every guitar possible. My favorite guitar at the time was the Gibson Les Paul. So I bought lespaul.com because I thought it was a popular name that people would search for.
Everything was well and good. I was learning about guitars, web design, CSS, and web publishing. I updated it almost every day. I maintained and operated the site for a full year, until Gibson sent me a cease and desist letter, claiming they have owned the copyright to “Les Paul” since 1954.
My dad’s lawyer sprung into action. He sent them back a letter explaining that I was a harmless 13-year-old kid just playing with the web. I wasn’t selling anything, and I was even sending link love to Gibson’s website on my guitar pages. We eventually came to an agreement, and I handed over the domain. In exchange, I got a free Les Paul Custom Black Beauty.
Days later, I bought guitarinfo.com:
Today, Les Paul passed away. 12 years ago, I doubt he ever knew that I owned his name dot com, but I always secretly hoped that he was the one who said to Gibson, “Hey, let’s get this ugly website redirecting to something a little prettier”.
What was your first domain name?
You can ride out to this:
