Reality bites at the Hole in the Wall
Prentiss Riddle
this summer knows the sad story of the venerable Hole in the Wall.
The friendly bar, grill and live music venue had been operating across
from UT for nearly 30 years, collecting hippie/punk memorabilia and an
aging contingent of slacker regulars along the way. Then this spring
the landlords announced that the lease was up and the hand-to-mouth
operator of the bar, waitress and booker turned owner Debbie Rombach,
would have to cough up (pinkie to corner of the mouth) one million
dollars for the decrepit building or shut down by June 30th.
There followed a flurry of newsprint, tearful testimonials, and a solid
month of benefit shows from the many bands who had had their formative
gigs at the Hole in the Wall. I'm not sure who they thought they
were kidding -- a month of $5 cover charges for a living-room-sized
venue can't make much of a dent in a million-dollar price tag. But if
it amounted to severance pay for the soon-to-be-Hole-less Rombach,
good for them.
But wait, there's news. This week's Austin Chronicle says:
Could the Hole in the Wall yet return? Local real estate maven
Perry Lorenz says that the Hole, or something like it, at least,
most certainly could. In fact, Lorenz has got two potential buyers
interested in the property where the Hole stood. Basically,
what that means is that the Hole in the Wall could return if
new owners could be found to run it. Is there anybody out there
sane enough to run a club at that location yet insane enough to
want to run a club at that location? If so, give Lorenz a call --
he's waiting for the phone to ring.
Huh? Why do the buyers need to find a new operator? What about Debbie
Rombach? Is this just one of the Chronicle music writers' infamous
nonsensical rumors or is there some reason why the people with the
bucks want to run her out of the picture?
Time for my own tearful testimonial: I'm ashamed to confess that I
never made it to the Hole in the Wall to hear the bands. I was never
hip enough to know the up-and-comers who played there until they had
broken out to larger venues. But I did go there for food, atmosphere,
and the best people-watching in town looking out their picture window
onto the Drag. When I was a starving student one of my rare splurges
on sit-down food was their Reality Sandwich: chicken-fried steak in a
hamburger bun with swiss cheese and jalapen~os; yum! Unfortunately,
some time in the late eighties or early nineties, the kitchen
went downhill and what had been a succulent experience in gourmet
comfort food became inedible. The Reality took on the consistency of
deep-fried styrofoam and the accompanying fries were limp and greasy.
Nostalgia persuaded me to try it again and again, but every time was
a bitter disappointment.
So, a suggestion to Perry Lorenz, Debbie Rombach or anyone else
thinking of reviving the Hole in the Wall: best of luck, and if you
pull it off, please put some attention into the kitchen!
Links and discussion at:
http://www.io.com/~riddle/austin/?item=20020726
-- Prentiss Riddle ("aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada") rid...@io.com
-- You are in a maze of twisty little weblogs. http://www.io.com/~riddle/
J. Steven Swinnea
Prentiss Riddle <rid...@eris.io.com> wrote:
>on sit-down food was their Reality Sandwich: chicken-fried steak in a
>hamburger bun with swiss cheese and jalapen~os; yum! Unfortunately,
>some time in the late eighties or early nineties, the kitchen
>went downhill and what had been a succulent experience in gourmet
Ahh for one of those mid eighties weekly Reality splurges.
Steve S.
Richard Everett
[...snip...]
> Time for my own tearful testimonial: I'm ashamed to confess that I
> never made it to the Hole in the Wall to hear the bands. I was never
> hip enough to know the up-and-comers who played there until they had
> broken out to larger venues. But I did go there for food, atmosphere,
> and the best people-watching in town looking out their picture window
> onto the Drag. When I was a starving student one of my rare splurges
> on sit-down food was their Reality Sandwich: chicken-fried steak in a
> hamburger bun with swiss cheese and jalapen~os; yum! Unfortunately,
> some time in the late eighties or early nineties, the kitchen
> went downhill and what had been a succulent experience in gourmet
> comfort food became inedible. The Reality took on the consistency of
> deep-fried styrofoam and the accompanying fries were limp and greasy.
> Nostalgia persuaded me to try it again and again, but every time was
> a bitter disappointment.
I was sad to hear of this as well. I, too, never went to the Hole
in the
Wall to hear music, but it was a great place for "studying" in the
mid
afternoon while watching a baseball (Cubs) game. Even as shy as I
was
at the time, I went on a roadtrip with the other baseball regulars
to
Dallas to see the Rangers play w/ Nolan Ryan pitching. The game
went
at least 14 innings, we didn't get back until 3:30am. Classes came
a
bit early that day.
I loved the Reality, but yes, it slid past mediocrity in the last
decade.
+r