Brian Knowles of Terrible Love Credit: John Anderson

For most people, their first experience of the Baker Center isn’t visiting one of the many offices inside or attending an event in the cafetorium. It’s grabbing a cup of coffee at Terrible Love, the little cafe in the center’s grounds. That location has made owner Brian Knowles sort of the unofficial envoy/greeter/tour guide for the whole building. He said, “So many people would ask me, ‘What’s this behind you? What kind of offices are in there? What’s the Rosette?’” And because I was the front desk, almost, I ended up fielding all of those questions and learning more than I would have otherwise.”

It’s a typical day for Knowles, brewing espressos for the chattering crowd gathered by the former boiler room building on the north side of the building. Some of them work inside, taking a break or taking a meeting outside on the benches. Others are Hyde Park neighbors, just dropping by the latest addition to their beverage options. Some have driven there, taking advantage of the easy parking around the former Austin ISD campus. Knowles will have been there since the shutters went up before the morning rush hour, and he’ll be there until just after lunch, when the grinders go quiet and the steamers cool off, and that’s how he likes it. “I’m a morning person,” he explained.

He fell into the coffee business almost by accident. In 2017, he’d paid off his student loans, quit his desk job, and started working at Brew & Brew on the Eastside, “doing their coffee and beer. I was there about two and a half years, and by the end of my tenure I was only doing mornings, only doing coffee.” His next stop was to go out on his own, setting up Terrible Love out of a converted horse trailer which he parked at other locations before finally towing it to Baker. There it stayed for a couple of years until he laid more concrete roots in the current brick-and-mortar home.

But soon this avowed morning person will be around in the evenings as well. Next door to the old boiler building is the old band building, and Knowles is halfway through converting it into a wine bar. He’d actually been eying it for a while, admiring its space and natural light, and when its lease became available he contacted the Leagues and floated the plan. It was a big ask, since it meant losing rentable office space and investing in a major renovation, Knowles said, “but I think I convinced them by bringing up the community aspect. They really want this to be a community hub.”

With the opening imminent, he’s spent the last few months educating himself on wine, and he’s also creating a menu of low-ABV drinks and mocktails for the increasing number of non-drinkers. However, the space’s real specialty is going to be vermouths, but not the single-note mixer that most people associate with the word. Instead, Knowles explained, it will be “the Spanish-style, sipping vermouth. … With a little orange slice or an olive, it’s incredible.” 

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This article appears in January 23 • 2026.

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The Chronicle's first Culture Desk editor, Richard has reported on Austin's growing film production and appreciation scene for over a decade. A graduate of the universities of York, Stirling, and UT-Austin, a Rotten Tomatoes certified critic, and eight-time Best of Austin winner, he's currently at work on two books and a play.