Hole in the Wall

2024: Critics <a href="/best-of-austin/year:2024/poll:critics/category:arts-and-entertainment/hole-in-the-wall-most-surprising-drag-semicentennial/">Most Surprising Drag Semicentennial
2001: Critics <a href="/best-of-austin/year:2001/poll:critics/category:entertainment/crown-and-anchor-pub-showdown-saloon-hole-in-the-wall-best-college-kid-pub-crawl/">Best College-kid Pub Crawl
2001: Critics <a href="/best-of-austin/year:2001/poll:critics/category:politics-and-personalities/waldo-at-the-hole-in-the-wall-arcade-and-restaurant-smilingest-face-behind-the-bar/">Smilingest Face Behind The Bar
1998: Critics <a href="/best-of-austin/year:1998/poll:critics/category:architecture-and-lodging/hole-in-the-wall-best-door-handle/">Best Door Handle
1996: Critics <a href="/best-of-austin/year:1996/poll:critics/category:entertainment/paul-minors-rock-n-roll-free-for-all-at-hole-in-the-wall-best-weekly-no-cover-blowout/">Best Weekly No-Cover Blowout
1994: Critics <a href="/best-of-austin/year:1994/poll:critics/category:media/hole-in-the-wall-best-bathroom-grafitti/">Best Bathroom Grafitti
1992: Critics <a href="/best-of-austin/year:1992/poll:critics/category:entertainment/hole-in-the-wall-best-bathroom-graffiti/">Best Bathroom Graffiti

Music Venue, Pub Grub Campus

2538 Guadalupe, 512/472-5599

www.theholeinthewallaustin.com

One of Austin’s oldest venues, the Hole in the Wall opened in 1974 and enjoyed an early run as a folkie hangout, serving as a favorite stage for Townes Van Zandt, Nanci Griffith, and Blaze Foley. The campus-area staple later became a breeding ground for punk, cosmic country, and alternative, launching the careers of Timbuk3, Fastball, Spoon, and Shakey Graves. Forty years on, the historic two-stage dive, with a collective capacity of a couple hundred, still features live music every night and serves as an important proving ground for new bands. Always a shoestring effort, the Hole briefly shuttered in 2002 and came dangerously close to being priced out in 2015.

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