Doug Cugini, Hole in the Wall’s founder, died Tuesday, Jan. 13, at age 75. The charismatic barkeep was remembered on Facebook by friends and past employees for his generous spirit.
“Doug was a great friend, a fabulous boss and so much fun to hang with,” wrote his longtime friend and onetime co-owner Debbie Rombach on Facebook, confirming his passing.
Cugini opened the Drag staple in 1974 as an arcade restaurant, but soon local musicians convinced him to host acoustic performances in the dimly lit barroom, paving the way for the listening room-style residencies that have characterized the front stage’s calendar for more than 50 years.
“Nanci Griffith came in and asked to play,” Cugini recalled to the Chronicle in 2014. “Then she performed every week for years.”
Cugini’s legacy is deeply entangled with the memorabilia-filled, distinctly Austin venue he established. Between songwriter showcases and rowdier sets, the yellow-accented stage has racked up its fair share of iconic performances and famous fans, from Griffith and Townes Van Zandt to Spoon and Shakey Graves.
“There’s never been a place like it in Austin. Other bars are immaculate and pretty, and the Hole has always been like it is now, put together on a shoestring budget and filled with counterculture people who walk to a different drummer,” he told the Chronicle in 2015. “I guess the reason it’s always been there is because the city, the bands, the newspapers, and the whole culture have embraced it.”
Reminiscing on the Austin musicians who called the bar home and infused its hallowed walls with rock & roll character, Cugini alternated between nostalgia and annoyance in a 2014 interview, like the benevolent, custodial figure so many remembered him as.
“Blaze [Foley] and Townes were drinkers!” Cugini exclaimed. “We used to open at 7am to serve breakfast to the university students and cab drivers, and it became a regular thing for those two to show up from playing all-night card games ready to keep drinking.
“One morning Blaze was in his duct tape sport coat and Townes was in drag. They didn’t have money to drink and it was busy, so I let them bus tables. There’s Townes in a dress reaching over people clearing plates, and Blaze eating out of the bus tub. I’d try to kick them out and they’d protest: ‘Come on man! We play here all the time!’”
The scrappy, musician-first atmosphere endeared countless local and touring acts to the dual-stage venue – Bob Dylan even painted the facade in 2020. Through rough patches, the storied bar and stage has remained a bastion for musicians and their fans.
“That’s the foundational culture that Doug Cugini laid out for us here at Hole In The Wall; a space that gives musicians a stage to call home, and a bar that evolves along with those who inhabit it,” wrote the Hole in the Wall account on Facebook. “Thank you, Doug, for everything that you’ve done and the decades of lasting impact you’ve made on us all.”