Regional Magazine Recognizes ‘Roadhouse’ With AC Ties

The idea for Claude “Spider” Webb ’77 (MA ’79) and friends to open The Gar Hole in 2020 was rooted in Webb’s freshman year at Austin College. In 2023, The Gar Hole, the downtown watering hole in tiny Westminster, Texas, has been named as one of North Texas’ “Best Little Roadhouses” by D Magazine. The write-up notes a resemblance to a “frontier Cheers” with a “cast of regulars.” That ethos evolved from Webb’s fondness of the small local bars he knew in East Dallas, and from one especially influential trip involving a late-night drive from Sherman to Dallas to Luckenbach. Years later, The Gar Hole has notched a place in the hearts of Texans and Lone Star lore.