Hole In the Wall Great Sandwiches

Specialties

We make a huge variety of sandwiches. You can create your own or pick one that we’ve created. Your sandwich is custom made right in front of your eyes and you are involved in every step of its creation. We offer a variety of rolls including Brio French, Sourdough, Wheat and Dutch Crunch. We also have sliced Sourdough, Whole Wheat, Light Rye and Dark Rye. The list of our high quality meats and cheeses seems endless. We use as many local products as are available to us. On Friday’s, our Dungeness Crab sandwich is extremely popular and those in the know always order in advance to assure a portion is set aside with their name on it. Don’t let the line ever scare you. It really does move quickly certainly quicker than getting into your car and driving somewhere else to wait in line. The main thing is that it’s ALWAYS WORTH THE WAIT. Try a Cobb, a Muffaletta, an Italian Combo or even the Tofu Picante. We have been honored with the «Best of the North Coast» award year after year.

History

Established in 1983.

This location opened in October 1983 and was, at that time, the third Hole in the Wall, preceeded by Crescent City and Brookings but for us, Bob and Fran, the owners, it was our sixth shop. At that time, in Arcata, there was a very limited number of places that sold sandwiches. Before we purchased the building, it was Holy Mackerel Fish Company and what is now a bench used to be a crab cooker. Our menu was not nearly as extensive as it is now and we didn’t have such a large variety of rolls. If I remember correctly, the basic sandwich was $ 2.25. Those were the good old days. We couldn’t afford to advertise so the day before we opened we printed menus and went out at night and put them on the door knobs of every business and house and on the windshield of every car until we ran out. The line was out the door. There used to be a Saturday night TV show called «Late Night Fright.» «The Hand» used to hold one of our sandwiches in exchange for feeding the crew. The rest is history.

Meet the Business Owner

Fran and Bob A.

Business Owner

We started in the restaurant business in 1973 when we opened an Italian restautant in Burlingame, CA called La Famiglia. Bob had the restaurant know how and Fran can cook. Being dismayed by the hours away from the family, Bob decided to open a Sandwich Shop in South San Francisco called Nero’s Heros. It’s hours were 10am to 3pm allowing us to have a more normal life with our two small children. It was instantly successful. In 1975 we opened another one in Belmont followed by one in Santa Cruz in 1978. We moved up to Crescent City in 1980 and opened the first Hole in the Wall in 1981 followed by Brookings in 1982, Arcata in 1983, Eureka in 1988 (sold to the Forrest’s in 1992) and Fortuna in 1989. Hole in the Wall is a registerd tradmark and we never sold the name when we sold a business. Eureka Hole in the Wall is licensed to use our name so long as excellence is maintained. We take sandwich making very seriously. It’s been our livelihood for many years.