The Tombs is a

restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

and

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

located in the Georgetown neighborhood of

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

It was opened on July 23, 1962, by restaurateur and

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

graduate

Richard McCooey Richard J McCooey (October 14, 1930 – August 6, 2014) was an American restaurateur and restaurant design consultant. He founded and designed the Washington, D.C. restaurants 1789 and The Tombs. A graduate of Georgetown University in 1952, Richard ...

as the below ground bar or

rathskeller Ratskeller (German: "council's cellar", pl. ''Ratskeller'', historically ''Rathskeller'') is a name in German-speaking countries for a bar or restaurant located in the basement of a city hall (''Rathaus'') or nearby. Many taverns, nightclubs, b ...

for his restaurant 1789. The Tombs is a popular destination for Georgetown University students and alumni, and has been ranked as one of the best college bars in America. It is well known for its collegiate rowing-themed interior design, as well as the 99 days club, a competition in which Georgetown seniors aim to eat or drink at the club for all of the final three and a half months of the school year. In 1962, McCooey established the tradition of regular "Chimes Nights" where Georgetown's all-male ''

a capella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

'' group, the Georgetown Chimes, would perform in the pub, inspired by the

Whiffenpoofs The Yale Whiffenpoofs is a collegiate a cappella singing group. Established at Yale University in 1909, it is the oldest such group in the United States. The line-up is completely replaced each year: the group is always composed of rising senior ...

' weekly performances at Yale's local establishment

Mory's Mory's, known also as Mory's Temple Bar, is a private club adjacent to the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, New Haven, Connecticut, United States, founded in 1849 and housed in a clubhouse that was originally a private home buil ...

. The Chimes Night tradition continues. The restaurant was named after a fictional establishment mentioned in the poem " Bustopher Jones: The Cat About Town" by

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...

. The Tombs was purchased by

Clyde's Restaurant Group Clyde's Restaurant Group is a subsidiary of Graham Holdings that owns and operates 11 restaurants in the Washington metropolitan area. Founded in 1963 to take advantage of a change in the district's liquor laws, it pioneered a number of changes ...

in 1985. The Tombs has been used as a location in two movies set at Georgetown. One scene in ''

The Exorcist ''The Exorcist'' is a 1973 American supernatural horror film directed by William Friedkin and written for the screen by William Peter Blatty, based on his 1971 novel of the same name. It stars Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb, Kitty W ...

'', where Father Karras tells a fellow priest over dinner that he may be losing his faith, was filmed there. In 1985's ''

St. Elmo's Fire St. Elmo's fire — also called Witchfire or Witch's Fire — is a weather phenomenon in which luminous plasma is created by a corona discharge from a rod-like object such as a mast, spire, chimney, or animal hornHeidorn, K., Weather Element ...

'', The Tombs serves as the movie's titular bar.

References

External links

* 1962 establishments in Washington, D.C. Drinking establishments in Washington, D.C. Restaurants in Washington, D.C. Restaurants established in 1962 {{US-restaurant-stub