The Tombs is a

restaurant A restaurant is an establishment 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 Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...

and

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

located in the Georgetown neighborhood of

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

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

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

graduate Richard McCooey 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 Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. 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 at Yale University. Established in 1909, it is the oldest such group in the United States. Best known for "The Whiffenpoof Song",The Rev. James M. Howard, Yale Class of 1909"An Authe ...

' 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 bui ...

. 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 and playwright.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University ...

. The Tombs was purchased by

Clyde's Restaurant Group Clyde's Restaurant Group is an American company that owns and operates 13 restaurants in the Washington metropolitan area. Founded in 1963 to take advantage of a change in Washington, D.C.'s liquor laws, it pioneered a number of changes in the w ...

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 from a screenplay by William Peter Blatty, based on The Exorcist (novel), his 1971 novel. The film stars Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Jason Miller (play ...

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

References

External links

* 1962 establishments in Washington, D.C. Buildings and structures in Georgetown (Washington, D.C.) Drinking establishments in Washington, D.C. Restaurants in Washington, D.C. Restaurants established in 1962 Graham Holdings College bars {{US-restaurant-stub