I'd like to speak up for the food! Not top DC restaurant, but pretty good.

If you want to join, do some research and find acquaintances or colleagues who are members. They can propose you and likely the club will be happy to have you, as long as you're reasonably well behaved and have an intellectual credential or two. Yes, there's a whole wall of Nobel Prize winners, but I think it's been a while.

DH is a member. Pre COVID I went to a fair number of evening dinner/presentation events there. There was always someone interesting to talk with.

And we had a great 50th anniversary party there. Yes, we are old.

We almost joined as we lived nearby and dh was nominated. The fees are really low and we thought we could use the hotel rooms for overflow guests. We looked at the rooms and juts couldn’t put relatives in them. They are very tired. While the actual club has the same look it has had forever and the food is typical club fare, we just didn’t think we would ever use it. If it had squash courts or a pool then we could have justified it

I'm from above with the offer to be nominated. Yes, if there was a pool, decent work out facility and lux bathroom for after work outs, I would join. I think it's 3K to join and 3K a year but my memory may be off. The hotel uses gov. room rates so it's really economical for guests. Also, renting the space is very competitive with DC spaces and has a greater cool factor.

The people who offered to nominate me were all md and or phds as am I. However, the more famous members get their pics on the walls and there are a lot of foreign relations people who probably don't have a PhD. Similarly, lots of old school journalists.

I think it’s science heavy. Curing cancer would do it. It’s a stunning, stunning venue. Probably my favorite in DC.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought you needed a PhD

Member I know does not have a PhD but had written a couple books. Many of the journalist types don't.

I like the food, too.

The member I know is a lawyer, no PhD.

As a PP mentioned, he’s also a douche. But a lot of the folks posting here as members seem really nice!

The Cosmos Club is, at least, much cooler than the Society of the Cincinnati across the street which is a club started by some Revolutionary War veteran officers where membership is passed down via primogeniture so I guess they just…missed the point of the war?

Anonymous wrote:I’m so glad I have no idea what you guys are talking about!

It’s just a private social club, but it has a cool old building on Mass Ave. Its like the Metropolitan Club or the University Club. It’s like a country club without golf or tennis or a pool. That’s not very appealing to most young people so the membership is retired, accomplished people. I guess they just eat lobster and talk about their books.

I’m so glad I have no idea what you guys are talking about!

Anonymous wrote:I thought you needed a PhD

I think you just need to be accomplished in your field.

But basically it’s a wedding venue, a small private hotel and a fancy cafeteria for accomplished seniors.

It’s a lovely wedding venue imo.

Anonymous wrote:I thought you needed a PhD

Member I know does not have a PhD but had written a couple books. Many of the journalist types don't.

I like the food, too.

Anonymous wrote:Like somebody mentioned above, you have to be accomplished in some way. I was offered a nomination by a famous in science person for this thing I did. It's good to know that I did a thing good enough to get me nominated but I'm in my 40s and most members are...well over that. Like PP said, when I go, I am always the youngest in the room who is not serving.
I like the food!

This is what many clubs face -- membership is older and going to pass away, so they need to build up "younger" membership to keep things going financially. Lovely facilities. I don't remember the food as I was there a whiel ago.

I thought you needed a PhD

Like somebody mentioned above, you have to be accomplished in some way. I was offered a nomination by a famous in science person for this thing I did. It's good to know that I did a thing good enough to get me nominated but I'm in my 40s and most members are...well over that. Like PP said, when I go, I am always the youngest in the room who is not serving.
I like the food!

the "wifi" notes on the way say "wireless-fidelity" which is weird but true.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My grandmother was a member and I think it was because she moved in very political circles from the 1940s-1980s or so. She was a real Washington society doyenne.

Women weren't allowed to join until recently. Sorry.

early '80s.

Anonymous wrote:My grandfather was a member -- he was a well known at the time civil rights lawyer. I used to love going to Sunday brunch there as a kid. The average age then was 75.

Had dinner there pre-Covid. Our party brought the average age of those in the dining room down at least 25 years.