View source for Grendel's Den

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{{Infobox restaurant
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| city                = [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]]
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| website             = [http://www.grendelsden.com/ Official website]
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'''Grendel's Den''' is a bar and restaurant in [[Harvard Square]] in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge]], [[Massachusetts]], located at 89 Winthrop Street. The establishment is frequented by both students and professors of [[Harvard University]] as well as many others from the [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge]] and [[Boston]] area. The name was a reference to [[Grendel]], the antagonist in the [[Old English]] epic ''[[Beowulf]]''.

The restaurant is perhaps most famous for the lawsuit ''[[Larkin v. Grendel's Den, Inc.]]'', 459 U.S. 116 (1982),<ref>''[[Larkin v. Grendel's Den, Inc.]]'', {{Ussc|459|116|1982}}.</ref> which reached the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] in 1982. The suit challenged the Massachusetts state [[blue law]] (16C) allowing a school or a religious institution within 500&nbsp;feet of a liquor license applicant to prevent the issuance. The [[United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts]] ruled in favor of Grendel's Den, holding that the law violated the [[Establishment Clause of the First Amendment]]. The Supreme Court upheld the ruling of the lower court.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wexler |first1=Jay |author-link=Jay Wexler |title=Holy Hullabaloos: A Road Trip to the Battlegrounds of the Church/State Wars |date=2009 |publisher=Beacon Press |location=Boston |isbn=9780807000441 |pages=1–2}}</ref>

The restaurant is also a favorite of actor and director [[Ben Affleck]], who shot portions of his 2010 film ''[[The Town (2010 film)|The Town]]'' there.<ref>{{cite news |last=Fennimore |first=Jillian |date=2009-09-14 |title=Ben Affleck films new movie at Harvard Square's Grendel's Den |url=http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/news/x1458229129/Ben-Affleck-to-take-over-Harvard-Squares-Grendels-Den-for-new-movie |url-status=dead |work=Wicked Local Cambridge |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206103101/http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/news/x1458229129/Ben-Affleck-to-take-over-Harvard-Squares-Grendels-Den-for-new-movie |archive-date=2010-12-06}}</ref>

==History==
Opened in 1971 by Sue and Herbert Külzer, the bar was given its name by Sue, guided by her BA in literature and by the bar's location under a business called The Troll's Club.<ref>[http://cambridgehistory.org/discover/culinary/grendelsden.html Culinary Cambridge]</ref>  It was originally home to Harvard's Pi Eta Club, a now defunct [[Harvard College social clubs|final club]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Sun|first=Grace|date=2011-04-01|title=Grendel’s Den Reaches 40th|url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/4/1/grendels-club-cake-restaurant/|access-date=2021-05-22|website=The Harvard Crimson}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.grendelsden.com/ Official website]

{{Restaurants in Cambridge, Massachusetts}}

[[Category:Harvard Square]]
[[Category:Restaurants in Cambridge, Massachusetts]]