What Princeton eating club did Fitzgerald join as a student?

As a Princeton student, F. Scott Fitzgerald joined Cottage Club, formally known as the University Cottage Club. The selective eating club stood on Prospect Avenue, the area Princeton students traditionally called “The Street.”

Princeton’s eating clubs functioned as dining societies and social institutions rather than ordinary campus cafeterias. Fitzgerald entered Princeton in 1913 and used the university’s literary and theatrical life to build his identity as a writer. He contributed to student publications and wrote for the Princeton Triangle Club, even though he did not graduate.

His Cottage Club experience fed directly into his fiction. His 1920 debut novel, This Side of Paradise, draws heavily on Princeton life, including the hierarchy and personalities associated with the eating clubs. In the novel, Cottage is described as a gathering of “brilliant adventurers and well-dressed philanderers,” a characterization that reflects Fitzgerald’s sharp eye for campus status.

The distractors are all real Princeton eating clubs, which makes this question easy to confuse. Ivy Club, Cap and Gown Club, and Princeton Tower Club existed as separate organizations; Fitzgerald’s documented affiliation was with University Cottage Club.