Bohemian Grove

The tradition of a summer encampment began in 1878, six years after the Bohemian Club was founded in 1872. The gathering included food, drink, and lanterns, and participants stayed overnight at the site. The event was repeated the following year without Edwards and developed into the club’s annual encampment. , a founding member By 1882, club members camped together at several locations in Marin and Sonoma counties, including what is now Muir Woods and a redwood grove near Duncans Mills, along the Russian River. From 1893, the Bohemians rented the current site, and in 1899 they purchased it from Melvin Cyrus Meeker, who operated a logging business in the area. Participants included Ernest Lawrence and J. Robert Oppenheimer, along with members of the S-1 Executive Committee and representatives from major universities, industry, and the U.S. military. Although Oppenheimer was not a member of the S-1 Committee at the time, he and Lawrence hosted the meeting. The discussions held there contributed to the broader development of the atomic bomb. Former U.S. president Herbert Hoover was inducted into the club’s Old Guard on March 4, 1953, having joined the Bohemian Club exactly 40 years earlier, the requirement for this status. Redwood branches from the Grove were flown to the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City to decorate a banquet room for the occasion. In his acceptance speech, Hoover compared the honor of Old Guard status to his role as a senior adviser to later presidents. , Richard Nixon, Glenn T. Seaborg, Jack Sparks, Kevin Winter, and an unidentified individual. Standing: Harvey Hancock and Edwin W. Pauley. Behavior at the campground has led to numerous claims and even some parody in popular culture. One example was President Richard Nixon's comments from a May 13, 1971, tape recording talking about upper-class San Franciscans: "The Bohemian Grove, which I attend from time to time—it is the most faggy goddamned thing you could ever imagine, with that San Francisco crowd." In 2019, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors informed the club that after that year, the county would no longer provide law enforcement security. Unauthorized entries Several documented unauthorized entries into the Bohemian Grove have been reported. • In June 1980, journalist Rick Clogher entered the Grove with assistance from an employee. He posed as a worker during two weekends of the annual summer gathering. According to Mother Jones, his reporting was the first published magazine account from inside the Grove and appeared in the August 1981 issue of the magazine. In July 1981, ABC Evening News broadcast a television report on the Grove. • In July 1989, Spy writer Philip Weiss entered the Grove and remained there for seven days while posing as a guest. His article, titled “Inside the Bohemian Grove,” was published in November 1989. Documentary filmmaker Jon Ronson later used footage from the incident in an episode titled “The Satanic Shadowy Elite?”, in which he described the event as resembling an "overgrown frat party". • On January 19, 2002, Richard McCaslin entered the Grove at night and set multiple fires. He was arrested at the scene. Police reports stated that he was carrying weapons and wore a skull mask and clothing bearing the words "Phantom Patriot". ==Membership==

The Bohemian Club is a private club; only active members and their guests may visit. Guests have been known to include politicians and notable figures from other countries. Members may invite guests to the Grove for either the "Spring Jinks" in June or the main July encampment. Bohemian Club members may also schedule private day-use events at the Grove when it is not being used for club-wide purposes. During these times, they may bring spouses, family, and friends, although female and minor guests must leave the property by 9 or 10 pm. After 40 years of membership, members attain "Old Guard" status, which provides reserved seating at the Grove's daily talks and other privileges. The club motto is "Weaving Spiders Come Not Here," expressing an expectation that outside concerns and business dealings be set aside. When gathered in groups, members generally observe this principle, although discussions of business sometimes occur in private conversations. ==Facilities==

The Bohemian Grove contains the physical infrastructure used during encampments and other club activities. , George Sterling, and Jack London The main encampment area consists of of old-growth redwood trees that are more than 1,000 years old, with some exceeding in height. Camps Sleeping quarters, known as camps, are distributed throughout the Grove. As of 2007, there were 118 camps. Many are patrilineal and serve as the primary social units through which long-term personal, business, and political relationships are formed. • Hill Billies • Mandalay • Cave Man • Stowaway • Uplifters • Owls Nest • Hideaway • Isle of Aves • Lost Angels • Silverado Squatters • Sempervirens • Hillside • Idlewild Gathering spaces The Grove includes several dedicated venues used for performances, lectures, and communal meals: • Grove Stage – an amphitheater seating about 2,000 people, primarily used for the Grove Play. • Field Circle – a bowl-shaped amphitheater used for musical performances and seasonal events. • Campfire Circle – a smaller performance space centered on a campfire. • Museum Stage – a semi-outdoor venue used for lectures and small performances. • Dining Circle – seating for about 1,500 diners. • Clubhouse – designed by Bernard Maybeck and completed in 1904; a multipurpose building and the site of a 1942 Manhattan Project planning meeting. • Owl Shrine and the Lake – an artificial lake used for concerts, talks, and the Cremation of Care ceremony. ==Operations==

Camp valets Camp valets oversee the daily operation of individual camps. Head valets perform roles comparable to general managers. Service staff include female workers whose presence is limited to daytime hours and central areas, while male workers may reside on-site in assigned camps or service areas. Housing ranges from private quarters to shared bunkhouses. Security The Grove is secured year-round by a private security team. During encampments, security is supplemented by local law enforcement and, when warranted by visiting guests, federal agencies. ==Traditions, rituals, and symbols==

Symbols The club's patron saint is John of Nepomuk, who, according to legend, died at the hands of a Bohemian monarch rather than disclose the confessional secrets of the queen. A large wood carving of St. John in cleric robes with his index finger over his lips stands at the shore of the lake in the Grove, symbolizing the secrecy kept by the Grove's attendees throughout its long history. Since 1929, the Owl Shrine has served as the backdrop of the yearly Cremation of Care ceremony. It was originally set up within the plot of the serious "High Jinks" dramatic performance on the first weekend of the summer encampment, after which the spirit of "Care", slain by the Jinks hero, was solemnly cremated. The ceremony served as a catharsis for pent-up high spirits, and "to present symbolically the salvation of the trees by the club ..." The Cremation of Care was separated from the other Grove Plays in 1913 and moved to the first night to become "an exorcising of the Demon to ensure the success of the ensuing two weeks." The Grove Play was moved to the last weekend of the encampment. The ceremony takes place in front of the Owl Shrine. The moss- and lichen-covered statue simulates a natural rock formation, yet holds electrical and audio equipment within it. For many years, a recording of the voice of club member Walter Cronkite was used as the voice of The Owl during the ceremony. == Court cases ==

Women's employment In 1978, the Bohemian Club was charged with discrimination by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing over its refusal to hire female employees. In January 1981, an administrative law judge issued a decision supporting the practices of the club, noting that club members at the Grove "urinate in the open without even the use of rudimentary toilet facilities" and that the presence of females would alter club members' behavior. However, the judge's decision was overruled by the State Fair Employment and Housing Commission, which on October 17, 1981, ordered the club to begin recruiting and hiring women as employees. The Bohemian Club then filed a petition in California Superior Court, which ruled in favor of the club, finding "the male gender [to be] a bona fide occupational qualification." It was revealed that the trial judge had previously participated in club activities, yet the request that he be disqualified was denied. The Fair Employment and Housing Commission appealed to the California Court of Appeal which reversed the lower court's decision, holding that the Bohemian Club's private status did not shield it from the "same rules which govern all California employers." The Supreme Court of California denied review in 1987, effectively forcing the club to begin hiring female workers during the summer encampment at the Grove in Monte Rio. This ruling became quoted as a legal precedent and was discussed during the 1995–96 floor debate surrounding California Senate Bill SB 2110, a proposed law concerning whether tax-exempt organizations (including fraternal clubs) should be exempt from the Unruh Civil Rights Act. Logging Outside the central camp area, which is the site of the old-growth grove, but within the owned by the Bohemian Club, logging activities have been underway since 1984. Approximately of lumber equivalents were removed from the surrounding redwood and Douglas fir forest from 1984 to 2007. In 2007, the Bohemian Club board filed an application for a nonindustrial logging permit available to landowners with less than of timberland, which would allow them to steadily increase their logging in the second-growth stands from per year to over the course of the 50-year permit. The Club stated that an expansion of logging activities was needed to prevent fires, and that money made from the sale of the lumber would be used to stabilize access roads and to clear fire-promoting species such as tanoaks and underbrush. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife instead recommended single-tree logging to preserve the habitats of murrelets and spotted owls in senescent trees. Philip Rundel, a University of California, Berkeley professor of biology, said that redwoods are not very flammable and "This is clearly a logging project, not a project to reduce fire hazard". Reed F. Noss, a professor at the University of California, Davis, has written that fires within redwood forests do not need to be prevented, that young redwoods are adapted to regenerate well in the destruction left behind by the fires typical of the climate. After controversy raised by opponents of the harvesting plan, the Club moved to establish their qualification for the permit by offering to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation in Missoula, Montana, for a conservation easement. A further were written off as not being available for commercial logging, bringing the total to and thereby qualifying for the permit. Opponents and their lawyers interpreted the relevant law as counting all timberland and not just the portion subject to the logging permit. They stated that if the total of timberland is counted, are owned by the Club, so the permit should not be granted. Wage theft In June 2023, a group of former workers sued Bohemian Grove alleging wage theft and unfair labor practices. The club was dismissed from the lawsuit in January 2024 after a judge ruled it did not fit the legal definition of an employer. In May 2024, another lawsuit was filed. ==See also==