Bohemian Club

Last updated
Bohemian Club
Formation1872;152 years ago (1872)
TypePrivate Men's Social Club IRC 501(c)7 [1]
Purpose Arts, politics, business
Headquarters624 Taylor Street, San Francisco, California
Website www.bohemianclub.com OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

The Bohemian Club is a private club with two locations: a city clubhouse in the Nob Hill district of San Francisco, California, and the Bohemian Grove, a retreat north of the city in Sonoma County. [2] Founded in 1872 from a regular meeting of journalists, artists, and musicians, it soon began to accept businessmen and entrepreneurs as permanent members, as well as offering temporary membership to university presidents (notably Berkeley and Stanford) and military commanders who were serving in the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, the club has a membership of many local and global leaders, ranging from artists and musicians to businessmen.[ citation needed ] Membership is restricted to men only. [3]

Contents

Clubhouse

The Bohemian Club's City Clubhouse, from the corner of Taylor Street and Post Street Bohemian Club, San Francisco.jpg
The Bohemian Club's City Clubhouse, from the corner of Taylor Street and Post Street

The City Club is located in a six-story masonry building at the corner of Post Street and Taylor Street, two blocks west of Union Square, and on the same block as both the Olympic Club and the Marines Memorial Club. The clubhouse contains dining rooms, meeting rooms, a bar, a library, an art gallery, a theater, and guest rooms.

Bohemian Grove

The club's mascot owl cast in masonry perched over the main entrance at 624 Taylor Street. The owl is flanked by the letters B and C and surrounded by words of the club's motto. BohemianClubOwl1.jpg
The club's mascot owl cast in masonry perched over the main entrance at 624 Taylor Street. The owl is flanked by the letters B and C and surrounded by words of the club's motto.

Every year, the club hosts a two-week-long (three weekends) camp at Bohemian Grove, which is notable for its illustrious guest list and its eclectic Cremation of Care ceremony which mockingly burns an effigy of "Care" [4] (the normal woes of life) with grand pageantry, pyrotechnics, and brilliant costumes, all done at the edge of a lake and at the base of a forty-foot "stone" owl statue (actually made of concrete). [5] In addition to that ceremony, devised by co-founder James F. Bowman in 1881, there are also two outdoor performances (dramatic and comedic plays), often with elaborate set design and orchestral accompaniment. The more elaborate of the two is the Grove Play, or High Jinks; the more ribald is called Low Jinks. [6] More often than not, the productions are original creations of the Associate members, but active participation of hundreds of members of all backgrounds is traditional. [7]

Nathanial Brittan Party House

Nathaniel J. Brittan co-founded the Bohemian Club of San Francisco in 1872 and by 1892 was the president of the club. [8] He built the Nathanial Brittan Party House in San Carlos, California, in order to entertain his friends from the club and to use as a hunting lodge. [9] [8] [10]

History

Bohemianism

In New York City and other American metropolises in the late 1850s, groups of young, cultured journalists flourished as self-described "bohemians", until the American Civil War broke them up and sent them out as war correspondents. [11] During the war, reporters began to assume the title "bohemian", and newspapermen in general took up the moniker. "Bohemian" became synonymous with "newspaper writer". [11] California journalist Bret Harte first wrote as "The Bohemian" in The Golden Era in 1861, with this persona taking part in many satirical doings. Harte described San Francisco as a sort of Bohemia of the West. [12] Mark Twain called himself and poet Charles Warren Stoddard bohemians in 1867. [11]

Founding

The Bohemian Club was originally formed in April 1872 by and for journalists who wished to promote a fraternal connection among men who enjoyed the arts. Michael Henry de Young, proprietor of the San Francisco Chronicle , provided this description of its formation in a 1915 interview:

The Bohemian Club was organized in the Chronicle office by Tommy Newcombe, Sutherland, Dan O'Connell, Harry Dam, J.Limon and others who were members of the staff. The boys wanted a place where they could get together after work, and they took a room on Sacramento street below Kearny. That was the start of the Bohemian Club, and it was not an unmixed blessing for the Chronicle because the boys would go there sometimes when they should have reported at the office. Very often when Dan O'Connell sat down to a good dinner there he would forget that he had a pocketful of notes for an important story. [13]

Journalists were to be regular members; artists and musicians were to be honorary members. [14] The group quickly relaxed its rules for membership to permit some people to join who had little artistic talent, but enjoyed the arts and had greater financial resources. Eventually, the original "bohemian" members were in the minority and the wealthy and powerful controlled the club. [15] [16] Club members who were established and successful, respectable family men, defined for themselves their own form of bohemianism, which included men who were bon vivants, sometime outdoorsmen, and appreciators of the arts. [12] Club member and poet George Sterling responded to this redefinition:

Any good mixer of convivial habits considers he has a right to be called a Bohemian. But that is not a valid claim. There are two elements, at least, that are essential to Bohemianism. The first is devotion or addiction to one or more of the Seven Arts; the other is poverty. Other factors suggest themselves: for instance, I like to think of my Bohemians as young, as radical in their outlook on art and life; as unconventional, and, though this is debatable, as dwellers in a city large enough to have the somewhat cruel atmosphere of all great cities. [17]

Despite his purist views, Sterling associated very closely with the Bohemian Club and caroused with artist and industrialist alike at the Bohemian Grove. [17]

Oscar Wilde, upon visiting the club in 1882, is reported to have said, "I never saw so many well-dressed, well-fed, business-looking Bohemians in my life." [18]

Membership

A number of past membership lists are in the public domain, [14] but modern club membership lists are private. Some prominent figures have been given honorary membership, such as Richard Nixon and William Randolph Hearst. Members have included some U.S. presidents (usually before they are elected to office), many cabinet officials, and CEOs of large corporations, including major financial institutions. Major military contractors, oil companies, banks (including the Federal Reserve), utilities, and national media have high-ranking officials as club members or guests. Many members are, or have been, on the board of directors of several of these corporations; however, artists and lovers of art are among the most active members. The club's bylaws require ten percent of the membership be accomplished artists of all types (composers, musicians, singers, actors, lighting artists, painters, authors, etc.). During the first half of the 20th century, membership in the club was especially valued by painters and sculptors, who exhibited their work on the premises, in both permanent displays and special exhibitions, and did not pay any commissions on sales to members. [19] Many of the club's artists were nationally recognized figures, such as William Keith, Arthur Frank Mathews, Xavier Martinez, Jules Eugene Pages, Edwin Deakin, William Ritschel, Jo Mora, Maynard Dixon and Arthur Putnam.

The club motto is "Weaving Spiders Come Not Here", a line taken from Act 2, Scene 2, of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream . The club motto implies that outside concerns and business deals are to be left outside. When gathered in groups, Bohemians usually adhere to the injunction, though discussion of business often occurs between pairs of members. [20]

Bret Harte Memorial

The Bret Harte Memorial by Jo Mora Bret Harte Memorial A.jpg
The Bret Harte Memorial by Jo Mora

A bronze relief by Jo Mora is installed on the exterior of the building. It serves as a memorial to author and poet Bret Harte. The relief, which is 3 ft 3+7⁄8 in (101.3 cm) by 7 ft 11+5⁄8 in (242.9 cm) by 2+1⁄2 in (6.4 cm), was first dedicated on August 15, 1919, as a tribute by Mora, who was a member, to fellow Bohemian Club member Harte. The relief shows fifteen characters from books by Harte. It is inscribed:

Proper left, upper corner:

J J MORA AUGUST 15, 1919

Proper left, lower edge:

L. DE ROME BRONZE FOUNDRY

Top center wreath:

IN MEMORIAM BRET HARTE 1836–1902 AD

followed by the founder's mark for L. De Rome. When the original building was torn down, the relief was removed. In 1934, it was reinstalled on the building that stands today. [21]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bret Harte</span> American fiction writer and poet (1836–1902)

Bret Harte was an American short story writer and poet best remembered for short fiction featuring miners, gamblers, and other romantic figures of the California Gold Rush. In a career spanning more than four decades, he also wrote poetry, plays, lectures, book reviews, editorials, and magazine sketches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ina Coolbrith</span> American poet laureate, writer, and librarian (1841–1928)

Ina Donna Coolbrith was an American poet, writer, librarian, and a prominent figure in the San Francisco Bay Area literary community. Called the "Sweet Singer of California", she was the first California Poet Laureate and the first poet laureate of any American state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bohemian Grove</span> Private mens club in California, United States

The Bohemian Grove is a restricted 2,700-acre (1,100-hectare) campground in Monte Rio, California. Founded in 1878, it belongs to a private gentlemen's club known as the Bohemian Club. In mid-July each year, the Bohemian Grove hosts a more than two-week encampment of some of the most prominent men in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bohemianism</span> Practice of an unconventional lifestyle

Bohemianism is a social and cultural movement that has, at its core, a way of life away from society's conventional norms and expectations. The term originates from the French bohème and spread to the English-speaking world. It was used to describe mid-19th-century non-traditional lifestyles, especially of artists, writers, journalists, musicians, and actors in major European cities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cremation of Care</span> Annual ritual production by and for members of the Bohemian Club

The Cremation of Care is an annual ritual production written, produced, and performed by and for members of the Bohemian Club. It is staged at the Bohemian Grove near Monte Rio, California, in front of a 40-foot tall image of an owl, at a small artificial lake amid a private old-growth grove of Redwood trees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jo Mora</span> Artist, sculptor, illustrator

Joseph Jacinto Mora was a Uruguayan-born American cowboy, photographer, artist, cartoonist, illustrator, painter, muralist, sculptor, and historian who wrote about his experiences in California. He has been called the "Renaissance Man of the West".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California Club</span> United States historic place

The California Club is an invitation-only private club established in 1888, based in Los Angeles, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicago Club</span> United States historic place

The Chicago Club, founded in 1869, is a private social club located at 81 East Van Buren Street at Michigan Avenue in the Loop neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. Its membership has included many of Chicago's most prominent businessmen, politicians, and families.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">H. Morse Stephens</span> Anglo-American historian and professor of history

H. Morse Stephens was an American historian and professor of history at the University of California, Berkeley who helped to purchase the Bancroft Library, and who worked to build archives of California history, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and World War I.

The Belizean Grove is an elite, invitation-only American women's social club, located in New York City. The club was founded in 2001 by Susan Stautberg, a former Westinghouse Broadcasting executive, and author and futurist Edie Weiner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel O'Connell (journalist)</span> Irish poet, actor, writer and journalist

Daniel O'Connell (II) (1849 – 23 January 1899) was a poet, actor, writer and journalist in San Francisco, California, and a co-founder of the Bohemian Club. He was the grand-nephew of Daniel O'Connell (1775–1847), the famed Irish orator and politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Edwards (entomologist)</span> English-born actor and entomologist (1827–1891)

Henry Edwards was an English stage actor, writer and entomologist who gained fame in Australia, San Francisco and New York City for his theatre work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James F. Bowman</span> American journalist and writer (1826 – 1882)

James F. Bowman was a journalist and poet in Northern California, and a co-founder of the Bohemian Club. Bowman served on several newspapers in Placerville, Sacramento and San Francisco during a 24-year career. Through his contacts among San Francisco journalists, Bowman befriended Mark Twain, artist William Keith, critic Ambrose Bierce and a great many others.

The San Francisco Art Association (SFAA) was an organization that promoted California artists, held art exhibitions, published a periodical, and established the first art school west of Chicago. The SFAA – which, by 1961, completed a long sequence of mission shifts and re-namings to become the San Francisco Art Institute – was the predecessor of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Over its lifetime, the association helped establish a Northern California regional flavor of California Tonalism as differentiated from Southern California American Impressionism.

Francisco Mora was a Mexican artist of the "Mexican School" of mural painters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montgomery Block</span> Historic site in California, U.S.

The Montgomery Block, also known as Monkey Block and Halleck's Folly, was a historic building active from 1853 to 1959, and was located in San Francisco, California. It was San Francisco's first fireproof and earthquake resistant building. It came to be known as a Bohemian center, from the late 19th to the middle of the 20th-century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Porter Garnett</span>

Porter Garnett was a playwright, critic, editor, librarian, teacher, and printer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nathanial Brittan Party House</span> United States historic place

The Nathanial Brittan Party House, also known as Nathaniel Brittan Party House,Brittan Party House, Brittan Lodge, is located at 125 Dale Avenue in San Carlos, California, and was built in 1872. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.

References

Notes
  1. ↑ "Bohemian Club". National Center for Charitable Statistics. Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
  2. ↑ Kay, Jane (July 6, 2009). "No retreat from uproar over Bohemian Club woods". San Francisco Chronicle . Retrieved 14 July 2009.
  3. ↑ "Bohemian Grove - men only". 10 July 2011.
  4. ↑ "Bohemian Club". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 2017-08-21.
  5. ↑ "Bohemian Grove: Where the rich and powerful go to misbehave". Washington Post. Retrieved 2017-08-21.
  6. ↑ Garnett, 1908.
  7. ↑ Domhoff, 1975.
  8. 1 2 Buchanan, Paul D. (2002-09-02). "National Register #94001500: Brittan Party House in San Carlos, California". noehill.com. The Daily Journal. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
  9. ↑ "San Carlos History". City of San Carlos. Archived from the original on 2024-03-26. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
  10. ↑ Buchanan, Paul D. (2002-09-02). "Party House was synonym for fun and frolic". San Mateo Daily Journal. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
  11. 1 2 3 The Mark Twain Project. Explanatory Notes regarding the letter from Samuel Langhorne Clemens to Charles Warren Stoddard, 23 Apr 1867. Retrieved on July 26, 2009.
  12. 1 2 Ogden, Dunbar H.; Douglas McDermott; Robert Károly Sarlós Theatre West: Image and Impact, Rodopi, 1990, pp. 17–42. ISBN   90-5183-125-0
  13. ↑ Interview with Michael Henry De Young, 1915, reproduced at https://archive.org/stream/variedtypes00odayrich/variedtypes00odayrich_djvu.txt.
  14. 1 2 The Elite directory for San Francisco and Oakland, Argonaut Publishing Co., 1879, pp. 175–184.
  15. ↑ Bohemian Club. Constitution, By-laws, and Rules, Officers, Committees, and Members, Bohemian Club, 1904, p. 11. Semi-centennial high jinks in the Grove, 1922, Bohemian Club, 1922, pp. 11–22.
  16. ↑ Parry, 2005, pp. 218–219.
  17. 1 2 Parry, 2005, p. 238.
  18. ↑ Finn, Maria (October 9, 2010). "Keeping Reality at Bay". Wall Street Journal.
  19. ↑ Edwards, Robert W. (2012). Jennie V. Cannon: The Untold History of the Carmel and Berkeley Art Colonies, Vol. 1. Oakland, Calif.: East Bay Heritage Project. pp. 164, 175 note 66. ISBN   9781467545679. An online facsimile of the entire text of Vol. 1 is posted on the Traditional Fine Arts Organization website (http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/10aa/10aa557.htm Archived 2016-04-29 at the Wayback Machine ).
  20. ↑ Peter Martin Phillips, A Relative Advantage: Sociology of the San Francisco Bohemian Club Archived 2012-08-12 at the Wayback Machine , 1994.
  21. ↑ "Bret Harte Memorial, (sculpture)". Save Outdoor Sculpture! . Smithsonian American Art Museum . Retrieved 2012-05-09.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Archival Sources

37°47′17″N122°24′42″W / 37.78814°N 122.41160°W / 37.78814; -122.41160

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.