The rituals and plays put on at Bohemian Grove are inspired by all sorts of mythology, folklore, and religion, but there may be a connection there to the Vatican. Located in remote Sonoma County, north of San Francisco, Bohemian Grove's exclusivity and secrecy has inspired both protests and conspiracy theories. This unexpected gift still guards the library room in the Bohemians' large club building in San Francisco except during the encampment at the Grove, that is. They are former president George H. W. Bush, actor Clint Eastwood, and fabled news anchor Walter Cronkite. As it is, this one list tantalizes us with hypotheses and possibilities. Next the form goes to the second sponsor, who answers the same questions as the first sponsor in addition to listing five members of the club to whom the applicant is personally known. We each had a few hits of a Grade B joint, and then he suddenly said I could have the rest. The next steps were special emblems, a handsome little lodge or specially constructed tepees, a permanent bar, and maybe a grand piano. Because this speech traditionally was off the record it received no publicity at the time. I also obtained several picture postcards of the encampment during this visit. Despite the suspicions of many on the Right, and a few on the Left, it is not a secret meeting place to plot, plan, or conspire. Exact dates, general background and more. Or maybe all the artists or writers will be invited to a luncheon or a dinner at a camp. Over three hundred original works of art are usually available for viewing. He shouts, "Bring fire," and the torchbearers enter (18 strong). Many other prominent administrators and professors could be cited, for this group is the most prestigious in the club in terms of honors and positions. One of his first assignments was as a tutor to the heir apparent to the kingship of Bohemia. In other words, they came to a deal at the Grove, with Reagan saying he would only enter the primaries if Nixon faltered. Someone will decide to bring together all the jazz musicians in the Grove for a special session. Strange, but true. The Grove is particularly famous for a Manhattan Project planning meeting that took place there in September 1942, which subsequently led to the atomic bomb. Others walk down the River Road to look at the meandering water of the Russian River 150 feet below; often they take the winding path down to the river and its beach, where they sit on the large beach deck, wade in the shallow water along the banks, swim in the specially developed swimming hole, or even paddle out in one of the Grove canoes. 11 in "centrality"; see the table below. After all, it is a night for rejoicing. He asked the club president to continue to lead people into the woods, adding that he in turn would redouble his efforts to lead people out of the woods. He used the occasion to say that his son George W. Bush would make a great president some day. Masters of the Universe Go to Camp: Inside the Bohemian Grove They were a group of guys with a different perspective than most, who liked flaunting it in each other's company. Some wander about quietly, drink in hand, enjoying the redwood trails. The Bohemian Club was founded in the early spring of 1872 by a small group of San Francisco journalists, writers, actors, and lawyers who wanted to have a place where they could go to enjoy the arts and put together amateur artistic performances. They are happy that the good fellowship created by the Bohemian Grove is able to banish Care even for a short time. And yet, when his secret tapes were made available years later, it turns out he also badmouthed the Bohemians: "The Bohemian Club, which I attend from time to time is the most faggy goddamned thing you could ever imagine, with the San Francisco crowd. The Owl is going to rise to the occasion! The script varies only slightly each year. Members vary as to how interesting and informative they find the Lakeside Talks. Then a spotlight illuminates the tree you've been watching, and there emerges from it a hamadryad, a "tree spirit," whose life, according to Greek mythology, is intimately bound up with the tree in which it lives. They provide a basis for smaller and less-organized entertainments in an even more intimate atmosphere. In 1989 a male member of the cast called the burly men playing the parts of women "heifers," which soon led the audience to moo each time the heifers appeared on the stage. He said he wanted to respect their pride in it. Bohemian Grove: The Most Forbidden Place in America - YouTube Postmodernists might call it a meta-ritual. ", The inspirational music of the "Fire Finale" now begins, and an aura of light glows about the Owl's head. I took to saying that from a social-psychological point of view, the upper class is made up of constantly shifting face-to-face small groups a board of directors meeting at the corporation in the morning, a meeting of a policy discussion group in the afternoon, a drink with some buddies at an exclusive club in the evening. The Grove Committee was first formed in 1900 when the club finally purchased the land it had been using for many of its encampments since 1880. The prospect then makes appointments to see individually the members of the Membership Committee. Finally, in a fit of rage, he ordered Saint John hurled into the river to drown. Some of the men are playing the funereal music; others are carrying long torches whose flames are a spectacular sight against the darkened forest. Important political and business deals have been developed at the Grove. If this is a web site about power, politics, and social change, why bother with the Bohemian Grove if it is not a place of power? You are starting to get the picture of just how hokey this all is. A Lakeside Talk was a key setting, the start of his comeback, he says: "If I were to choose the speech that gave me the most pleasure and satisfaction in my political career, it would be my Lakeside Speech at the Bohemian Grove in July 1967. and to build missiles. The Little Friday Night is held on the second weekend of the encampment. I asked everyone I knew in and around Santa Cruz, which is only 150 miles from the Bohemian Grove, if they knew anything about it, and soon found students who knew students who had worked there, and friends who had friends who had once been performing members i.e., members who pay reduced dues in exchange for helping to put on all the entertainment that goes on at the Grove. A visit by President Teddy Roosevelt and his family in 1905 was duly mentioned in a city newspaper. The Cremation of Care is the most spectacular event of the midsummer retreat, but there are several other entertainments as well. The most specialized camps in terms of membership tend to be made up of the singers, musicians, and other performers who are there to entertain the "regular" members. Members of BG meet again soon, twice this year. The only light remaining comes from the small flame in the Lamp of Fellowship. The Bohemian Grove is a 2,700-acre virgin redwood grove in Northern California, 75 miles north of San Francisco (map), where the rich, the powerful, and their entourage visit with each other during the last two weeks of July while camping out in cabins and tents. The outlandish Lost Angels camp was a huge success in outraging members of other camps. As this climax approaches, some 50 minutes after the march began, the quiet onlookers on the other side of the lake begin to come alive. A few years later, some extreme right-wingers got hold of my book and concluded that the "Cremation of Care" ceremony, a harmless put-on that starts the encampment, in fact promotes devil worship and homosexuality. Bohemian Grove - U.S. National Park Service They require planning, coordination, and money, and Bohemians are proud of the fact that they are part of a club which creates its own theatrical enjoyments. We constructed a large matrix based on the overlapping members in 30 of these types of organizations. (I believe this is a true story based upon book citations). The pluralists promptly distorted what I argued by saying I was a conspiratorial thinker who believes that policy is made in secret at the Bohemian Grove. I am sure he was aware that he was in enemy territory among this generally conservative group. Moreover, there is a literature in social psychology, called small-group research, or small-group dynamics, which shows that people who meet in relaxed settings, and see their group as exclusive, become even tighter with each other than people in ordinary groups. It is all very fancy. On this occasion Eisenhower, then president of Columbia University, was the honored guest. Several months after the poet Stoddard introduced Saint John to his fellow Bohemians, a small statue of Saint John arrived at the clubhouse in San Francisco from faraway Czechoslovakia. For this, there are the Little Friday Night and the Big Saturday Night. Gradually a day turned into a weekend, and then into a trip further north to Santa Rosa County, to an area then know as Meeker's Grove, where the "Cremation of Care" was first performed in 1880. It was not a polished speech, but he delivered it without notes and he had the good sense not to speak too long. But when we went back to talk about the Cremation ceremony, he decided he didn't want to give me any details because he knew the ceremony meant so much to the members. It contains all the amenities of the usual upper-class club, except that it has no athletic facilities whatsoever. In mid-July each year, Bohemian Grove hosts a two-week, three-weekend encampment of some of the most powerful men in the world. As might be expected, the overlap was especially great among the largest corporations, with 23 of the top 25 industrials represented in 1970, 15 of 25 in 1980. No women. The committee also makes sure that 3,500 bottles of wine are available for purchase by members and guests at the Grove encampment. The followers, talking quietly and remarking on the once-again-perfect Grove weather, move to the left so they can observe the ceremony from a green meadow on the other side of the lake. Any moral messages center on inevitable human frailty, not social injustice. Like most organizations in the United States, the club is run through a set of semiautonomous committees, and it is the job of the board of directors to appoint these committees. A Guide to the Bohemian Grove | Vanity Fair This is the body of Care, symbolizing the concerns and woes that important men supposedly must bear in their daily lives. Former president Herbert Hoover was inducted into the Old Guard on March 19, 1953; he had joined the club exactly 40 years prior. The top two floors of the clubhouse contain small meeting rooms, rehearsal rooms, and several small apartments and rooms, which usually are rented to older resident members or out-of-town members temporarily located in San Francisco. For the top 100 corporations outside of California, the figure was 42%, compared to 64% in 1971. For evenings without large productions, there are less formal Campfire Circle entertainments featuring the band, the orchestra, the chorus, or individual storytellers and entertainers. The expense of the play is one way they can relate to its worth.". It is meant to signal that the encampment is a time for relaxation, drinking, and fun. Seventy were listed in the Los Angeles Blue Book, 24 in the New York Social Register, 12 in the Chicago Social Register, and five in the Houston and Philadelphia Social Registers. Fools! There is a glass-covered sun deck on the roof. Many of their guests were people in public life: Joseph Alioto, Mayor of San Francisco; Melvin Laird, Secretary of Defense; Alfred Nelder, Chief of Police in San Francisco; Peter J. Pitcbess, Sheriff of Los Angeles County; Samuel Yorty, Mayor of Los Angeles; and Ronald Reagan, Governor of California. New associate members have no trouble claiming their rightful place there are no waiting lists for men of talent. A majority of the camps are strewn along what is called the River Road, but some are huddled in other areas within five or ten minutes of the center of the Grove. As the procession approaches the dining circle, the dim figures become more distinct, and attention fixes on several men not previously noticed. Then there developed little camp traditions and endearing camp names like Cliff Dwellers, Moonshiners, Silverado Squatters, Woof, Zaca, Toyland, Sundodgers, and Land of Happiness. The Bohemian Grove is one of the most mysterious and forbidden places on Earth. Once at the lake the several priests and the body of Care go off to the right, in the direction of a very large altar which faces the lake. The prospect himself must fill out a membership application form obtained for him by his sponsors. The Grove hosts a three weekend camp for the members and guests. Among Cave Man's highly conservative members in the 1970s were leaders of an ultra-conservative think tank, the Hoover Institution, located at Stanford University; a major Nixon fund raiser who was also a director of two major corporations of that day; a newspaper publisher who owned newspapers in Indianapolis and Phoenix; famed aviator Eddie Rickenbacker; and a retired army general. Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Muir Woods National Monument, Download the official NPS app before your next visit. It is an imposing six-story building only a few blocks from the financial district of downtown San Francisco. They include a listing in certain social registers and blue books, attendance at one of a few dozen expensive private schools, and membership in one of several dozen exclusive social clubs. "I led the audience on a tour of the world, tracing the changes and examining the conflicts, finding both danger and opportunity as the United States entered the final third of the twentieth century. In the little Grove museum featuring birds and mammals from the area, the Rattler's Camp put the following sign above the rattlesnake exhibit: "Anyone looking at this rattlesnake is hereby entitled to a free drink at Rattler's Camp.". To gain a sense of what it's like to take part, imagine yourself comfortably seated in the beautiful open-air dining hall. What made all this amusing was, first, that he had no shame that there hadn't even been any Jewish members until a year or two before, and he readily admitted some anti-Semitic comments were made when the first Jewish candidates were proposed and this in the early 1970s. After he got himself an invitation, and the press heard about it, a flap developed, as revealed to me by one of my informants, who was the Grove telephone operator at the time. For those who still might question my conclusions after reading this article, I recommend reading an excellent first-hand account of the Bohemian Grove by a journalist from Spy magazine who snuck into the encampment in 1989; the author had every incentive to tell it exactly as he saw it. I say these methods are "relatively reliable" because no social indicators in any aspect of the social sciences are likely to be perfect. What Really Goes On At Bohemian Grove - Grunge Even better, people in exclusive groups are more likely to listen to each other and come to a compromise if they have the task of figuring out what to do about some policy issue. In the case of Jinks, they had found a Scottish word which denotes, generally speaking, a frolic, although it also was used in the past to refer to a drinking bout which involved a matching of wits to see who paid for the drinks. Who Rules America: Social Cohesion & the Bohemian Grove Pluralists deride the idea that there could be class domination in the United States, and one of the reasons they do is that the upper class of rich people is allegedly too fragmented to be able to organize for power. Anything you plan or save automagically syncs with the apps, ready for you to hit the road! The bylaws of the Bohemian Club ensure that at least one hundred of the members of the club shall be professional members. Soon they added little amenities like their own special stove or a small permanent structure. No other club, however, attempts to put on a program of entertainments and encampments. They came from all over the United States (34 states), as well as from Mexico (6), Japan (3), and Spain, the Philippines, England, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, and Hong Kong (one each). The highlight of a Grove encampment is an opening day initiation ceremony called "The Cremation of Care," in which the campers are given permission to forget their worldly duties and responsibilities, and instead focus on having a good time, just like in the old days, when they were young and supposedly carefree. Just as quickly he ignites the funeral pyre and triumphantly hurls the torch into the blaze. Similarly, we found that officers and directors from 20 of the top 25 commercial banks (including all of the 15 largest) were on our lists. A few titles give the flavor: The Man in the Forest, The Cave Man , The Fall of Ug, The Rout of the Philistines, The Golden Feather, Johnny Appleseed, A Jest of Robin Hood, Rip Van Winkle, The Bonnie Cravat, The Fall of Pompeii. "That Grove stage is about ten thousand square feet, and there are all sorts of pathways leading into it from the hillside behind it. If such lists were available for a lengthy time span, they would provide the basis for an intimate understanding of the cliques and friendship patterns within the country's ruling circles. There he makes a flowery speech about the ripple of waters, the song of birds, the forest floor, and evening's cool kiss. As the Republican nominee in an uphill Senate battle, I was about two places from the bottom. Using a list of 1,144 corporations, well beyond the 800 used in the studies for 1970 and 1980, Phillips nonetheless found that 24% of these companies had at least one director who was a member or guest in 1993. Right from the start, there was constant friendly argument about the differences between artists and men of commerce. The Jungle Camp features mint juleps, Halcyon has a three-foot-high martini maker constructed out of chemical glassware. It didn't take the club long to start going on the little summer jaunts that eventually became the Bohemian Grove encampment. Even socialist author Jack London, who resisted the label of Bohemian for that of vagabond, was acceptable for membership at the turn of the century, although there was some concern expressed over his radical ideas and his fancy white silk shirts with long, flowing ties. Berkeley colleague Robert Oppenheimer, various military officials, the S-1 Committee heads such as the president of Harvard, along with representatives of Standard Oil and General Electric. It meets about five times a year for "working" sessions. Suddenly there is a great clap of thunder and a rush of wind. Then he invokes the motto of the club, "Weaving spiders, come not here!" In mid-July each year, Bohemian Grove hosts a more than two-week encampment of some of the most prominent men in the world. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. These activities do contribute to social cohesion as an unintended consequence which is why I decided to study the Bohemians in the first place but the Grove is merely a playground for the powerful and their entertainers that gives us a window into a lifestyle that is far removed from that of average Americans. The entire parade (mostly white, mostly elderly) makes its way along a road leading to a picturesque little lake that is yet another of the sylvan sights the Bohemian Grove has to offer. Every person who has written seriously on the Bohemian Grove agrees: even though they provide evidence that there is a socially cohesive upper class in the United States, the activities at the Grove itself are harmless. The attention of the spectators on the other side of the lake slowly drifts back to the Owl shrine; it is illuminated by a gentle flame from the Lamp of Fellowship, which sits at its base. It features newspapers and magazines from all over the world, little statues on pedestals and tables, high-vaulted ceilings, a plush Oriental rug, and members reading their Wall Street Journals. Several magazines of the era wrote about the occasion, stressing its cultural aspects. It's early evening and the clear July air is still pleasantly warm. Although the official line about Grove camps stresses their essential equality, there are in fact differences among them. "You don't just walk in there," said one informant. One rightist even suggests there is child sacrifice at the Bohemian Grove. Throughout the 1880s, the members simply rented Meeker's Grove for their outings, and even went to a nearby setting in one year. Lost Angels was happy to return to the plainer and simpler atmosphere that the Grove tries to maintain, but it is still regarded as one of the nicest camps in the Grove. Upon closer inspection the box turns out to be an open coffin, and in that coffin is a body, a human body that looks real enough to be lifelike at a glance, but only an imitation, naturally, made of black muslin wrapped around a wooden skeleton. ", Whatever the quality, the plays are enormously elaborate productions, with huge casts, large stage sets, much singing, and dazzling lighting effects. Another camp had a soft porn collection. He beseeches the spectators to be inspired and awed by their surroundings, noting that this is Bohemia's shrine. Moments later an offstage chorus of "woodland voices" begins to sing. On the second and third visits, when I was asked if I had been there before, I told a little white lie and said "no," and took two more tours of this four-story building. The Club owns a 2,700 acre campground called the Bohemian Grove. The Bohemian Grove, and other watering holes and social clubs, are relevant to the study of power because they are evidence for the class cohesiveness that is one prerequisite for class domination. one of them will say to another. Whereas I thought that Texas oilmen and Wall Street bankers might well need a little fraternizing to come to trust each other, my critics on the left said the differences from industry to industry and region to region were trivial. The club has been using the 2,700-acre Bohemian Grove property a collection of buildings, dining venues, theaters, camp structures and redwoods since the 1890s. They were young and spirited in a still-young, still-small city that was infused with a can-do spirit based on the Gold Rush and the possibilities of trade with the Orient, among many new possibilities that had opened up since California was incorporated into the United States in 1850. As a recent president used to say in his letter of congratulations to new members, "You have joined not only a club, but a way of life.". John soon became fast friends with the fun-loving prince, often joining him in his spirited and amorous adventures. Although my study was well received in many circles, it did not convince anyone, and it got me some new criticisms besides. But the joys of the camps are not primarily in watching or listening to performances. Faculty members are distributed among twenty-eight camps. But enough of this kind of stuff. Then the king threatened him, which had no effect either. Most of the plays written for the High Jinks have a mythical or fantasy theme, although a significant minority have a historical setting. David Rumsey Map Collection The Washington Post's roundup of Bohemian Grove rumors includes a juicy one: The men put on shows at night, often dressing up as women, and entertain. There were also some slightly less conservative Republicans in the group, such as Lowell Thomas, the newscaster; Lowell Thomas, Jr., a director of the Alaska State Bank; and J. E. Wallace Sterling, the chancellor of Stanford University. A horn is sounded at the boat landing. Eventually they must have gotten wind of my study, because one day I received a telephone call from for a Bohemian a relatively young guy, maybe in his 40s. There are relatively reliable ways of determining whether or not a person is a member of the social upper class in America. A second and third priest then recall to memory deceased friends who loved the Bohemian Grove, and the high priest makes yet another effusive speech, the gist of it being that "Great Nature" is a "refuge for the weary heart" and a "balm for breasts that have been bruised.". Combining the results from these two indicators alone, the Social Register and the Pacific Union Club, we can say that 38% of the 928 regular resident members belong to the social upper class. Hospitality and a free drink are the proper form of behavior, and everyone talks about this easy congeniality. Costs are on the order of $130,000 to $150,000 per High Jinks in 2004 dollars, a large amount of money for a one-night production which does not have to pay a penny for salaries (the highest cost in any commercial production). The major parts in this drama are played by "associate" or "performing" members of the club, middle-class men with musical, theatrical, artistic, or literary talents. He had first told me about the Cremation at the start of our chat, and I had hurried past it, thinking I would come back to it, because I wanted to get a sense of the whole encampment before we got into details. Right behind the theater there is a shop for making stage sets, as well as costume rooms and makeup rooms. "Let all within the Grove be reverent before him." He goes by their places of business or law to be asked questions about why he wants to become a member of the Bohemian Club, but even more to be lectured by them about what it means to be a "good Bohemian.". The hopeful candidate then returns this membership application to his first sponsor, who fills out a part of it which asks for information on "musical, oratorical, literary, artistic, or histrionic talents."