Bohemian Club: San Francisco’s Most Exclusive Private Club
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Quick Overview
What Is the Bohemian Club?
The Bohemian Club is a private men’s club headquartered at 624 Taylor Street in San Francisco. It was founded in 1872 by a group of journalists and artists looking to build a community around creative and intellectual exchange — basically, a hangout for the city’s free-spirited types who loved art, writing, and good conversation.
Over time, the club’s reputation grew, and the membership shifted. What started as a gathering of young reporters and painters gradually expanded to include musicians, businessmen, and entrepreneurs. Today, the Bohemian Club has roughly 2,500 members, and the roster reads more like a power list than an artists’ colony — former U.S. Presidents, corporate CEOs, and global leaders all hold memberships. The club also extends temporary membership to university professors and military commanders.
The Bohemian Grove Connection
The club’s San Francisco headquarters is only half the story. The Bohemian Club also owns Bohemian Grove, a 2,700-acre property in Monte Rio, Sonoma County, set among towering coast redwoods along the Russian River. Every summer, the club holds a two-week retreat there (some sources say three weeks) where members gather for lectures, concerts, theatrical performances, and the event the Grove is most famous for: the “Cremation of Care” ceremony.
That ceremony is a dramatic, theatrical production performed in front of a large owl statue. It’s meant to symbolize the members leaving behind their everyday concerns for a period of brotherhood and relaxation. Whether that sounds intriguing or a little odd depends on who you ask — but it’s been happening for well over a century.
Arts, Camps, and Culture
Despite its reputation as a gathering of the powerful, the Bohemian Club has legitimate roots in the arts. The club has commissioned works from some of the most significant artists of the 20th century, including Mark Rothko, Diego Rivera, and John Sloan. That creative tradition continues through the club’s internal “camps” — smaller groups within the larger membership that focus on specific interests like music, theater, and literature.
The Secrecy Factor
The Bohemian Club is well known for its strict privacy rules. Members are prohibited from taking photographs or recording any aspect of club activities, which, predictably, has made the club a magnet for conspiracy theories. Some have speculated about shadowy connections to secret societies, but those claims have never been substantiated.
Several U.S. Presidents have been members, including Herbert Hoover, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush. The club has been the subject of books and documentaries, most notably the 2000 film Dark Secrets: Inside Bohemian Grove.
The Redwoods That Surround the Grove
There’s a placard about the Bohemian Club right inside Muir Woods National Monument — a reminder that the club’s private retreat sits in the same type of ancient coastal redwood ecosystem. The connection between San Francisco’s cultural history and Northern California’s old-growth forests is part of what makes the best hikes near San Francisco so interesting: you’re walking through the same landscape that’s been attracting artists, writers, and power brokers for over 150 years.
You don’t need a Bohemian Club membership to walk among 1,000-year-old trees. Our Muir Woods morning tour gets you into old-growth redwoods with small groups and knowledgeable guides — plus a stop in Sausalito on the way back. If you’d rather pair the forest with wine tasting, the Redwoods & Wine Country tour combines a Muir Woods visit with stops at Napa and Sonoma wineries.
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Exclusive Muir Woods, Napa & Sonoma Valley Wine Tour
The only wine country tour to combine three Napa & Sonoma Valley wineries with a morning excursion to San Francisco’s stunning Coast Redwood forest – Muir Woods.
Muir Woods Redwood Forest and Sausalito Morning Tour
This is the only Muir Woods tour with guided audio narration inside the park. Walk under the world’s tallest trees, then enjoy charming Sausalito.