Clint Eastwood and Bohemian Grove
S.F.’s exclusive clubs carry on traditions of fellowship, culture — and discrimination
Adair Lara, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, July 18, 2004
Members: George H.W. Bush; Gerald Ford; Henry Kissinger; Donald Rumsfeld; George Shultz; Alexander Haig; Colin Powell; rocker Steve Miller;Clint Eastwood.
Bohemian Club
Addresses: 624 Taylor St, and the Bohemian Grove, 75 miles northwest of San Francisco and just downstream from Guerneville
Membership: 2,700 (1 member per acre)
Waiting list: 3,000
Average number of years on waiting list: 15 to 20
Members: George H.W. Bush; Gerald Ford; Henry Kissinger; Donald Rumsfeld; George Shultz; Alexander Haig; Colin Powell; rocker Steve Miller;Clint Eastwood.
Slogan: “Weaving Spiders Come Not Here.”
Books to read about it: “The Bohemian Grove” by G. William Domhoff and “The Greatest Men’s Party on Earth” by John van der Zee.
Accept minorities: Yes, especially if they can play an instrument.
Best place to spy: Put your canoe in the Russian River at Northwood, just west of Johnson’s Beach in Guerneville, and head downstream past their floating boathouse. TheBohemians couldn’t buy the whole river. One suspects they are irked by this fact.
San Francisco Golf Club
Address: Brotherhood Way and Junipero Serra Boulevard
Founded: 1895
Membership: 300
Good movie for them to watch: “Gentlemen’s Agreement”
Historical tidbit: Hole 7 is site of the last official duel in California, between Sen. David S. Broderick and California Supreme Court Justice David S. Terry in 1859
Pacific-Union Club
Address: 1000 California St.
Founded: 1881, when the Pacific Club (1852) and the Union Club (1854) joined ranks.
Membership: 775
Members: David Packard, Ronald Pelosi, Peter McGowan, Henry Kaiser, Walter Haas, five Bechtels
General manager: Tom Gaston Jr.
Admit women: No
Slogan: None
Dues: “They keep raising them because nobody cares,” said member George Livermore.
Protests: Four years ago, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence carried huge altered portraits of the members dressed in gowns to complain that the city’s transvestites had no access to the club. “After all, just because you have a dress on doesn’t mean you don’t like to enjoy the club’s osso bucco and Grgich reds,” noted Supervisor Tom Ammiano.
Movies: Has a cameo in “Vertigo.”
Olympic Club
Addresses: 524 Post St. and 599 Skyline Blvd. on Highway 35 near Palo Mar Stables
Membership: 6,000
Founded: 1860
Slogan: “O Realm Where Stalwart Manhood Rules.”
Stalwart womanhood: Yes, since 1992
Web site: www.olyclub.com
Fun facts: The women’s Metropolitan Club and the Olympic Club
talked about merging about 20 years ago. The Metropolitan Club
(formerly the Women’s Athletic Club) turned the boys down.
This article appeared on page A – 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
