The View from Here

At Bohemian Grove, one of America’s oldest, most secretive men’s clubs, the rich and powerful have long played hard and made everyone else work longer and harder

By William D. Cohan

There’s quite the brouhaha brewing at Bohemian Grove, the 150-year-old, ultra-exclusive, all-male campground hard by the Russian River, in Monte Rio, California.

The 2,700-acre woodland retreat, an offshoot of the Bohemian Club on Taylor Street in San Francisco, 90 minutes to the southeast, comprises some 140 smaller camps, most managed by their own crew of “valets”—a catchall term for service staff that includes chefs, cleaners, and general managers. Some camps have 10 members; others have as many as 50. When it’s in full bloom, Bohemian Grove is like a small city in the woods.