For 150 years, the most elite private club in America kept its roster hidden. A persistent journalist just changed that.
Every summer, somewhere deep in the redwood forests of Sonoma County, some of the most powerful men in the world gather for two weeks and agree, formally, not to talk about work. The Bohemian Club has operated this way since 1872. For most of that time, the full extent of its membership remained one of the best-kept secrets in American life. That changed recently when investigative journalist Daniel Boguslaw published what he says is the club’s complete 2023 attendance list, containing roughly 2,200 names.
Why It Matters: The Bohemian Club is not a networking organization with a celebrity roster. It is a 150-year-old institution whose members have included sitting presidents, Cabinet secretaries, intelligence directors, and captains of industry, all gathering in a setting deliberately designed to operate outside public scrutiny. Knowing who attends matters precisely because the club has always insisted that no one should.
WHAT THE BOHEMIAN CLUB ACTUALLY IS
Founded in San Francisco in 1872 by a group of journalists, artists, and musicians, the club began as a gathering place for creative professionals seeking community. It did not stay that way. Over the following century it evolved into something far more exclusive: an invitation-only, men-only society of approximately 2,000 members, anchored by a city clubhouse on San Francisco’s Nob Hill and a 2,700-acre private campground in Monte Rio, in Sonoma County, beside the Russian River.
The annual summer encampment at what members call the Grove runs for two weeks each July. Photographs, recordings, and written accounts of what takes place inside are strictly prohibited. The club’s motto, borrowed from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, is “Weaving Spiders Come Not Here,” a formal instruction to leave business dealings at the gate.
The most discussed ritual is the Cremation of Care, a ceremony in which a burning human effigy is offered before a large stone owl, the club’s symbol. Interpretations of its meaning have ranged from harmless theatrical tradition to something more pointed, depending on who is doing the interpreting.
WHO IS ON THE LIST
The names Boguslaw published span entertainment, politics, finance, and media. Among those named are comedian and television host Conan O’Brien, former New York City mayor and businessman Michael Bloomberg, and former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt. Paul Pelosi, venture capitalist David Gifford Arscott, documentarian Ken Burns, and actor Jim Belushi also appear.
The political roster runs deep. Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese III, and former Director of the National Security Agency Bobby Inman are all named. The late Charles Koch and the late Jimmy Buffett appear as well.
The list also includes Paul Newman, who died in 2008, suggesting it draws on historical membership records in addition to active attendees.
The club’s historical membership has included George H.W. Bush, Henry Kissinger, and Richard Nixon, who reportedly used a Grove gathering to lay the groundwork for his successful 1968 presidential campaign.
HOW THE LIST SURFACED
Boguslaw obtained the document through what he described as simple persistence. He spent a week visiting the office of a club member until the person relented and handed it over. He subsequently published it on Substack as part of a broader investigation, conducted with More Perfect Union, into the club’s membership and the web of political and financial influence connecting its members.
The San Francisco Standard independently contacted an unnamed club member, who confirmed the list was genuine.
WHY IT HAS STAYED SECRET THIS LONG
The club’s privacy rules are explicit and strictly observed. No media, no documentation, no outside accounts. For most of its history, that was enough. The Grove sits on 2,700 acres of private land, far from public access, and the culture of discretion among members has historically been self-enforcing. When your fellow attendees include former heads of state, intelligence chiefs, and the architects of American foreign policy, the incentive to stay quiet is considerable.
The Manhattan Project, the research program that produced the first nuclear weapon, has been linked in historical accounts to conversations that took place at the Grove. Whether that connection is precise or apocryphal, it has contributed to the club’s reputation as a place where consequential decisions are shaped, regardless of what the motto says about spiders.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How does one become a member of the Bohemian Club? There is no application. Membership is strictly by invitation, extended by existing members who sponsor a candidate for consideration. The vetting process is lengthy, the waiting list is long, and sponsorship by a well-regarded member is essentially a prerequisite. Wealth alone is not sufficient. The club has historically valued a combination of professional distinction, personal character, and the right social connections. Some prospective members wait years before an invitation materializes, if one ever does.
Is there an initiation fee or annual dues? The club does not publish its fee structure, but by most accounts the initiation fee runs into the tens of thousands of dollars, with annual dues on top of that. Attendance at the Grove encampment carries additional costs. For the men on the membership list, these figures are not the barrier to entry. The invitation is.
Can guests attend the Bohemian Grove encampment? Members may bring guests to certain club functions, and the Grove encampment does allow for limited guest attendance under specific circumstances. However, the two-week summer retreat is primarily a members-only affair, and access is tightly controlled. Being brought as a guest by a current member is the only known path for non-members to experience the Grove firsthand.
Are women ever permitted at Bohemian Grove? No. The Bohemian Club is an exclusively male institution, and the Grove encampment is men-only. The club has faced legal challenges and public criticism over this policy for decades and has not changed it. Female staff have historically worked at the property, but membership and attendance at the retreat itself remain restricted to men.
What actually happens at the two-week encampment? By all accounts, the encampment is a combination of elaborate theatrical productions staged by members, live musical performances, lakeside talks by prominent figures on topics ranging from policy to science, heavy drinking, and a great deal of informal conversation among some of the most powerful men on earth. The Cremation of Care ceremony formally opens the retreat each year. Beyond that, what happens at the Grove is, by design, not discussed publicly.
Why is it called the Bohemian Club if it is now a club for billionaires? The name reflects the club’s origins rather than its current character. When it was founded in 1872, the membership was genuinely bohemian: journalists, writers, artists, and musicians gathering in the spirit of creative camaraderie. Wealthy patrons were eventually invited to help fund the club’s activities, and over the following decades the balance shifted decisively. The name stayed. The bohemians, for the most part, did not.
The Bottom Line: The Bohemian Club has survived 150 years of speculation, protest, and curiosity by keeping one thing tightly controlled: the names. That particular advantage is now gone. What changes as a result, if anything, will say as much about American power as the list itself. The Bohemian Club has not issued a public response to the publication of the 2023 membership list.
