Bohemian Grove camp parties were like college but with ‘more money and better alcohol,’ says ex-employee suing club

A former employee of the elite and mysterious Bohemian Grove, who is now suing the long-established social club, claims that the club’s famous summer camps function as expensive fraternal parties and lead to “a lot of public urination “.

Anthony Gregg, one of three named plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit against the club, said in a recent statement Airmail Interview the men who attend the club’s summer camps spend the sessions partying like they’re young again.

“These guys don’t want that college experience to go away,” he said.

“Now they (just) have more money and better booze,” he added. The article notes that there is also significant public urination among redwoods.

The lawsuit was filed in June in San Francisco and alleges that as luxury camp valets, they were required to work “non-stop” for 16 hours, during which time they would not have had a break to go to the camps. bathroom or for lunch.

Although its all-male membership is kept secret, notable Grove attendees have included Clint Eastwood, Henry Kissinger, Walter Cronkite, Richard Nixon, Ronald, George HW Bush, Reagan, Herbert Hoover, Charles Schwab, Mark Twain, Bill Gates, Conan O’Brien and Clarence Thomas.

The lawsuit says the employees were paid for eight hours a day, and none for the immense amount of overtime they worked.

He also alleges that, despite having tens of millions of dollars in assets and a membership that includes some of the wealthiest men on the planet, employees have often been told that the club simply doesn’t have enough money to fund salary increases.

The campaign for Richard Nixon’s 1968 presidential election is said to have been launched in the camp. It was also the site of the first discussions of the Manhattan Project between J. Robert Oppenheimer and Edward Teller.

The Bohemian Club, founded in 1872 by a group of journalists, writers and actors, banked more than $4.5 million in 2020, according to its latest federal tax returns, which also showed total assets of over of $38 million.

The club, officially run from a clubhouse in the city of San Francisco, denounced the lawsuit when it was filed, saying “those involved were never employed at the club and that the lawsuit is” an attempt transparent to lead the club in their individual situation. .’

“We have reviewed the allegations and it is clear that the claims appearing in the lawsuit are brought by individuals who have never been employed by the Bohemian Club and therefore the Club should not be a party to this action,” said the club in a June statement.

Despite the club’s claims, Gregg says he believes the club will choose to settle the dispute quickly once it reaches the discovery stage.

“I know where the bodies are buried,” he said.

William Cohan, who wrote the Air Mail article, points out that drinking is the main activity at Grove’s summer meetings.

“It’s the kind of party learned in a fraternity and developed by men whose careers depend on sociability: sparkling gin in the morning; Kahlua and coffee; wine at lunch, white then red; more wine at dinner; and, regularly, Manhattans with cigars,” he wrote.

Rumor has it that a special cocktail at The Grove is called Nembutal, Cohan claims. The drink consists of hot chocolate fortified with horse tranquilizer, a concoction that sometimes causes loss of bowel and bladder control.

Drugs, however, are strictly prohibited on the Northern California campus.

The world’s elite have been flocking to the lavish Californian club’s summer camp for more than 150 years, where the true colors of this swashbuckling retreat have been shrouded in secrecy.

Decades-old questions about the club’s practices could find an answer as the trial unfolds publicly.

The court filing claims that the club holds three events each year: the Spring Jinx, the Spring Picnic – the only event to which wives, daughters and girlfriends are invited, and the Summer Encampment.

It has long been rumored that the summer conference would end with a bizarre ceremony involving a human effigy and the burning of a giant sacrificial owl.

For those invited to the Sonoma County Estate, participants are split into some 140 separate camps, with names such as Camel Camps, Last Chance Camps, and Monastery Camp – considered the most luxurious of options.

Wealthy members of the club are rumored to go wild at camp, including performing plays and musical theatre.

Although the Grove’s motto is “The woven spiders don’t come here” – a quote from Shakespeare implying that outside affairs are not encouraged – club members are regularly a who’s who of power and wealth.

Membership wait times have been known to stretch for thirty years, but once registered, members find themselves in the heart of a billionaire’s playground.

Bohemian Club treasurer Bill Dawson has reportedly been singled out in the lawsuit, who accuses him of ordering valets to “false payroll records and work outside normal hours”.

The document claims that attendees would all be “aware” that valets would be working “almost non-stop” while in the field, taking few or no breaks.

“Employees were intimidated or coerced into forgoing meal periods,” the complaint states, adding that workers were not allowed to make phone calls longer than 30 minutes, and were not allowed to call them at all. pass between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.

Staff also report being paid “under the table”.

During a Spring Jinx “lunch Burgundian”, it is alleged that four valets worked “non-stop for approximately 18 hours, providing a two-course lunch and dinner for 90 guests”.

The Burgundian lunch is organized at the monastery camp and it is mandatory that each participant provides a “superb” bottle of Burgundy. One of the plaintiffs claims to believe that the guests consumed $175,000 worth of wine this year during the luncheon.