The Bohemian Club’s all-male membership and guest list includes artists, particularly musicians, as well as many prominent business leaders, government officials (including U.S. presidents), senior media executives, and people of power. Members may invite guests to the Grove although those guests are subject to a screening procedure. A guest’s first glimpse of the Grove typically is during the “Spring Jinks” in June, preceding the main July encampment. Bohemian club members can schedule private day-use events at the Grove any time it is not being used for Club-wide purposes, and are allowed at these times to bring spouses, family and friends, though female and minor guests must be off the property by 9 or 10 pm.
After 40 years of membership the men earn “Old Guard” status, giving them reserved seating at the Grove’s daily talks, as well as other perquisites. Former president Herbert Hoover was inducted into the Old Guard on March 19, 1953; he had joined the club exactly 40 years prior. Redwood branches from the Grove were flown to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City where they were used to decorate a banquet room for the celebration. In his acceptance speech, Hoover compared the honor of the “Old Guard” status to his frequent role as veteran counselor to later presidents.
The Club motto is “Weaving Spiders Come Not Here,” which implies that outside concerns and business deals are to be left outside. When gathered in groups, Bohemians usually adhere to the injunction, though discussion of business often occurs between pairs of members. Important political and business deals have been developed at the Grove. The Grove is particularly famous for a Manhattan Project planning meeting that took place there in September 1942, which subsequently led to the atomic bomb. Those attending this meeting included Ernest Lawrence, U.C. Berkeley colleague Robert Oppenheimer, various military officials, the S-1 Committee heads such as the presidents of Harvard, Yale and Princeton along with representatives of Standard Oil and General Electric. At the time, Oppenheimer was not an official S-1 member due to security clearance troubles with the U.S. wartime Government, though Lawrence and Oppenheimer hosted the meeting. Grove members take particular pride in this event and often relate the story to new attendees.
- David Rockefeller: Banker and member of the Bilderberg Group, the CFR and the Trilateral Commission
- Nelson Rockefeller: Banker and member of the CFR, and MAJI-MJ12. Closely linked to the American military-industrial lobby, it is he who has placed in power Nixon and Kissinger.
- Henry Kissinger: Former Minister of Foreign Affairs under the Nixon presidency, a member of the Bilderberg Group, CFR, Trilateral Commission, and MAJI-MJ12.
- Herbert Hoover: President of the United States from 1929 to 1933
- Dwight Einsenhower: Warlord during World War II and President of the United States from 1953 to 1961
- Richard Nixon: President of the United States from 1969 to 1974
- Gerald Ford: President of the United States from 1974 to 1976
- Ronald Reagan: President of the United States from 1981 to 1988
- George H.W. Bush: President of the United States from 1989 to 1992, father of George W. Bush, former CIA director, a member of Skull and Bones, the CFR, MAJI of, among other
- George W. Bush: President of the United States from 2000 to 2008, a member of Skull and Bones
- Jeb Bush: The brother of George W. Bush and Florida Governor
- Dick Cheney: Vice President of the United States from 2001 to 2008, Minister of Defense from 1989 to 1992
- Colin Powell: Former defense minister Bush
- Caspar Weinberger: Former Minister of the American defense
- Eliott Richardson Former Minister of the American defense
- William Casey: Former CIA Director
- William Webster: Former FBI Director
- George Schulz: Former Minister of Foreign Affairs under Reagan, former defense minister H. Walker Bush, a member of the CFR
- Malcom Forbes: American billionaire
- James Baker: Former Minister of Foreign Affairs H. Walker Bush
- Arnold Schwarzenegger: California Governor
- Alan Greenspan: Chairman of the Fed
- Charles Schwab: President of Charles Schwab & Co, one of the largest companies in financial management and equity investments in the world
- Vernon Walters: Former Chief of Staff of the United States Army
- David Packard: Founder of Hewlett-Packard
- Lou Gerstner: IBM Chairman
- Alex Mandl: Vice president of AT&T
- Antonin Scala: Judge of the American Supreme Court
- Joseph Califano: Former Minister of Justice under Nixon and Reagan
- Pete Wilson: Former Governor of California
- Helmut Schmidt: Former Prime Minister German
- Valery Giscard d’Estaing: Former French president, a member of the Bilderberg Group, designer of the European Constitution.
- Michel Rocard: Former French prime minister, a member of the Bilderberg Group
- Tony Blair: Former British Prime Minister, a member of the Bilderberg Group
- Ferdinando Salleo: Last governor of Hong Kong
- Miguel de la Madrid: Former President of Mexico
- Edward Teller: Father of the American atomic bomb
- Walter Cronkite: Featured journalist CBS
- Francis Ford Coppola: Filmmaker, he directed the film The Godfather remains a masterpiece today.
- Franck Borman: astronaut
- Alexander Shulgin: Molecular chemist, inventor of Ecstasy and more than 200 other “psychedelic” substances (generating altered states of consciousness)
- Charlton Heston: Actor and president NRA (National Rifle Association), the American lobby owners of firearms
- Bono: U2 lead singer