The Bohemian Club was founded in San Francisco in 1872 as a gathering place for men interested in arts and culture.

Members chose an owl as the club’s totem and gathered regularly to socialize, drink and put on musical and theatrical performances.

However, these musicians, artists, writers, lawyers and journalists were intellectual men of means, rather than impoverished Bohemians.

In 1882, the witty Irish playwright and poet Oscar Wilde visited the Bohemian Club and remarked, “I never saw so many well-dressed, well-fed, business-looking Bohemians in my life.”

This 1940s wine list cover features the Bohemian Club's owl, clearly a connoisseur of California and imported wines, brandies and liquors. The list features a 1916 Chateau Latour, a 1934 Chateau Lafite and a 1926 Krug.

The owl illustrations were created by Albert Jean Camille (1904-1981), a member of the club. Born in Jeanerette, Louisiana, he moved to Berkeley in 1921 to attend the California College of Arts and Crafts and the California School of Fine Art.

Camille designed the costumes, stage sets and illustrated programs for the plays that were held in the Grove, the 2,700-acre property owned by the club. Highly private and accessible only to members, a large concrete owl was built in 1929 in the center of the camp.

This location near Guerneville, some 75 miles outside San Francisco, still hosts up to 2,000 of America’s movers and shakers each year at its two-week summer retreat.

There are an estimated 2500 members of the men-only Bohemian Club today. Past members include several US Presidents, Mark Twain and Jack London.