Bohemian Grove

actually in the nearby town, but I’ve since forgotten the name

“Bohemian Grove is a 2,700-acre redwood forest in Sonoma County, California. Owned by the Bohemian Club, it’s apparently set up for camping, but that’s where things start to get a little fuzzy.

“The Bohemian Club is an exclusive, all-male club founded in the late 1800s. The story goes that writers like Jack London, Mark Twain, and Bret Harte were looking for an excuse to drink together, and they invited a few local businessmen to foot the bill for the boozing. The club grew, and gentrified, from there.

“Every July, the club holds a two-week-long private event at the grove, rumored to be a summer camp of sorts for up to 2,500 rich and powerful men, including CEOs and U.S. presidents. But, is it a creepy concentration of world powers holding bizarre rituals and setting agendas, or just an innocuous bunch of guys getting soused and exercising their right to relieve themselves on the redwoods? Depends on who you talk to.

“We sure are curious about the alleged Lakeside Talks, where government, business, and entertainment big shots meet for some intellectual stimulation. But the annual gathering is famously difficult to get into, and reliable documentation is hard to find. And since we haven’t been invited (we’re sure it’s merely due to a clerical error), we can only speculate.”