Club life in San Francisco has won the admiration of many men of letters
and other visitors. Kipling says appreciative things about the Bohemian
Club in his American Notes that exceed anything written by its own
historians. Julian Street, in his Abroad at Home, says that with her
hills San Francisco is Rome; with her harbor she is Naples; with her
hotels she is New York.
"But with her clubs and her people she is San Francisco, which to my
mind comes near being the apotheosis of praise," he adds.
The Bohemian Club's devotion to music and drama finds expression beyond
the plays and concerts at its town clubhouse. In addition it owns a
grove of redwoods in Sonoma county, where "highjinks" are staged every
midsummer. A grove play, the book and music of which are written by
members, is the feature of the annual gathering which has spread the
name of the Bohemian Club to many distant places. This distinctive type
of country annex is likewise enjoyed by The Family, a club which has in
addition to its city quarters a redwood grove in San Mateo county known
as "the Farm," where original drama and music are produced.
A bronze tablet in memory of Bret Harte is on the Post street facade of
the Bohemian Club, near Taylor. Characters from the prose and verse of
the author are shown in bas-relief, including Salomy Jane, Yuba Bill,
Tennessee's Partner, John Oakhurst and the Heathen Chinee. The Olympic
Club, the Pacific Union Club on Nob Hill, the University Club, the
Commonwealth, the Union League Club, the Commercial, the Transportation,
the Concordia, the Argonaut, the Engineers, the Army and Navy, the Old
Colony and the Press Clubs are among the other organizations with well
appointed quarters. The Knights of Columbus, Masons, Elks and other
fraternal orders have their own clubs. The Olympic Club also maintains
the Lakeside Country Club with a golf course and trapshooting
facilities. The Olympic is one of the oldest and largest athletic clubs
in the country, having over 5000 members.
Women's organizations owning or now building their own club houses
include the Francisca, Woman's Athletic, the California, Sequoia,
Century, Sorosis, Town and Country, National League for Woman's Service,
City and County Federation of Women's Clubs and the Y. W. C. A.
San Francisco is a paradise for golfers, and the courses of the various
clubs have settings of exceptional natural beauty. Among them are those
of the Presidio Golf Club, the California Golf Club, the San Francisco
Golf and the Lake Merced Golf and Country Club on the Rancho Laguna de
la Merced. The municipality maintains two golf courses, one at--Lincoln
Park and one at Lake Merced.
Across the Bay, in Alameda and Marin counties, and down the peninsula
are any number of country clubs. The San Francisco Yacht Club and the
Corinthian Yacht Club have club houses on the Marin shore.