The Family (club)

The Family is a private club in San Francisco, California, formed in 1901 by newspapermen ejected from the Bohemian Club. The club maintains a clubhouse in the city as well as rural property 35 miles to the south in Woodside.

Once exclusive, the club now allows members of all types, calling new members "Babies", regular members "Children" and the club president "Father". The Family sponsors charity projects such as a hospital in Nicaragua. [ [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/07/18/MNGH57NJL51.DTL SFGate. "THE CHOSEN FEW: S.F.'s exclusive clubs carry on traditions of fellowship, culture -- and discrimination". Adair Lara. July 18, 2004.] ]

History

The Bohemian Club was formed by and for journalists, and included a number who worked for the San Francisco Examiner and other papers owned by William Randolph Hearst. In 1901, Ambrose Bierce wrote a poem that seemed to predict or even call for President William McKinley's death by an assassin's bullet, and the Hearst chain ran the piece. When McKinley was assassinated shortly thereafter, opponents of Hearst created a furor over the poem's publication, ending Hearst's ambitions for the US presidency and causing the Hearst newsmen to be struck from Bohemian Club rolls. The group of reporters and editors formed their own club and called it the "Family".

Early public activities by the club included the sponsoring of a horse race called the "Family Club Handicap" held in Oakland in 1904. A racehorse named "Fossil" took first place, receiving a silver cup from the Family as well as US$1,000 from the California Jockey Club. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B03E7DB163DE733A25752C1A9649D946597D6CF New York Times. December 11, 1904. "Fossil Won Family Club Handicap."] ]

The Family clubhouse was originally located at 228 Post Street, but the building was lost two days after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake in the subsequent calamitous fire, though not before serving as temporary rest station and meal place for earthquake victims such as the bereft Conreid Metropolitan Opera Company. [ [http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=hb796nb5mn&doc.view=frames&chunk.id=div00001&toc.depth=1&toc.id=div00001&brand=calisphere Calisphere. University of California. Ernest Goerlitz. "Story of the San Francisco earthquake and conflagration as far as it affected the Conreid Metropolitan Opera Company April 18th, 19th and 20th, 1906."] ] The club rebuilt at the corner of Powell and Bush Streets, and still conducts meetings at this site two blocks from the peak of Nob Hill.

The Family's clubhouse has hosted musical events such as an annual benefit for San Francisco Sinfonietta [ [http://www.sfsinfonietta.org/new_events.htm SF Sinfonietta. Events calendar] ] as well as black-tie dinner lectures by various experts and personages as Stanlee Gatti speaking to benefit horticultural programs [ [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/22/LVGI9LR87E1.DTL SFGate. "Benefits: Elton John to rock first Bridge School gala". Catherine Bigelow. October 22, 2006.] ] and Charles M. Schulz speaking to benefit the Cartoon Art Museum. [ [http://www.awn.com/asifa-sf/june/news1.html Animation World Network. "CHOW DOWN WITH CHARLES M. SCHULZ". July 12, 1996.] ]

The Family Farm

The Family conducts annual sporting and social events among the redwood and oak trees and open meadows at its rural property on the San Francisco peninsula. The Family Farm entrance is at 1400 Portola Road in Woodside.

An annual "Farm Play" is written and performed by club members. Farm plays aren't published beyond the privacy of the club. [cite book |title=Nature and Science on the Pacific Coast |last=American Association for the Advancement of Science |first=Pacific Coast Committee |authorlink=American Association for the Advancement of Science |year=1915 |publisher=P. Elder |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=MlYLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA258&lpg=PA258&dq=%22farm+play%22+OR+%22farm+plays%22+woodside&source=web&ots=eyEm6eBptK&sig=4Hqb4bkBAxkUwJnF17QNOfNQDhY&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result ]

Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco were guests of Timothy Pflueger's at the Farm in the early 1930s. The two leftist Mexican muralists argued forcefully with one another about art during one visit. [http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/oralhistories/transcripts/gerrit65.htm Smithsonian. Archives of American Art. Research Collections, Oral History Interviews. "John Emmett Gerrity interview, 1965 Jan. 20"] ]

Famous members

*Edward Bowes, realtor [http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/1905b/sfb05a04.htm San Francisco Genealogy. The Family Club. "1905 Officers and Members"] ]
*Colbert Coldwell, founder of Coldwell Banker [ [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~npmelton/sfbcold.htm Rootsweb Genealogy. Ancestry. "Colbert Coldwell"] ]
*Henry J. Crocker, nephew of Charles Crocker, banker, oil magnate, 1903 mayoral candidate, member of the Committee of Fifty (1906)
*Herbert Fleishhacker, businessman, civic leader, philanthropist
*John Emmett Gerrity, California modernist artist
*Peter E. Haas, Levi-Strauss executive, son of Walter A. Haas [ [http://www.alumni.berkeley.edu/calmag/200703/kit_1940s.asp Berkeley Alumni. "California" magazine, March/April 2007. Sather Gate. Keeping in Touch. "1940".] ]
*Clarence W. W. Mayhew, architect [ [https://digital.lib.washington.edu/php/architect/record.phtml?type=architect&architectid=368 ArchitectDB. "Clarence Mayhew"] ]
*Timothy Pflueger, architect [ [http://timothypflueger.org/web/node/14 Timothy Pflueger letters. Undated, received from Diego Rivera.] ]
*W. C. Ralston, son of William Chapman Ralston
*Max Thelen, senior partner at [http://www.thelenreid.com/index.cfm?section=About&htmlKey=about_history_trp Thelen LLP]
*Henry Albert van Coenen Torchiana, author, Consul-General from the Netherlands and Commissioner of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition [ [http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/hb1p3004gj/?order=58&brand=calisphere Calisphere. University of California. "Dinner by H. Van Boenen Torchiana, Commissioner from Netherlands"] ]

See also

* Pacific-Union Club
* Olympic Club
* List of American gentlemen's clubs

References

External links

* [http://wfssf.org/feb04.html Menu from February 11, 2004 Annual Game Dinner] , The Wine and Food Society of San Francisco
* [http://sfmuseum.org/hist3/sotomayer.html "Artist Antonio Sotomayor's 1929 view of The Family, an exclusive social club in San Francisco that is still in existence."] Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco.