Above: Early Bohemians enjoy a feast in the redwood grove on the Pino Alto property, July 1913

Other early members included newspaper reporters such as Joaquin Miller, Henry George, Ambrose Bierce and Daniel O'Connell. Honorary members included the likes of Mark Twain and Bret Harte. In the second generation, Jack London and Frank Norris joined.

The Bohemian Club's most noteworthy members, however, were those who worked in the visual arts. The group of artists who joined the club in these early years included painters who today are recognized as important mid-19th-century American artists, including Sparks and Patgian. Ferdinand Burgdorff was a prominent early member of the Carmel Art Association, the second-oldest operating nonprofit artists' cooperative in the United States.