Grand Lodge of California

BY ALAN L. GORDON, SENIOR GRAND WARDEN

Alan Gordon stands with the Worshipful Master and officers of California Lodge No. 1

On October 18 and 19, I had the honor of representing our Grand dark wood with marble pedestals in the pillar stations and alter. It Lodge at the Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge of Caliis altogether beautiful in its construction. fornia. For those of you unaware, the Grand Lodge of California has free-standing pillars on the front porch of the building, one on There is a just-completed lodge room on the lower level which can be accessed by going through a library lounge and bar. The lodge room, called Freemason’s Hall, is constructed of rough stone and a special bond with our Grand Jurisdiction The charter of California Lodge No. 13 is as it was founded, in part, by the Grand on display in a two-sided glass frame. In Lodge of the District of Columbia. 1848, the Grand Lodge of D.C. chartered California Lodge No. 13. That charter was While I had met some of the officers of the then taken by boat to San Francisco (Ed. Grand Lodge of California when travelNote: That’s a really long trip!) and then to ing to the Conference of Grand Masters Sacramento, where in 1850, it was joined over the past couple of years, this was my by 4 other lodges. California Lodge No. first visit to the Grand Lodge in San Fran13 thus became California Lodge No. 1 of cisco, where they greeted me warmly and the Grand Lodge of California. In fact, the showed much appreciation that D.C. had back of the charter shows where the Grand made the effort to travel to San Francisco. Secretary and the Grand Master of CaliforThe Grand Lodge in San Francisco is a building with a full auditorium, museum, Display showing the cover of the program for their Grand Lodge Session a California lodge. and library. While generally modern in design, there are two Once I saw the charter, this sent me on a quest. the right-hand side and one on the left (you can guess what they I first went the registration desk to see if there was anyone from symbolize), and the lobby has one wall which is entirely stained California Lodge at the Communication. The Master of the lodge, glass, depicting all the emblems of Freemasonry, as well as the it turns out, is the president of the California Masonic Foundation history of California up to the time of the building’s construction. and has an office on the third floor of the building.

nia changed the charter so that it would be On reaching the third floor, I was first surprised by the size and openness of the space, all glass and chrome. I presented my card to the receptionist and was allowed to walk back to see the Worship

ful Master. He was just concluding a meeting with some of his line officers, so we were able to get a picture in the Grand Master’s office with the Seal of the Grand Lodge of California in the background.

The next day, I found the sessions themselves also to be very interesting. While their annual meeting was similar to ours with reports from various foundations and committees, there were 1,522 registrants! Also, their Legislation was presented in a summary form, debate was formal and limited to three persons for and three persons against, each with three minutes to talk. When the debate opened, it was announced when the proponent of the legislation would speak, either first or last. No one spoke to their time limit. Although there was a lot of legislation, I was told that this was a light legislative year. On Friday night there was a VIP banquet and then a larger banquet on Saturday night. The Saturday banquet was held in the Grand Ballroom of the famous Fairmont Hotel (one of the few buildings that survived the Great Quake in 1906) and had about 850 people in attendance. There was a wonderful soprano who entertained us for about 40 minutes with songs from the 40’s and 50’s, some show tunes, and two arias. What a wonderful voice.

They say there are no strangers in Masonry, only friends we haven’t met yet. I met many friends and had a wonderful time. Many thanks to the Grand Master Charbel T. Fahed for allowing me the opportunity to represent him and this Grand Lodge. I hope to one day see the officers of the Grand Lodge of California gracing our meetings in the not too distant future. 

Stained Glass Window showing the history of California and Freemasonry there

The Grand Senior Warden and Alan Gordon

The right column in front of the main entrance to the Grand Lodge building