#elks lodge

Missoula, MT (No. 5)

In the mid-1860s, C. P. Higgins and Frank Worden began plotting what would become the town of Missoula along the Mullan Military Road, which ran parallel to the Clark Fork River. Through downtown Missoula, the route of the road is now Front Street. It is intersected by Higgins Avenue, to which a bridge across the Clark Fork was added in 1873. The intersection of these two streets became the default center of the city, and remains the numerical center regarding city street addresses. The arrival of the Northern Pacific Railway in 1883 led to a housing boom along the tracks, particularly on the northern side where many of the railway workers would reside. When the Higgins Avenue Bridge was replaced in 1893, they debated whether the bridge should continue southwest toward the Bitterroot Valley as it had earlier or due south. Attorneys W. M. Bickford and W. J. Stephens had already laid out plots of land five years earlier for what they hoped would be a new town of "South Missoula". The streets there were perpendicular to the Bitterroot Wagon Road. In contrast, Judge Hiram Knowles who owned the land just south of the river preferred the north–south plan and did not want to become part of South Missoula.

Elks Lodge, La junta, Colorado - 2.5″x2.5″ paper negative, kodak brownie hawkeye with inverted lens, caffenol developer - robert matejcek - 2023

Worm: “Holy shit! That's a hell of an elk!” - Edward Norton - Rounders

Elks Lodge No. 99 / Park Plaza Hotel

Now known as The MacArthur

607 Park View Street, Los Angles, California, USA

Built in 1926

Designed by Claud Beelman

Photos by Ferd Brundick

FARGO — Drag shows held at the Elks Lodge in Fargo may be in jeopardy after it was learned the lodge’s national body may have decided all-ages shows should be nixed.

Scarlet Vision Productions of Fargo posted on Facebook Wednesday, Oct. 12, that future all-age shows have been pulled from the Elks lineup.

Kyle Anderson, who hosts and performs in the shows, said he has since deleted the social media post, in hopes the decision will be reversed.

He said the decision has nothing to do with local Elks management and that he learned of it through the bar manager, who plays a key role in staging the drag shows.

“It's disheartening,” Anderson told The Forum.

The Forum’s request for response from the national Elks Grand Lodge was not received in time for publication of this story.

Anderson’s performance art theatre company has been putting on 18+ drag shows at the Elks for five years, and held its first all-ages shows outdoors there in July and September.

Two more all-ages shows were planned for 2023, in June and August, Anderson said.

“It doesn't mean that we can't find a different venue for those all-ages shows, which we might consider doing,” he said.

While the decision seems to only affect all-ages shows for now, Anderson said he’s been told the 18+ drag shows could be targeted next.

He said he’s “confused and dumbfounded” as to why now, especially after their five-year history with the Elks.

Michael Leopold, who serves as “exalted ruler” of the Fargo Elks, said no one from Elks National has notified him about the decision.

“I'd like to see the reasoning behind it,” he said.

Leopold said he has no issue with the drag shows.

“Personally, I support the group. Those guys have been great,” Leopold said.

Drag shows, the all-ages events in particular, have drawn criticism from some circles, including a man who started the Facebook page Protect North Dakota Kids.

Keith Hapip Jr., of Washburn, North Dakota, who also serves on the Washburn City Commission, has said previously that his main issue is that children are present at the shows.

In posts leading up to the events, the Facebook page he runs claimed to “expose” the drag performers “coming to corrupt the youth.”

Anderson said with its decision, the national Elks organization is making the drag show performers out to be “monsters.”

“We don't threaten anyone's well being. We don't want to groom your children, that's gross,” Anderson said.

Scarlet Vision plans to keep hosting drag shows, even if it means changing venues.

Seeing Eye Dog Gets Snow Boots

From the Minneapolis Morning Tribune, February 4, 1948: 

Hamilton Jenkins, who arrived in Minneapolis Tuesday to arrange an Elks convention here this summer, takes unusually good care of his German shepherd, Dick. That’s why the dog was wearing leather boots on its paws while walking on the city’s snowy sidewalks and streets. Dick is the Seeing Eye dog for Jenkins, a blind former boxer from Denver, Colo., who is president of the Midwestern States Elks association.

Jenkins is pictured with Reuben Warren, treasurer of the Ames Lodge of Elks in Minneapolis. Warren was the chairman of the arrangements committee for the Elks convention that was to be held in Minneapolis that summer.

Park Plaza Hotel / The MacArthur, Los Angeles, California Photo by contributor Colby Stearns

I find myself wondering how tall each of those figures are.

From the LA Conservancy:

Rising eleven stories above Westlake Park, this grand concrete structure was a private retreat for the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, which once numbered thousands and included L.A.'s wealthy and powerful. The building contained 169 hotel rooms along with a gymnasium, pool, and bowling alley.

Designed as a memorial to World War I soldiers, the exterior features stylized Assyrian friezes, sculpted figures in military uniform, and massive cast stone warrior angels guarding the plinth and tower at every corner.

The lavish interior features an arched ceiling painted by famed muralist Anthony Heinsbergen, who purposely undercut the competition bidding for the job and toiled on his back while painting, like Michelangelo. Heinsbergen later claimed that he rarely bothered with self-promotion again.

The rich and famous who attended Lodge parties or masonic rights all saw his handiwork and requested Heinsbergen murals for their homes and businesses across Los Angeles. Below these murals hangs an ornate chandelier depicting Zodiac signs, and symbolic wrought ironwork surrounds the grand entrance.

Dear Gus,

After ARS tonight, a crew ventured down the street to the Elks Lodge for their open house. I had no idea the building was even still occupied. Turns out there are people who hang out there every day. We got the grand tour and we toyed with the idea of Mom joining.

Dad