“We’re not a secret organization, we’re just an organization with secrets,” Bill Biddell said. Biddell, an older man wearing a Hawaiian shirt, is the secretary of the Menlo Park Masonic Lodge #651. The Lodge is a local chapter of the Freemasons, a decades-old fraternity group that existed before the college frats and boy scouts we know today.
The Masons are notorious for their secret handshakes, closed meetings, and cryptic symbols. We visited the Menlo Park Lodge to find out what goes on behind tiled doors.
Tucked away next to Cook’s Seafood and a few blocks from downtown Menlo Park, the entrance to the Lodge is easily missed. The interior, however, is far from generic. Built in 1954, the property was originally owned by Royal Hodge, a wealthy county supervisor. It was later bequeathed to the city, then to the Masons. The interior is reminiscent of a ‘50s wedding venue: it boasts a grandiose dining room complete with intricate crown molding, a kitchen, and of course, the ever-private Masonic Hall—an ornate, square-shaped room with blue velvet floors and upholstery.
“This is where we have our meetings,” Biddell said. “This is where we pay our bills, vote on candidates or spend money.” The room is also used for less mundane rituals and to perform “degrees,” or Masonic initiation ceremonies. Biddell described the rituals as “verbal and walking around and that sort of thing,” but as non-Masons, we weren’t allowed to watch.
These ceremonies are often performed by Masonic officers. A “Master” acts as the president of the organization, sitting at the head of the room in an artfully embellished chair. The rest of the board consists of two vice presidents, a chaplain, a secretary, a treasurer, two deacons, and two stewards. Becoming a Masonic officer is no easy feat—these members must perform memorization-based lectures, some of which are over 25 minutes long.
“Stated Meetings,” which are held after dinner and feature the aforementioned rituals, are closed to non-Masons. “When you come into a lodge room and it’s tiled, nobody comes in,” Kevin Hall, Master of the Lodge, said. “Tiling” is a Masonic term that means the room is locked to prevent outsiders from eavesdropping.
Above all else, the Lodge is rooted in tradition. The Freemasons likely originated with medieval stone masons who created trade organizations as they traveled to build churches. Modern Freemasonry began in 1717, when two such organizations met and formed the first Grand Lodge. Today, Grand Lodges in almost every country and state charter individual lodges like the one in Menlo Park.
There are three prerequisites to becoming a Mason. Biddell explained, “The only requirements are that you are 18, you have belief in a supreme being, and you’re of sound mind.” Because of this, modern Freemasonry attracts members from a diversity of faiths and belief systems.
Historically, however, the Freemasons have not always been so accepting. After the Civil War, many Black Americans wanted to become Masons but were rejected by white Mason leaders. The result was the Prince Hall Masonry, named for Prince Hall, a Black man who began his own lodge after being excluded from white Freemason society. Nat King Cole, John Lewis, and W.E.B. Du Bois were all famous members of Prince Hall Lodges.
Today, the two lodges have mutual recognition, meaning they recognize each other as members of the same larger organization and meet up for multi-lodge events. “There’s a brother from the East Bay Prince Hall Lodge who comes here often,” said Nick Kohli, a member of the Menlo Park Lodge.
Though Masonic organizations today are smaller and less influential than they used to be, some countries and religions outlaw or deter people from joining the Freemasonry. “It may be discouraged in some countries, like Iran and some Middle Eastern countries, and especially Russia,” Bidell explained. “They don’t like the Masons because the Masons meet in secret.”
Pop culture depictions of the Masons often portray them as elusive and powerful: the Freemasons helped Peggy Sue time travel in 1986 movie Peggy Sue Got Married and Nicholas Cage searched for a fortune hidden by Masons in National Treasure. Indeed, Benjamin Franklin and George Washington were both members of Masonic Lodges, along with Voltaire, Mozart, and Winston Churchill.
There’s a reason such great minds were attracted to Masonry. Hall said that especially in an era when the church criticized science and scholarship, “people knew that when they came here, they could talk about flying machines and, you know, this that new thing, and it would stay quiet.”
Despite this, the Freemasons are banned from discussing politics and religion. “There’s a lot of dissension,” Hall explained. “We don’t need that.”
Besides, the Masons in Menlo Park made a point to tell us that they had little to hide. “Everybody thinks we’re a secret society and we’re gonna take over the world,” Hall said. “We’re not that.”
“If we were secret, we wouldn’t have our name on the front of the building. We wouldn’t tell you that we meet on the first Wednesday of every month,” Biddell said with a laugh. “Look around the room, look at people’s heads,” Tom Prussing, an interfaith minister and a Freemason with an interest in antiquity, quipped. “Are they glowing? That’s how you know we’re not the illuminati.”
Look around the room, look at people’s heads. Are they glowing? That’s how you know we’re not the illuminati.
Tom Prussing
Secrecy does play a part in the allure for some Masons, though. Bruce Last, a lawyer who sported a Masonic pin, told us he wears the private nature of Freemasonry like a “badge of honor.”
“I was kind of intrigued by people saying bad things or conspiracies online. And so I just really wanted to get the bottom of it and find out for myself,” said Andrew Sanchez, the Lodge’s Senior Deacon.
After talking to Biddell and Hall in the Masonic Hall, we went back to the dining room, where the kitchen team of a few Masons had put out an array of deliciously cooked burgers and condiments. We sat down with some Masons and discussed everything from cursive to sudoku to, of course, their experiences in the Masonry.
For many, Freemasonry is a family ordeal. “My father was a Mason,” Bidell told us. His grandfather was, too, and because of them, he joined community organizations from a young age. “I got into Demolay, which is the boys’ organization, and got really into it,” he said. “I like the ritual part. I like the memorization, the socialization, and activities.”
Prussing joined in part because of the Freemasons’ rich history. Just outside the Masonic Hall is a bookcase with volumes upon volumes about the organization’s past.
Others enjoy the values. Kohli joined while working as a paramedic and living away from his family. “Having people that were interested in self-development the way that I’m interested in self-development gave me an outlet,” he said. “A lot of what Masonry is about is getting introspective about what your what your principles are, what your values are, and think about them and how you apply them to your life.”
A lot of what Masonry is about is getting introspective about what your what your principles are, what your values are, and think about them and how you apply them to your life.
Nick Kohli
“One of the great things about being a Mason is that if you move, for example, and you don’t know anybody there, you show up to the lodge and they’ll treat you like family,” Sanchez, who moved to Menlo Park during the pandemic, said. “It’s a higher level of trust here.”
Kohli concurred. “I went through all my lecture and Masonic ritual and work in Fresno. I met the Masons here because they were sponsoring my son’s Little League team. I met the lodge here, got to meet all these guys, and so I also became an affiliate member of this lodge, too,” he said.
In fact, the Menlo Park Lodge has been sponsoring a Little League baseball team for many years now. Part of being a Mason is giving back to the community. Every year, the Grand Master of the California Lodges chooses a cause for the Masons to support. They’ve donated to cancer research, supported public education, and created Masons4Mitts, a charity that partners with Major League baseball teams to donate baseball mitts to underprivileged youth.
“I’ve lost count of the amount we do for charity,” Hall said. “The thing is, Rotary Club and these other organizations, they always have their own agenda. The Chamber of Commerce, they promote businesses. The Elks, they have members, and they have fun activities, and they do some charity, but that’s not their goal. All these different organizations have different agendas, and ours is strictly to make the world a better place and take care of our own.”
The corridors of the Masonic Hall are lined with photographs of the Lodge’s prior Masters, dating back to the 1800s. “When I was first in lodge, all the officers wore tuxes for degrees and meetings, and in the summer, they wore white jackets with their tux pants, and of course ties. Now, we come to the meetings and we wear Hawaiian shirts,” Bidell said, reflecting on the growing casualness of the Freemasons.
“In those days, it was hard to get in to be an officer,” he added. “There were five people coming to the Master, saying, ‘Look, put me in as Junior Steward.’” Now, competition for officer roles is less, in part due to dwindling membership.
When I was first in lodge, all the officers wore tuxes for degrees and meetings, and in the summer, they wore white jackets with their tux pants, and of course ties. Now, we come to the meetings and we wear Hawaiian shirts
Bill Bidell
“There are so many pulls on people’s times and lives. Young people now tend to work, you know, 80 hours a week. So, it’s hard to get somebody to get into the lodge who then wants to spend the time memorizing,” Bidell said.
The “third place” offered by the Lodge, with its welcoming and supportive community, feels necessary in an increasingly fast-paced, online society. In a world where male mental health is on a startling decline, the brotherhood serves as a cherished community. “I think Masonry benefits somebody no matter where they are in life, because tomorrow is always a new day, and you could take what it teaches you and apply it to wherever you are in life,” said Sanchez, one of the younger Freemasons.
Despite its recent decline in membership, the Menlo Park Lodge is still some 86 members strong, though not all attend regularly. “It’s hard to talk about,” Sanchez said, “because ultimately, Masonry is something to be experienced. It’s kind of like if you read a movie script, you know something about the movie, but that’s totally different from watching the movie.”
Modern Masonry is a more casual, intimate group. Members laugh, talk, make jokes, and enjoy dinners together. They host barbecues for their families and bring homemade cookies. There’s no shortage of kindness to go around. When the doors close, we imagine it gets more serious, but we’d have to be members to find out.
