Club-letter/1stjc

Private clubs

In your otherwise excellent discussion of the changing face of private club membership (“Not So Private Anymore,” April 7) many of us were surprised and disappointed that you did not choose to reference City Club on Bunker Hill.

City Club, since its inception, has had a stated mission of opening the doors of private club membership to the widest diversity of L.A. civic and business leaders. Indeed, Tom Bradley was a founding member and still sits on the club’s Board of Governors. In its history, the club has elected the first woman chair of any downtown private club as well as its first African American chair. It has been widely acknowledged as setting the standard for diversity in club admissions throughout Los Angeles.

Without that pioneering effort, it is likely that few of the clubs you cited in your article would have even attempted to wedge their door open to new (and lucrative) groups of potential members. For City Club, this has not been an act of survival, but an act of faith. Defying the city’s reputed polarization, at City Club, any person of achievement can not only have their eyes on the prize of club membership, but be welcomed through the front door to claim it.

NEHAMA JACOBS

Chair, Membership Committee

City Club