As we've been dark for a little bit we have not stopped working . In the spirit of giving and the holiday season Oriental Lodge No. 33 has joined in on the Regulators Inagural City Toy Drive!
The events owners are The Cook County Crime Stoppers and The Julian Jumpin' Perez Foundation. For those of you who know Julian Jumpin' Perez from the early 90s Chicago House Music scene, he will be there as well representing his foundation AND will jump on the turntables for old times sake.
There is open bar and appetizers from 630 - 730pm and then each person will receive a drink ticket for after.
This was a great opportunity for a City Lodge to jump into as it directly impacts the children of the city of Chicago.
Everyone here is invited to come and join in on a fun night of giving, libations, food, and some 90s House Music. If you are able to come and enjoy a good night please do! It's also a great night of networking with different people in the city of Chicago.
Present Donations:
1. I am willing to drive and pick up toy gifts from anyone.
2. If its easier, I encourage you to make a small donation to oriental.lodge.33@gmail.com zelle account with a note that says "Toy Drive". The Dais officers will then head out and purchase everything we can get.
If anyone would like to jump into the endeavor of purchasing the gifts with us, join us! Knowing that a small gesture of charity will make a child's day on Christmas will make this very rewarding for us as an organization.
A full report will be sent out to capture the success of the event!
If anyone has any questions or concerns you can email the officers:
Wmol33.1845@gmail.com - Luis
Swol33.1845@gmail.com - Anthony
Jwol33.1845@gmail.com - George
Saturday November 12, 2022 was the public ceremony of installation of officers for Oriental Lodge # 33. This was the 178th installation to have taken place at our lodge. Worshipful Master Luis Barahona was installed as the Worshipful Master and installed his officers. More than 80 brothers, visitors, friends and family came to watch the ceremony and more joined in the festivities afterwards in Chinatown at Lee Wing Wah, where a 9 course meal was served with plenty of libations. The elected and appointed officers for the 2023 year are:
Worshipful Master: Luis Barahona
Senior Warden: Anthony Popelka
Junior Warden: George Viamontes
Treasurer: Javier Pineda
Secretary: Philip Schwartz
Chaplain: Ian McNally
Senior Deacon: John Kennedy
Junior Deacon: Geno Bonaventura
Senior Steward: Ray Witkowski
Junior Steward: Tommy Spaulding
Tyler: Jesus Vasquez
Marshal: Rudy Altergott
Officer of Instruction: Johnathan E. Barnes, GLI, PM
As the annual meeting for 2022 concluded we saw Worshipful Master Jack Recinto gavel for the last time in the East. We thank him for his tireless leadership and vision. The mentorship and foundations he provided for the lodge ensures the excellence of Oriental Lodge 33 will continue.
Members of Oriental Lodge # 33 attended the annual Grand Lodge of Illinois Session in Springfield. For the second year in a row we stayed at the Freeman-Hughes Mansion and enjoyed the festivities of the Grand Lodge and fellowship of our brethren. Our Junior Warden cooked some great meals and we received visitors from lodges around the state, including our good friends from St. Paul Lodge # 500
Oriental Lodge hosted a couples night dinner with Salsa lessons. Brother Richard Council is a professional dance instructor and led the effort to teach a basic lesson on the Salsa style of dancing. A surf and turf dinner was followed by an hour and a half of dance instruction.
Richard Council began dancing tango in 2001 and has since taught and performed on stage and television throughout the United States and abroad. In 2003 he, with partner Colette Hebert, won the US IDO Argentine Tango Championships in Miami, Florida. They were finalists in the Tango Salon division and semi-finalists in the Stage Performance division of the World Championships held in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2005. He has been an invited performer on the Susana Gimenez Show in Argentina, the Tango Libertad Festival in Japan and many milongas and theaters in those countries as well as all over the United States. He has taught and performed at the Portland Tango festivals a number of times. In addition to performing with Hebert in the short film "The Heart of Tango" he has also had the pleasure to share the stage with company members of Tango X 2, Forever Tango, Tango Fire, Tango Argentino and more.
More information about Brother Richard Council’s dance instruction can be found on his website:
After a delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Oriental Lodge # 33 finally held our 175th anniversary bash! The lodge rented out the famous Stan Mansion to house our black tie event. The mansion was originally a Commandry building, but is now an event space Included was a cocktail hour, jazz band, a plated dinner and various awards and speeches! A truly phenomenal night of brotherhood to celebrate 175 years of the lodge’s history.