Gleaming white stucco against a clear California sky, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks lodge in Alameda stands in its Neoclassical confidence — a two-story block with a dentiled cornice, colorful awnings, and an orange-flowered garden border that blazes even in the soft halftone palette of this early color postcard. The flagpole at right stands sentinel over a prosperous fraternal institution at the height of the lodge movement, when the BPOE was one of America's most influential civic organizations. Published by Edward H. Mitchell of San Francisco (card no. 2974) and unused, this is a clean, bright example of California Edwardian institutional architecture — the Alameda BPOE lodge was a fixture of civic life in this Bay Area island city. The back carries Mitchell's standard divided-back format with postage note for US, Canada, Mexico, and foreign destinations, consistent with the 1907–1915 era.