November 21 in A.A. History

In 1939, four men held the first A.A. meeting on the North American West Coast in Ray W.’s room at the Clift Hotel on Geary St. in San Francisco, California. Here’s how it came about.
    In April, Morgan R.—A.A. member, former ad man, asylum patient, and friend of the host—was a guest on Gabriel Heatter’s nationally broadcast radio show “We the People.” Morgan very briefly told his story, and closed by mentioning the newly pub
lished book, Alcoholics Anonymous. One non-alcoholic listener, Mrs. Gordon Oram, ran a boarding house at 51 Potomac St. in San Francisco. She liked one boarder, Ted C., but was concerned about his drinking, which had gotten him into multiple state hospitals and jails. He considered himself one of the “worst alcoholics” in the state. Mrs. Oram wrote to the Alcoholic Foundation office in New York City and obtained a copy of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, for Ted.
    Others in the Bay Area had also heard the program, or had read Morris Markey’s article, “Alcoholics and God,” in the Sep 30th issue of Liberty magazine; they too had contacted the Alcoholic Foundation office. So when New York A.A. member Ray W. came to San Francisco for sales training in November, he brought a list of all who had inquired. From his room in the Clift Hotel, Ray called each and arranged a meeting in his room.
   Besides Ray and Ted, Don B. and Dave L. also attended. The meeting lasted two hours. Ray gave his list of local contacts to the three men, and all four begin to contact them. They were from Berkeley, Oakland, and Alameda, as well as San Francisco. Unfortunately, Ted would be unable to stay sober.
   Bill W. vividly described the historic meeting and its immediate aftermath in Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age (p. 88).

Ray had been an atheist and he still stuck to it.... He said, “Now, boys, this A.A. is great stuff. It really saved my life. But there’s one feature of it I don't like. I mean this God business. So when you read this book [the Big Book], you can skip that part of it.” Ten days later, Ray was on his way back East, leaving a shivering and divided group in his wake.
   But they soon found… Dr. Percy Poliak, a psychiatrist who had been impressed with A.A. as he had seen it at work in Bellvue Hospital in New York. No at the San Francisco County Hospital, Dr. Poliak gave the group his full support.… Mrs. Oram… opened her flat for the first [sic] A.A. meeting late in 1939…

In 1942, the Lakewood Group (near Cleveland, Ohio) celebrated its 3rd anniversary at Townsend Hall in Lakewood. The Dec 1942 Central Bulletin reported, “A pot-luck supper was served and cards and games followed. A large crowd enjoyed the festivities.”

In 1952, Rev. Willard S. Richardson, 86, died. He was A.A.'s initial connection to the Rockefeller Foundation in October 1937. Affectionately known as “Uncle Dick,” he was the Alcoholic Foundation treasurer and later, the Chairman of the Board.