May 14 in A.A. History

In 1939, the first A.A. meeting in New Jersey, and the fourth in the world, was held in Upper Montclair.

In 1948. the Long Beach (California) Central Office [right, 1128 Dawson Ave., Apr 2011] opened with 10 known groups at the time. It was listed in the Long Beach Telephone Directory as:

Alcoholics Anonymous Harbor District
1128 Dawson Ave. — Long Beach, California
Telephone number 305-150 [later changed to 905-150]

According to the story, Jack J. grew tired of traveling to Los Angeles whenever they needed something. So he collaborated with the group in Signal Hill to propose the establishment of a Central Office in Long Beach for the mutual benefit of the groups in the Harbor Area.

In 1998. Sybil C. [far left: 1940s; near left: 1961] died just six days shy of her 90th birthday. A former bootlegger, dance hall girl, and the first woman in Alcoholics Anonymous west of the Mississippi, she also served as Long Beach (California) Archivist and the first executive secretary of California A.A. Sybil got sober on 23 March 1941. Having been married several times, she would often begin her later talks by saying, “My name is Sybil Doris Adams Stratton Hart Maxwell Willis C—–, and I’m an alcoholic.”