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 [near right, c. 1930] on Geary St. in San Francisco, California. Here’s how it came about.

    In April, Morgan R. [far right]—an A.A. member, former ad man, asylum patient, and friend of the host—had been a guest on Gabriel Heatter’s nationally broadcast radio show, We the People. Morgan had briefly shared his story and concluded by mentioning the newly published book, Alcoholics Anonymous.

    Mrs. Gordon Oram, who ran a boarding house at 51 Potomac St. [far left, recent] in San Francisco, heard the broadcast. She had been concerned about one of her boarders, Ted C. His drinking had led to multiple stays in state hospitals and jails, and 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 [near left: plaque at 51 Potomac St.].

    Others in the Bay Area had also heard the program or read Morris Markey’s article, “Alcoholics and God,” in the September 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 person and arranged a meeting in his room.
    In addition to Ray and Ted, Don B. and Dave L. also attended. The meeting lasted two hours. Ray shared his list of local contacts with the three men, and all four began reaching out to the others, who were from Berkeley, Oakland, Alameda, and San Francisco.
    Bill W. would vividly describe 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 [right], a psychiatrist who had been impressed with A.A. as he had seen it at work in Bellvue Hospital in New York. Now 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, where salesman Ray’s contacts foregathered with Ted.
    Ted never made the grade. But one John C. did, and he has stayed in the clear ever since. Soon these were joined by Fred and Amy C. and a little bit later by King, Ned and others. At this stage there was plenty of slipping and backsliding. But, encourage by Mrs. Oram and Dr. Poliak, the group somehow held together.
    From New York we began writing letters to San Francisco, but the replies were sketchy and uncertain. At the end of a year an alky lady appeared at our New York office on Vesey Street. She was a little tight, and crying. Though of course she exaggerated a bit, she said, “Bill, we've been going a whole year in San Francisco, and do you know that at Christmas time we were all drunk.”

In 1942, the Lakewood Group, located near Cleveland, Ohio, celebrated its third anniversary at Townsend Hall in Lakewood. The December 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 [right], 86, died. He was A.A.'s first connection to the Rockefeller Foundation in October 1937. Affectionately known as “Uncle Dick,” he served as the treasurer of the Alcoholic Foundation and later became the Chairman of the Board.