October 10, 1949
The girl in whose home the Bay Area Women’s Group was formed and had been holding meetings for several months decided to withdraw her hospitality in order to go on a prolonged drunk. The group was then shifted about from one place to another for six months. Feeling the need for a permanent meeting place, the group set about to find the answer to their problem. The women had found so much good A.A. in their specialized discussion meetings that they wished the men of the area could have similar advantages. At that time there was no beginners’ meetings and no other discussion meetings of any kind in the entire district, -- only regular open meetings with scheduled guest speakers, with no opportunity for participation or self-expression by new-comers. Some members expressed the feeling also of a need for a central headquarters for 12th step work and social contacts in the immediate vicinity.
Several of the women scouted around and discovered that nothing at all adequate could be had for less than $100 .00 a month. So they set about to personally solicit donations from A. A.’s all over the district – contributions of quarters, halves, dollars, and a few fives. Many approached were discouraging. They predicted that no hall was available in the vicinity, -- it had been covered long before with similar intentions. And what was more, they were often told, it wouldn’t work even if they did find it. But the persistent ones still kept on, looking – and soliciting funds.
The entire group met one day with the problem paramount for the day’s discussion. It was brought out that if the need were valid and legitimate, it would be filled. They further went along on the premise that they need not go about to find a place, -- but that the place that they needed was already waiting for them. They concluded the meeting with a group meditation on these points.
On their way home from the meeting that day, several of the members were driving down Santa Monica Boulevard. One of them spotted an old vacant house, set far back from the street, behind an overgrowth of trees and shrubs, and squinting out through broken, boarded-up windows. “That’s it”, thought one of them. They drove in the circular drive and looked around. “That’s not good enough for us”, said one; “It looks haunted”, she added. Another member, when consulted, said, “It isn’t possible. It’s too good to be true”. She had frequented the place years before when it was a chicken-dinner restaurant, knew its possibilities, but had been afraid to investigate for fear of disappointment.
But the optimist found a neighbor who provided the landlady’s phone number. She went home and called the owner, who informed her it was not for rent, --that offers for rental had been refused for two years. But the A.A. went on to explain exactly for what purpose the place was needed. It seems the owner was a benefactress of several convalescent sanitariums, and, considering this worthy cause, consented to lease it for $100.00 a month, -- less than half what she could have been receiving for the past two years. The Women’s group had $40.00in their treasury, which they donated towards the first month’s rent. The rest was made up from the previously solicited fund. The lease was signed and a permanent house committee formed of the few had done the actual work on the project. Then they threw it one, -- and A. A. moved in.
