Hello,
 
There has always been some cloud of controversy about the founding of AA in Los
Angeles. Kaye Miller, non-alcoholic, claimed that 1st meeting that was held in
her home on December 19, 1939 not only did not die out before Mort J. started
the Cecil Hotel meeting, but there were 2 meetings going at that same time. That
first meeting only met in her home for about 2 weeks and she went to Honolulu. 
The meeting moved to Barney H.'s home in Glendale.  Then back to her house on
Gower in Hollywood in February 1940 when she returned.
 
In a letter she wrote to Bill W dated February 8, 1947 she is recapping the
early history as she remembered.  In that letter she writes :"The very  first
meeting that Mort attend in LA  he attend at  my house on Gower street in
Hollywood. I had gone to Honolulu and returned in the mean time. I know it was
in April 1940 because it was a sort of double barrel affair, because it was a
celebration of Johnny Howe birthday so it was about the 14th of April. Mort
called me and I was so very happy to hear the voice of another sober alkie and
so now we has someone else to tell their story at our meetings."  In this same
letter she claimed that in February 1940 Lee[T.] started the group that became
the Pasadena Home Group.
 
Kaye was writing this letter to Bill because it was about this time period when
the history of AA in LA was beginning to get a little cloudy.  The letter not
only went to Bill but to several of the pioneers of AA in LA.  A carbon copy of
this letter is in the Area 9 Archives repository in Riverside CA.
 
Again in February 1951 this letter resurfaced because facts were becoming even
more distorted. Bill W. came to LA to help with the election of the 1st delegate
to the general Service Conference. At one of the meetings that weekend, Mort was
given the credit for starting AA in Los Angeles.  It seems the group of early
members that saw the LA's history the same way Kaye did, were upset and it
caused a great deal of controversy. Clyde D (future Area 5 Delegate) was
circulating her original letter asking Secretaries to read it at their meetings
There is another letter that was circulated by a member names Bud that also
debunked some of the facts that came out at that meeting.  But I guess it all
died down without any changes in their history.
 
The little booklet of How AA Came To LA that was written by the Southern
California Archives Committee in 1986 was nicely done.  I am sure the LA
Central archives had some of these same letters that I have seen from Kaye and
the others members concerning the early history. So I am not sure why their
version also differs. Their version even names the author of the "Lone Endeavor"
as Peter C.  Kaye's letter in 1946 named him as Pat C. I truely believe
this history was done mostly by information found on tapes and not hard
documentation. Oh by the way in that 1946 letter she stated Pat C had been going
to meetings again and was doing well. 
 
A couple years ago I was privilege to go to the GSO Archives in New York and do
some research on the history of Area 9. While there I did find some interesting
information on this subject. I saw at least 2 letters from Kaye to Bill just
before the book, AA Comes Of Age, was published pleading with him to correct the
book's version of the history of how AA got started in LA. She pleaded with him
to give some of the earlier members some of the credit as well as Mort. But it
seemed Bill only corrected Street names and a couple smaller facts but left out
some of the facts Kaye wanted added..
 
One last version that I found was in the February 1952 Grapevine.  This entire
issue is dedicated to AA in Los Angeles and San Francisco.  If you read AA Comes
of Age version of how AA started in LA and this article, it is two different
versions of the same story. This version is also more along what Kaye was
saying.
 
I served as the Area 9 Archivist from  1996 to beginning of 2009.  For almost 12
years I tried to get into the archives at the LA Central Office and was told it
was a closed archives. Just before I left California restrictions were lifed and
members are now able to go into that archives.  Members can only go in during
regular business hours Monday through Friday.  Due to my work schedule I was
never able to get by to do any research..  Maybe some archives committee or
concerned members can go do some research and maybe rewrite the history of how
AA really came to LA.  I am sure somewhere within all of the different versions
is how it really happened. Personally I would like to think it will be closer to
Kaye's version.
 
Hope this helps
 
Charles from Wisconsin
 
 
 
 
 


--- On Tue, 7/14/09, Charles Grotts <chuckg052284@...> wrote:


From: Charles Grotts <chuckg052284@...>
Subject: [AAHistoryLovers] First AA meeting in Los Angeles
To: AAHistoryLovers@yahoogroups.com
Date: Tuesday, July 14, 2009, 7:18 PM


 



In Los Angeles our AA meeting directory says
that the first meeting in L.A. took place on
December 19, 1939 but that meeting died out.
The first meeting that lasted was started on
either the last Friday in March or the 1st
Friday in April, 1940, according to Mort
Joseph, who organized it. In a talk given
in 1975, he said he never could remember
which Friday it was. That was at the Cecil
Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, which still
exists. It was called "The Old Mother Group."
After moving to several locations, it
eventually died out too.

History pamphlet:

http://www.lacoaa. org/HOW%20AA. pdf





















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