EDITORIAL: On Simplicity, of Faith, of Living, of Outlook The A.A. program itself is simple. Why do too many of us try to read complexities and mysteries into the 12 steps? In our drinking days our lives were complex and confused. We were unable to be honest with ourselves and we rationalized our wrong position with all the tricks of […]

Recently I spent a delightful afternoon with Flossie Lewis’ daughter, Beverly O’Neill when she graciously donated to the Harbor Area Archives some wonderful new memorabilia. For this month’s selection please enjoy an original poem from Hal Moffett, founding president of Memorial West Alumni (MWA). It is presented here in its original ‘work in progress’ form.

This coming August 8th marks the birth of one Robert Holbrook Smith, “Dr. Bob” to the millions of AA members throughout the world. This month we present a memorial tribute from Bill Wilson to his old friend and co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. A meeting was held at the 24th Street Club House in memory of Dr. Bob. A recording of […]

This month we present a look back at the 1971 celebration of Founders’ Day and the pivotal role that Henrietta Seiberling played in bringing together Dr. Bob Smith and Bill Wilson. As you read this story there is one aspect that is not told that was recently pointed out to me. While honesty was one of the four pillars of […]

One of the great things with people starting to know me as the Harbor Area archivist is they’re bringing me stuff for the archives! The other day I received an *original *copy of a June 1940 stockholders report from *Works Publishing*, which was created to enable AA to self-publish the first edition of the Big Book. This little pamphlet tells […]

The earliest known appearance of Alcoholics Anonymous in the Harbor Area was when Hugh Van Aiken (deceased) made a Twelve Step Call on Daniel “Curly” O’Neill (also deceased). This was on February 4, 1941. They talked and “Curly” began his early sobriety. Soon others in the Long Beach area who had similar problems began meeting at “Curly’s” home. For some […]