History:
After Bill W.’s visit to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1943, a lasting friendship and Much of their correspondence concerned Bill’s plan for what later developed into the General Service Conference.Late in 1946, Bill wrote to Nic, suggesting a division of North America into four sections from which delegate representation could be developed to facilitate contact with the Headquarter’s Office in New York. Bill suggested that the South West Quadrant consist of California, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and Hawaii and the North West Quadrant include North and South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Alaska and the provinces of Western Canada. Nic was a member of the San Francisco Group, and he discussed Bill’s suggestions with the San Francisco and Oakland Central Committees. They tried to contact representatives in parts of the South West Quadrant, but the AA members in Southern California were non-responsive.At this time, many requests for information about group operation and personal pleas for help were pouring into the San Francisco and Oakland post office boxes. In fact, there was a problem solving/solution meeting at the Oakland Alano Club in early 1945. In attendance were the representatives from the approximately thirty active groups in Northern California. In June 1946, Oakland opened its first Central Office; and in January 1947, the San Francisco Central Office was established. Out of the discussions that began in 1945, a decision was made to form some sort of informational organization for AA groups in Northern California.
The result of these discussions was an organizational meeting which was held March 23, 1947, at the Oakland Alano Club, 423 15th Street. It was attended by representatives of most of the 145 existing AA Groups in Northern California. With Bill’s good wishes, this organization was named the Northern California Council of Alcoholics Anonymous (NCCAA). The mailing address was the San Francisco Central Office, and Clarence R. of San Francisco was the first Secretary-Treasurer.
At the Council’s third meeting in Sacramento on September 14, 1947, representatives from AA groups in Reno, Nevada asked to be included; so the name was then changed to Northern California and Nevada Council of Alcoholics Anonymous (NC & NCAA). After Nevada elected its first Delegate to the General Service Conference in 1955, the Reno groups withdrew from the Council and our name reverted to its original name: the Northern California Council of Alcoholics Anonymous (NCCAA).
The first official Conference of the NC & NCAA was held in March 1948 at the Oakland Alano Club. Bill Wilson was the main speaker at this conference during his second visit to the West Coast. For the next few years conferences were held quarterly in various parts of Northern California.
History Part I | History Part II | History Part III | History Part IV | History Part V