Our History – The Alano Club of San Jose, Inc.

The idea of the Alano Club of San Jose, Inc. came into being in 1948 and has grown into the Club we know today.  Since 1948 we’ve been in five locations (Padre Theatre – 1948-51, 1274 Alamaden Street – 1952-57, 1421 West San Carlos Street – 1957,  1139 Minnesota Avenue 1958-62) and our present home at 1122 Fair Avenue since October,  1962.  Here is our history as of August – 2022 compiled from the research and contributions of members and friends. 

Beginnings and The Padre Theatre

The Big Book begins with Bill W’s struggles with alcohol, and later relates in Chapter Eleven, “A Vision for You”, how he met Dr. Bob, thus forming the beginnings of Alcoholics Anonymous.

One man on an unsuccessful business trip far from home, forming a strong friendship with another man through a random selection from a church directory in a hotel lobby, while searching for relief from his own suffering and temptation, would seem to go against most odds.

But, for that chance meeting and subsequent friendship to grow into a powerful miracle bringing relief to sufferers throughout the world, would seem to be against any odds that even the greatest of odds-makers might conjure up. A chance meeting?

Consider the events six years after the start of Alcoholics Anonymous, when three men, one in Kansas City and two strangers living two blocks apart in the San Jose neighborhood of Willow Glen, began a journey that would extend this miracle, forming a fellowship that has endured for over seventy years and still grows. This is the heritage of the Alano Club of San Jose, California.

Although the Club itself did not receive its charter until 1951, the foundation was being laid ten years earlier, a year that brought the United States into a worldwide struggle that lasted until 1945.  In 1941, Jim H. first joined Alcoholics Anonymous in Kansas City, seeking to end his own struggle with alcohol. That same year in California, Mickey C. wrote to AA in New York seeking help from this new organization and was advised by return mail of group meetings in Oakland. After attending meetings for 2 or 3 months, he met Jim R., who had sought help in the same way, received the same response and follow the same road to Oakland. They met at these Oakland meetings and started meetings of their own in Jim R.’s San Jose home – just two blocks from the home that Mickey C. shared with his wife.   Mickey C. became the first AA member in San Jose to become sober through the AA program.

Perhaps Higher Power was at work to bring Mickey C. and Jim R. together through such a circuitous route: from San Jose to New York by mail; to Oakland by car, and finally, to within walking distance of each other to begin their journey on the path to recovery. The war interrupted Jim H.’s membership in Kansas City, bringing him into the service to aid in the national struggle for peace. After the war, Jim returned home to Kansas, to be transferred to San Jose in 1945 as Depot Agent for the Southern Pacific Railroad. In 1946, he re-joined AA in San Jose, becoming very active. By the time Jim H. arrived in San Jose by train from Kansas City in 1945, the rank and file of alcoholics gathering together for their own recovery had grown. Banded together by a common bond, they wandered from place to place, meeting in each other’s homes, more for the comfort of social gatherings than to practice the steps toward sobriety.

The meetings continued and expanded as the principles of AA of helping yourself by helping others brought more alcoholics into the fold, sharing their experiences and growth in their quest for sobriety. 

Heritage has many definitions, but one stands out above all others, as we would apply it to our own Fellowship: “something transmitted by or acquired from a predecessor”.  Our past should always be remembered, for that is the foundation for our future.  It is interesting to note that our predecessors moved into their first clubhouse in 1946. The Twelve Traditions of AA were first published in . . .. 1948. 

The meetings the first San Jose AA group attended outside of members’ homes were held at the Women’s Club, while the wives met in each other’s homes. So, when Jim H. and Carl M. located three rooms above the Padre Theater on South First Street, the stage was set for a better way and a clubhouse of its own.

Not all the members of the group liked the idea, but those who did pitched in to make it worthwhile. A long chesterfield couch and a few chairs from Los Angeles (connections and a better price) made the lounge warm and friendly.  A recreation room and a combination meeting and card room rounded out the new “place to be”. An artist in Los Angeles painted the Twelve Steps of AA and the spirit of the program began to grow. The first organized place in San Jose dedicated to sobriety.

This new life began attracting more and more to the point that three rooms no longer provided the comfort it did when they first moved in. Sam H., a prominent attorney, filed a club charter and the Club had a formal name –“The Alano Club of San Jose.” Roy M. was active in the Club, and his wife, Eva, was making sandwiches and good coffee. Bob B., his wife Vivian, Lloyd S., his wife Jean (Jean started the first Al-Anon group in San Jose), Chet M., Dorothy B., and several others, frequented the Club, taking an active part in the going’s-on, making it much more than merely a refuge from drinking – it was becoming a new way of life.

 We had a new name for our Club and a need for more space.  It was time to move again. The need to move was different than before, and the obstacles were different as well.

Once having established the Club, it was decided that one of the things required of a corporation, be it for profit or nonprofit, is a Board of Directors to manage the affairs of the organization. Three or more, but not more than nine, sit on the board and are elected by the membership to serve terms as prescribed in the by-laws adopted by that organization. The Alcoholics Anonymous Alano Club of San Jose, the name this group first selected for themselves, opted for a five man board, each member serving two years, with elections held each year, alternately replacing three then two members from the membership. On October 23rd, 1951, the date the charter was granted, five members sat on the board: Harvie W, President, Jim H, principal motivator behind the founding of the Club three years earlier, Sim H, attorney who filed the charter application, Johnny B, sober three and a half years and Alberta H, the only woman on the board.

Having outgrown the Padre Theater facilities, with a charter in hand and five trusted servants to lead them, this band set out to expand. One of the things they didn’t reckon with, however, was the conceptual difference between AA, the fellowship that got them sober, and a club, an organization they hoped would provide peaceful surroundings in which to enjoy their sobriety. In AA , there were no leaders, as such, no one governed and the Big Book, with the Twelve Steps, and the newly affirmed Twelve Traditions provided the guidelines. In a club, there were recognized leaders who were to govern, but no guidelines to lead the way. The minute the charter was official; these differences made themselves known and began to grow.