About Us

The History of the North Hall Group of Alcoholics Anonymous (Sacramento, CA)

North Hall was started in January 1974 and became the first official CCFAA/Sacramento gay fellowship. The Group’s start was preceded by unofficial AA gatherings held in two people's apartments. The founders were Kel L., Joy, Bob, Donna, Mike S., Jerry, Teddy, Maxine and Patty B.  During this time, their phone lines were cut and lives threatened. One of the founders, Kel L., held the first gay AA meeting in her apartment on 34th St.  Kel had to have throat cancer surgery and the meeting was moved to Joy’s apartment. 

The founders applied to CCFAA (The Central California Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous) to be a new group in the schedule and to have “gay” listed next to its meeting days and times.  The gay designation provoked a big controversy. It was the 70’s.  Finally, a year later, North Hall was allowed on the meeting schedule. CCFAA managers Ruth G. and Tiesup were instrumental in their support.  

The gay group got its name “North Hall” when it rented the third floor north hall of the Metropolitan Community Church at 34th and Broadway. North Hall began with one meeting a week and four chairs in the church kitchen. Freda, the MCC pastor, was very supportive. By June of 1980, the CCFAA schedule showed North Hall had meetings three days a week and which included a closed 8:00 pm meeting on Monday, an open 8:00 pm meeting on Friday, and a women's meeting 6:00 pm on Wednesday. 

Soon thereafter, North Hall became the first gay group to chair a Monthly Speaker Meeting for Group 3. It was held in the Cathedral’s basement / 8th & J Streets. Rose from the Turquoise Lodge also supported the new group by having them host a monthly speaker meeting there. North Hall started an annual (River City Round-up) gay conference in Sacramento in 1988. It also started its men's meeting at the Sierra II School on 24th Street in Curtis Park in the 1980s and later folded it into the regular meeting hall schedule on Sunday nights where it remains to this day. North Hall has always strived to be a part of the larger Sacramento AA community. Several "straight" members of the community who helped get the Group started included Joe M., Connie, Del L., Jack P. and Patty K., Chair of the Group 3 Cathedral Sacramento Monthly Speaker Meeting at the time. North Hall was invited to chair an alcathon meeting by Group 3 when it was on 12th Street. Bob chaired. North Hall has from the start and continues to be a strong supporter of CCFAA - partially in recognition of the support the group received during its founding and now in the spirit of unity.

The group has had several meeting sites. In the spring of 1994, a fire occurred at the MCC Church. A neighborhood church took the group in right away and the eleven meetings the group had at the time continued without interruption. A few months later, the group was able to rent office space on J Street. A few years later when the J St site was to be redeveloped, they moved to office space on Riverside Boulevard. . Then in 2002, North Hall moved to 2nd Ave in Oak Park, just 2 blocks from where it originally started in the MCC church. Seven years later, in 2009, North Hall moved across the street to its current location on 2nd Avenue where it grew to support 21 meetings every week. 

At the end of February 2020, amidst the global Covid 19 Pandemic, Governor Newsom issued a stay at home order.  The following Monday, the General Secretary (Suzanne), the GSR (Andrew G) and the steering committee had an emergency meeting and made a plan to transfer all of the 21 weekly meetings online.  This was completed in one night, with all of the meetings set up on Zoom, new meeting formats put together and electronic 7th tradition set up via Cash App.  North Hall was the first large group in the Sacramento area to go fully online and assisted other area groups to get set up and going with their online meetings. The tradition continued that despite adversity, North Hall never missed a meeting, and continued to virtually keep the door open.  A special committee was formed to manage the re-opening of North Hall, and in-person meetings began with a few brave members offering to be in-person secretaries, honoring new protocols such as no coffee, reduced seating, masking, and not circling up after the meeting as a precaution.  Eventually North Hall re-opened completely.

In 2024, River P and a group of members proposed and opened a Genderqueer meeting, serving to support trans, gender non-conforming, and gender expansive members of AA. Also in  2024, following a group inventory that clearly identified diversity as a North Hall focus, Stephan T proposed the dedication of a weekly meeting to serve BIPOC members, and the BIPOC and allies meeting was born the same year.  Both of these open special interest meetings were the first AA meetings of their kind in Sacramento. 

At the time of this writing, North Hall has nineteen in-person meetings, and five online virtual meetings weekly.

Since its opening in 1974, the fellowship has grown, ever seeking to support the Alcoholic who suffers. In its years of providing a safe and supportive environment for the LGBTQIA + and straight communities alike– North Hall has never closed its doors.

We are glad you are all here. Welcome home.


Post Pandemic Scribe: Adrian P with assistance of Suzanne C, Andrew G, River P and Stephan T, January, 2025.

Scribes: Pat D., Tom J, December 2017.
Based on notes from Kel L, July 13, 1986.