Alcoholics Anonymous Meetings in California

Overview of AA

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength, and hope with each other so that they may solve their common problem and help others recover from alcoholism.

Los Angeles AA Meetings

Address: 5939 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

Meetings:

• Monday – Friday at 6:30 AM (open, speaker)
• Tuesday at 8:00 PM (closed, step study)
• Saturday at 9:30 AM (open, newcomers welcome)

San Francisco AA Meetings

Address: 240 Golden Gate Ave, San Francisco, CA 94102

Meetings:

• Monday – Thursday at 12:00 PM (open)
• Friday at 7:30 PM (closed, women only)
• Sunday at 10:30 AM (open, all welcome)

San Diego Central Office

Address: 4373 30th St, San Diego, CA 92104

Meetings:

• Monday – Friday at 12:00 PM (open)
• Wednesday at 7:00 PM (closed, step study)
• Saturday at 5:30 PM (open, speaker meeting)

The 12 Steps of AA

The 12 Steps of AA Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) outlines a 12-step program to help members achieve and maintain sobriety. The steps aim to motivate members toward positive change across California.

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable. Members admit that alcohol has made their lives uncontrollable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. Members start believing in a higher power that can help them regain control.
3. Decided to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. Members decide to put their lives in their higher power’s hands.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. Members thoroughly examine their wrongdoings with courage.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. Members confess all their misdeeds to their higher power, themselves, and someone else.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. Members become willing for their higher power to take away their shortcomings.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings. Members ask, with humility, for their higher power to remove their flaws.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all. Members list everyone they have wronged and decide to make up for the harm caused.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when doing so would injure them or others. Members make up for the harm directly to those people if it doesn’t hurt them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. Members keep evaluating themselves and quickly admit when wrong.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. Members try through prayer and reflection to better connect with their higher power, praying only to know their higher power’s plan and have the strength to follow it.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs. After a spiritual revelation from following these steps, members try to spread this message to other alcoholics and apply these principles in all aspects of life.

Getting Started with AA in California

Use the meeting search on methadone.org to find local meetings in your area. California has both in-person and online/virtual AA meetings available in most places.

Attending Your First Local AA Meeting

AA meetings in California may be “open” or “closed”. Open meetings welcome anyone interested in Alcoholics Anonymous. Closed meetings are for those who have a desire to stop drinking.

When attending your first meeting, arrive early and introduce yourself as a new local member. Share your experiences if you feel comfortable. Many groups give welcome keychain tags at first meetings to mark milestones in sobriety. Common keychain milestones are:

• 30 days
• 60 days
• 90 days
• 6 months
• 9 months
• 1 year