Group History

The Greenwich Village Group is often referred to as the second-oldest Alcoholics Anonymous group in New York City. Its history, read annually, is based on many sources: a collective memory passed from one group member to another. Some comes from AA literature, some from the historical archives at the General Service Office. Some is hearsay, and some is probably just pure lore. 

The precise genesis of the Greenwich Village Group is a fluid topic, but it occurred in the period following the April 1939 loss of the Brooklyn Heights brownstone occupied by A.A. founder Bill Wilson and his wife Lois, where the first New York City AA meetings took place. By this time, there were around 1,400 members of AA worldwide. By the autumn of 1940, various members of the first New York AA group, the Manhattan Group, began to meet occasionally in each other’s apartments because they found the meeting locations inconvenient. These were the earliest members of what was to become the Greenwich Village Group. Our group celebrates that year, 1940, as its beginning.

In 1943, Abbott T., one of the earliest group members, sent some group information to AA’s Central Office. By that time, 18 members of the Manhattan Group had begun meeting in each other’s apartments and were calling themselves the Greenwich Village Group. They did not wish to be considered an established group and specifically asked not to be listed in any AA directory. 

That changed in December 1945, when group member Herb M. sent a letter to the Central Office acknowledging the official establishment of the Greenwich Village Group. The group now boasted a robust membership of 30 and wished to be listed in the AA world directory. Subsequent information sheets show the group met at Judson Memorial Church, located on the southern edge of Washington Square Park at 243 Thompson Street. The group held a closed meeting every Friday night at 8:30, preceded by an introductory meeting at 7:30. 

Judson Memorial Church is the only meeting place on record at AA’s Central Office during the 1940’s. However, other records indicate that during this time the group moved to a second meeting place just a few blocks away on Sullivan Street. One group member with over 50 years of sobriety remembered going to Sullivan Street at some point during this time period, and in the Big Book story “Fear of Fear,” a woman describes getting sober “…down in the Greenwich Village Group.” The story recalls “a little porch out there in the old meeting place on Sullivan Street.” That meeting location is presumed to be 179 Sullivan Street, which sat squarely between Jimmy Kelly’s Bar and Nucciarone (New-chi-ah-row-nay) Funeral Home, where Cher’s character in ‘Moonstruck’ worked. The choice was crystal clear: you could either drink, take your seat in AA, or that’s your funeral. 

By 1946, at least four Black members joined the Greenwich Village Group, making it the first AA group in Manhattan to allow Black members to join. Their presence and long commutes helped highlight the need for AA groups in major Black communities around the city. As a result, a handful of group members worked together to start the St. Nicholas Group in Harlem in 1947, which still meets to this day. 

In 1956, the Greenwich Village Group was listed as meeting at the Cinema Club on Sixth Avenue, though the exact address is not known to us today. That same year, the group was influential in the founding of yet another meeting. After a collection of artists, writers, and poets concluded that the Greenwich Village Group was “too stuffy,” they started the Workshop Group, known today as the Perry Street Workshop. In the words of Barry L., the group’s  historian at the time, “They floundered for a while, all got drunk, and then sobered up so that finally the group became a real AA group.” 

In 1959, the Greenwich Village Group found its current home on the grounds of St. Luke in the Fields. At that time, the group was listed as having “60 active members and 50 non-participating members.” Following the move, the Greenwich Village Group became known colloquially as St. Luke’s. According to the 1959 Intergroup Association of Alcoholics Anonymous pamphlet “AA Meetings in the Metropolitan Area,” the group held an open meeting at 8:30 on Monday nights and a closed meeting at 8:30 on Wednesday nights in St. Luke’s Hall. This schedule soon evolved. A Monday night open meeting at 8:30, a Wednesday night newcomer meeting at 7:30, and a Friday night closed step and tradition meeting at 8:30. They met in the dining room of the former annex to the church. 

At some point, the group relocated downstairs to the basement auditorium at St. Luke’s School. In 1981, St. Luke’s was ravaged by a fire, but the group never missed a meeting. Since then, the schedule has been more or less consistent, with meetings on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Nearly 20 years ago, a Tuesday night Big Book meeting was added. In the wake of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, a Thursday night Living Sober Zoom meeting was also added to the schedule for a brief period of time. 

Although the Greenwich Village Group is not a special interest group, there is a long history of inclusion of LGBTQ+ members.  Marty M., who was a lesbian, got sober in Bill and Lois’ Brooklyn brownstone and attended meetings at the Greenwich Village Group. She not only co-founded the A.A. Grapevine, but also organized the National Committee For Education on Alcoholism, which today has expanded into The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence. Her story, “Women Suffer Too,” can be found in the Big Book. 

In the mid-1970s, one member recalls the group being composed of more men than women and more straight people than gay people but indicated that there was no controversy around gay members. Around the same time, when the AA General Service Office wanted to prepare a brochure about Gay and Lesbian alcoholics in the mid-seventies, group member Barry L. brought representatives to the Greenwich Village Group. The result was the 1976 AA pamphlet, “Do You Think You’re Different?”, which was written by Barry L. and included group members’ stories. 

There were also trans people in the group who held service positions, including one trans woman who served as the group’s chair. Her secretary was a straight man, a very blue-collar union guy named John M. According to one group member at the time, their banter at business meetings was memorable, to say the least. 

The Greenwich Village Group continues to strive for inclusivity and acceptance of all alcoholics who walk through the door. As the third tradition states, the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. 

In 1975, with over 1,000,000 members worldwide, AA published the book Living Sober. The manuscript was compiled by Greenwich Village Group member Barry L. from the stories of many other AA members. Another group member, Mary P., served as a Trustee of the General Service Board. Three other group members, Lois F., Helen T., and Eileen G., worked for many years in staff positions at AA’s General Service Office. 

In 1977, members of the Greenwich Village Group participated in the formation of yet another AA group in the Village. Living Now, which still meets today, was created by a group member running a program that assisted women seeking employment after being released from prison. When it turned out that many of these women were struggling with alcoholism, the meeting was created as a place for them to come together and address their common problem.

In the 1980s, a group of health professionals from the Soviet Union visited New York to speak with the National Council on Alcoholism. They were also curious about AA, so they called the AA General Service Office for information. It was suggested they attend an open meeting at the Greenwich Village Group. However, due to their travel schedule, the only night they could attend was a Friday, which is a closed meeting. The group held a special business meeting to discuss whether an exception could be made for these professionals. A heated debate followed, and the room was quite divided, but in the end, the group's conscience swung in favor of allowing them to attend. The Soviets arrived with earphone translators, looking very austere and stony-faced, but after the meeting, they were all smiles, extending handshakes and even a few hugs. 

A few years later, at the 1990 International AA Convention’s opening ceremony, two Soviet alcoholics were in attendance—the first time there had been any attendees from the Soviet Union. They marched into the stadium with their flag, joining other such groups from countries around the world. And so it was that the Greenwich Village Group played a small but significant role in carrying the AA message to the Soviet Union. 

In the early 1980s, the HIV/AIDS pandemic began to ravage the gay community and beyond, claiming the lives of many members of the Greenwich Village Group. “We knew what was happening, but we knew very little,” one group member said. Though there was a fear of contracting the disease, one member recalled that “AIDS never came up at a business meeting… without hesitancy, people joined hands at the end of the meeting to say the Serenity Prayer. We never stopped doing anything.” Group members showed courage and believed that the ultimate indignity would be to withhold support or compassion for others. When the disease claimed the life of group member Barry L. in 1985, Bill W.’s wife Lois, then 94 years old, came to the basement at St. Luke’s in a wheelchair to attend Barry’s memorial and honor her old friend. 

The group trudged into the new millennium with a larger membership than ever before. In 2001, one of the group’s long-standing members, Phil P., had his story, “He Lived Only to Drink,” added to the fourth edition of the Big Book, continuing the group’s history of contributing to AA literature. 

Following the terrorist attacks on Tuesday, September 11th, 2001, group members were faced with challenges as they attempted to hold the Wednesday meeting on September 12. The St. Luke’s campus was closed, and crossing south of 14th Street in Manhattan was restricted to those who lived in the area who could provide proof of residency. It was nearly impossible for some members to get to the Village. 

The group members who lived in the area or managed to reach downtown gathered outside St. Luke’s locked gates to formulate a plan. An apartment on Horatio Street was offered as a meeting place, but the group was too large to fit. Instead they decided to meet in what is now Washington Commons on Washington Street between Jane and Horatio Streets. Group members recall seeing the fire continuing to burn at the World Trade Center, less than 2 miles south of where they were meeting. After the qualification, group members shared about staying sober in the face of tragedy. When asked if there were any visitors, a couple from Florida raised their hands. Somehow, they had found the meeting. A passerby even joined the circle not realizing it was AA, mistaking it for one of the many prayer vigils that had formed around the city. They decided to stay because they felt such a strong need to be in a spiritual community. 

During renovations to the St. Luke’s campus, the Greenwich Village Group had temporary homes at The Archives Building, St. Veronica’s, and The Center. Because of the changing venues, group members who previously referred to the group as ‘St. Luke’s’ were faced with the challenge of how to identify the group. Members began to refer to the group as ‘GVG,’ and many still do to this day, although every now and then someone will still say ‘St. Luke’s’ when asked what meeting they’re heading to. Upon completion of the renovations, the Greenwich Village Group returned to the St. Luke’s campus and continued to hold meetings where they have for nearly half a century.

2020 was a year of many challenges. When New York State was locked down due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the group sprang into action by calling an emergency business meeting to discuss moving all group meetings to the Zoom platform. The group’s trusted servants and the group conscience worked quickly to develop the new format. On Friday, March 19, 2020, the step and tradition Meeting kicked off the Zoom era. Meetings continued on schedule, service positions were adjusted, and the A.A. message was carried forward as the group trudged on digitally. 

In the summer of 2021, the group gradually returned to its beloved St. Luke’s, where it continues to meet today, with the exception of the Monday night step 1-2-3 meeting and a version of the Friday night step and tradition meeting, which both continue to meet weekly on Zoom. 

In 2022, the group added the option to include American Sign Language interpreters in the Monday and Wednesday night meetings, helping to increase AA access to the deaf or hearing impaired. Finally, in 2023, the group added a women’s meeting on Friday nights after several group members identified a need for one in the Village. 

This history serves as a reminder of the decades of service that preceded us, the ever-changing and ever-evolving nature of the group and the fellowship, and the opportunities given to each of us each day to carry the message of AA. As the group’s history proves, on the darkest and most uncertain days, we don’t have to do this alone.