Clubs and Alano Houses

The clubhouse is not A.A. headquarters. Some groups rent a room there. Clubs should stay separate and not use the A.A. name. Alano is a local nickname.

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Key takeaway

A clubhouse with meetings in it is not A.A. headquarters. Some groups rent rooms in clubhouses. Tradition Six says clubs should be separate from the group and ought not use the A.A. name. Cooperation is not affiliation. Alano is a nickname some places use, not an official A.A. term.

Last updated: Tue Oct 06 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

The sign on the building made it look official. Coffee, a schedule on the wall, people who seem to live there. Somebody called it the Alano club, and you thought you had found A.A. headquarters. You found a building. Some meetings rent space in clubhouses. The clubhouse is not the fellowship.

Call 911 if this is a medical emergency. Call or text 988 if you are in a mental health crisis. A sofa in a club is not a detox bed. NIAAA says alcohol withdrawal can be life-threatening when a person who drinks heavily over time stops suddenly. A meeting cannot manage that.

The meeting and the landlord are different things

In-person rooms include office buildings, churches, treatment centers, recreation and community centers, clubhouses that rent to recovery groups, and sometimes the outdoors. Members decide when, where, and how often they meet. A rented room can hold a real A.A. meeting. The landlord does not become A.A. because the group meets there.

The long form of Tradition Six says clubs that need property should be separately incorporated and set apart from the group. They ought not use the A.A. name. For clubs, A.A. managers are usually preferred. A group may cooperate with a club. Cooperation ought never become affiliation or endorsement. The short form says a group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise.

So you can walk in for the meeting and still not be joining a corporation. Sitting in the rented room is not affiliation. A manager still does not make the building the head office. Tradition Two says leaders are trusted servants and they do not govern. A manager is not a governor of your recovery.

Alano is a nickname

Alano is a local nickname some places use for that kind of clubhouse. It is not an official A.A. term. Your city might have a building people call by that name. It might not. There is no national address to hunt. If a friend says "just go to the Alano," ask which meeting, on which day. The nickname is not a directory, and it is not a promise that a clubhouse exists where you live.

The General Service Office is a different thing again. The long form of Tradition Nine says trustees of the General Service Board receive voluntary contributions that maintain that office in New York, and that they are custodians of the Traditions. A clubhouse is not that office. Groups in a large metropolitan area may have a central or intergroup committee, which often employs a full-time secretary. That local office is who you call for a meeting list. Find A.A. Near You points you there. aa.org itself is not a meeting finder. The Meeting Guide app is another way to find local contact information.

What you do inside the room

The meeting, if it is an A.A. meeting, is still members talking about what drinking did and what they did next. You can sit and listen. There are no dues or fees for the meeting. A club may have its own rules about the building. Those rules are the club's. They are not a second membership requirement. Tradition Three says the only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking.

The meetings search on this site is a public-feed search. Listings are not verified here. It is not the club's front desk, and it is not the intergroup. Confirm the time with a local list when you can. Online meetings exist if a building is the thing that is scaring you off. Some use video and some do not.

NIDA says mutual-help groups are peer-led, not led by healthcare professionals, and not a substitute for treatment. If you need a program, call (800) 653-9376. That call is free to you. Treatment providers pay for the referral service. The line is not A.A., and it is not SMART Recovery. FindTreatment.gov lists licensed programs. SAMHSA's National Helpline, 1-800-662-HELP (4357), is free, confidential, and answered in English and Spanish.

Tonight

Go to the meeting in the room if that is the meeting you can reach. Do not treat the sign on the building as headquarters. If you do not know whether the clubhouse meeting is the one you want, open Meeting Guide or Find A.A. Near You and read the group's own listing. You can also start from the meetings search and then confirm it. The first meeting guide covers the hour itself. The building is just where the chairs are.

Additional Resources

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Common Questions

Is the clubhouse A.A. headquarters?

No. Some in-person meetings use clubhouses that rent space to recovery groups, the same way others use churches, offices, or community centers. The long form of Tradition Six says a club that needs property should be separately incorporated and set apart from the group. It ought not use the A.A. name. The meeting inside may be an A.A. meeting. The building is not the General Service Office and not a headquarters.

Does every city have an Alano club?

Alano is a nickname some places use for a clubhouse. It is not an official A.A. term, and it is not a promise that your city has one. Do not go looking for a national Alano address. Use Find A.A. Near You or Meeting Guide to find a meeting and, if you need it, the local intergroup. The sign on a building is not a directory.

If I go to the meeting, did I join the club?

The long form says a group may cooperate, and that cooperation ought never become affiliation or endorsement. The short form says a group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the A.A. name to a related facility or outside enterprise. You can walk into the rented room for the meeting. You are not joining the club's corporation by sitting in the chair. There are no dues for the meeting itself.

Who is in charge if the club has a manager?

For clubs, the long form says A.A. managers are usually preferred. That is about who runs the clubhouse, not about who governs your recovery. Leaders in the group are still trusted servants. They do not govern. A manager with a key to the building is not your doctor and not a national officer. The group conscience of the meeting is still the group's.

How do I find the meeting without treating the building as the program?

Look up the meeting, not the legend of the building. Meeting Guide and Find A.A. Near You point you to local A.A. The meetings search here is a public feed and not the club's front desk. If you have been drinking heavily, do not treat a clubhouse sofa as detox. NIAAA says sudden withdrawal can be life-threatening. Call 911 if that is the danger. Call or text 988 in a crisis.