The Men’s Center, Inc.

Around 1950 Mickey and Helen leased an old tire shop at 1514 Congress Avenue, the former Reliable Tire Company. After scrubbing and cleaning the dilapidated space they had room for 8 to 12 beds. According to one report, the sobering drunks shared the premises with a tattoo parlor. Their building was hard by Houston's skid row, a handy source of referrals, and thus came to be known as the Skid Row Center. Men came and went; some sober, some not. One who came and stayed was Jimmy O., who arrived at the Center and sobered up in 1952. This sign painter from Scully Square in Philadelphia became the Centers caretaker. When Ken B., the manager who had taken over for Mickey and Helen, left in 1956, Jimmy O. became the manager and chief trusted servant of the Center, staying until his death in 1966. One of Jimmy's early brother AAs, Tom N., put down the bottle in 1954. Tom served as the Centers Chairman of the Board of Directors, preserving the Centers close connection to its original, simple purpose of helping an alcoholic in need, until his death in July 1999.

Then, as now, the Center furnished beds in a Sick Room for fresh alcoholics to detox. Beds and 3 meals a day were provided, but men had to get a job to pay rent. True to form, not all the alcoholics saw eye to eye on how the Center should be run. In 1957 Tuffy W., a former supporter of the Center, left to start an alternative sobering-up joint, which became the 24-Hour Club.

By 1958 the Center needed more space and found it a block away in a large 3-story building at 1512 Preston Avenue. Before the men could sign a lease and move in, however, the new landlord required that the Center incorporate. The Skid row Alcoholic Center, a Texas non-profit corporation and benevolent and educational organization, was chartered by the Secretary of State on February 10, 1958. The Center initially occupied just the first two floors of the Preston Ave. location. The Center made sure there were always plenty of fresh drunks around the front door when prospective tenants came to see the vacant third floor; eventually the landlord let the alcoholics have that floor too. Old-timers recall that the building slept as many as 300 men a night, at least until the health department imposed limits.

The Center changed locations several times before arriving at its present site. In 1965 it leased the old brick YWCA building on Crawford near downtown, housing a reported 100 men. Times were especially tough in 1967 when the Center relocated to the Cullen home on Alabama at Austin, with beds for only 7 or 8 men. Finally, in 1969 the Center rented and moved to its current home at 3810 Fannin, buying the building and adjacent Garage Apartments in 1982. In 1976 the Center purchased the Yellow House (3811 Fannin), the Corner House (3801 Fannin), and the Alabama House (1104 Alabama). In later years the Center added 3809 Main (1978) and 3805 Main (1990).

The Skid row Alcoholic Center was renamed The Center, Incorporated in 1978. In 1990 it officially adopted its present name of The Men's Center, Incorporated, but retains the assumed name, The Center.

The Center shall be operated exclusively to provide help, benefit and assistance to the sick and suffering alcoholic with his recovery as its goal and primary objective, and also for the benefit of recovering alcoholics. How It Works In more than 44 years of service to the recovering person, the Center has developed a program that works. A physically sick alcoholic or addict, when received into the Center, spends several days in the Sick Room. He is encouraged to rest and to read. Three times a day, the new people in the Sick Room take their meals together in the Dining Room. Then the new man is introduced to a daily routine, which permits his body to begin to heal, through rest and a regular diet. Taking care of the body is the beginning of recovery from the excesses of alcoholism. The time in the Sick Room affords the new man an opportunity for solitude and silent reflection on the hopelessness of his situation.

Equally important, if not more so, it introduces him to the Personalism of the AA fellowship as it is practiced at the Center. Since there are only a few men in the Sick Room at one time, and since the supervisor (who is always present) is also an alcoholic, the topic of recovery through AA is constantly being examined. Other residents also visit the men in the Sick Room to talk about sobriety. The next step for the new person is a move to a dormitory where he has a bed and storage space for his clothing. The men share a commons room where they watch TV and play cards. Because a man has to pay his room and board once a week at the Center, he goes to the labor pool or another source of employment. Getting a job and paying rent regularly are part of the recovery process.

The Center hosts 40 AA meetings a week. AA meeting are held every morning for those who are not at work, and every noon and evening as well. The desire to learn the AA way to sobriety is encouraged and developed through association with other men in the Center. That association enhances the practice of the Twelve Steps, the Twelve Traditions and AA sponsorship among the men at the Center. The Center program recognizes the three aspects of alcoholism: physical, emotional and spiritual. This brief sketch shows the personalized approach to recovery at the Center. The Center provides the regular and personal attention to each of these three aspects necessary for the recovering person to regain his sense of wholeness, his integrity and his hope.

Facilities

The Center is composed of seven buildings on two city blocks. These comprise a sober community containing living quarters for 150 men (excluding the Sick Room) who often would have nowhere else to go. Facing Main Street is the 3809 Main building, which contains the Front Desk, the 6 bed Sick Room, offices, the kitchen and dining room, and space for 18 longer-term residents/staff. Next door is the 3805 Main building which contains the Great Hall (a meeting room accommodating over 100 people), several smaller meeting rooms, and the Coffee Bar-where residents and visitors can relax over a cup of coffee and snack. Fronting on Fannin Street is the 3810 building with its dormitory-style rooms for 44 beds; and a common area for cards, conversation and TV. Rounding out are the Yellow House (21 beds), the Corner House (15 beds), the Alabama House (19 beds) and the recently bought Gray House (22 beds).