Ask Men

Late to this thread, but wanted to add to it:

Going out, and going out regularly. Go to places you enjoy, partake in activities that interest you, be consistent about it, and you will meet people. It can be as little as going to the same mom and pop shop every week for a sandwich or coffee, or as big as going out to some kind of club weekly. I actually made a few friends by going to this coffee shop pretty regularly, even hooked up with someone who worked there. Nearby to that same shop was a little occult shop that I liked to frequent and made acquaintances there as well. At one time I was involving myself in a HEMA club and that was super fun and you engaged with a lot of cool people.

Now with that said, there's another part to this. In addition to putting yourself out there to be met, so to say, you also need to know how to converse and listen to other people. Frankly it doesn't matter if you surround yourself with people, because if you are annoying or incapable of holding a conversation, or always come off too strongly, you'll inevitably be ignored.

Clubs and volunteering. Even at a homeless shelter or similar.

Volunteering is especially powerful because you are implicitly "supposed" to be there. Your presence is already explained and accepted, due to the service mission of the volunteer organization.

Therefore you have already achieved the first step of building friendships: shared experience, and shared time spent. Now that those are established you can step out beyond that to get drinks or pursue a then discovered shared hobby, like cycling or hiking or gaming whatever.

Volunteering

My go-to when I move is to check out board game shops. Generally you meet some pretty great people there. You can also check out "makerspaces" and art galleries if you're interested in crafts.

Mostly what's important is to make the location do some of the filtering for you. Bars aren't great because they cast too wide a net. Think about what niches interest you and try to find a group that's based around it.

Honestly, besides family, everyone I know outside of work, including my partner, came through sobriety-related meetings.

Outside of that resource (and assuming I was normal and not drinking myself to death), I'd say I would need to be volunteering or involved in some cooperative activity.

The friends don't come from the activity, either. Not in sobriety, nor otherwise. The friends come from showing up early and staying late. The people of character are going to be the ones keeping the activity happening for everyone else.

Through other friends and work

Gaming usually.