Pretty Location on a busy boulevard, easy parking with lots of handicapped spaces. There's also a pleasant hiking trail close by.

I came here for a lecture dinner. This space has a huge room great for wedding and banquets . Big parking lot. read more

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Nice clean facility with an outdoor area as well ....definitely liked the monument outside of the rifle and boots ...not sure if it's rentable to the general public but if so it would be a great place for an event/reception. read more

Hello, old friend Lafayette Veterans Memorial Center, I've come to visit with you again. Feel the old familiar feelings of patriotism. What!? It's now a library. Where is Lafayette Veterans Memorial Center? New location of here we discovered. Very different from the original Lafayette Veterans Memorial Building I was far more familiar with. Now nestled into a hillside on a narrow strip of land, the new, then $7.8 million, 9,000 square foot Lafayette Veterans Memorial Building was dedicated on 30 May 2005. Here there are flags from all the US Armed Forces, some military memorabilia, some military and Veterans plaques, a Blue Star Memorial plaque from the Lafayette Garden Club, and a Viet Nam Memorial plaque. It is far less of a Veterans Memorial and far more of a place for private events --albeit events that fund the mortgage, maintenance and upkeep of the building and grounds. After WWI and II, America's Veterans were often honored by their communities with buildings whose purpose was to host meetings of Veterans organizations such as the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and social gatherings for returning Veterans. Scattered throughout the nation, these Veterans' halls were often centrally located. "Financed by State bond money the original Lafayette Veterans Memorial Building was first located at the SE corner of Mt. Diablo Boulevard and First Street and constructed during the period 1938-1939 as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project. Much of the interior finish labor was provided by Lafayette American Legion Post 517 members. The building was dedicated by that Post in mid-1939." Lafayette and Walnut Creek, located next to each other in Contra Costa County, both had old Veterans' halls located on prime parcels in their down-towns. The buildings were dilapidated and in disrepair, with uneven floors, leaky roofs and seismic hazards. For many years, Veterans in both communities complained, unsuccessfully, often and loudly about these deficiencies and sought financial assistance from Contra Costa County, which owned the buildings. The old Veterans halls sat on parcels that were critically important to both cities' long-term redevelopment efforts. Negotiators worked for months to work out a cost-splitting arrangement for a new facility. In January 2004, Contra Costa County and the cities of Lafayette and Walnut Creek announced plans to construct a new Veterans' Memorial Building in Lafayette. The original Lafayette Veterans Memorial Center and the Walnut Creek Veterans Hall were demolished. Once the new location was complete Contra Costa County vested title of original property to City of Lafayette. The old Veterans building was immediately razed. Construction of a new library building was completed in 2006 on the old site A Historical Marker identifies the original Veterans Memorial Building location at 1201 Locust Street, Walnut Creek, CA. Walnut Creek now has its Veterans Memorial Plaza. On this day in history 30 January 1945 - occurred the largest rescue in American history, The Raid at Cabanatuan, also known as The Great Raid US Army Rangers, Scouts and Filipino guerrillas executed a flawless rescue of 489 prisoners of war and 33 civilians, while suffering four Americans killed in action (two commandos and two prisoners) and four wounded, from notorious Camp Cabanatuan north of Manila, Philippines. A group of over a hundred US Rangers, US Philippine Army Scouts and several hundred guerrillas traveled 30 miles (48 km) behind Japanese lines to reach the camp. The Philippine Scouts was a military organization of the United States Army from 1901 until after the end of World War II 2 September 1945. In a nighttime raid, under the cover of darkness and a distraction by a P-61 Black Widow, the first US aircraft designed to locate and destroy enemy aircraft at night and in bad weather, the group surprised the Japanese forces in and around the camp. Hundreds of Japanese troops were killed in the 30-minute coordinated attack. The GIs escorted the POWs back to American lines. The rescue allowed the prisoners to tell of the death march and prison camp atrocities, which sparked a new rush of resolve for the war against Japan. The rescuers were awarded commendations by General MacArthur, and were also recognized by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. A memorial now sits on the site of the former camp, and the events of the raid have been depicted in several films and documentaries. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAHhua04AAM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HKJIO40R6g read more

Lafayette Veterans Memorial Center - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Lafayette, California

I came here for a technical symposium. The Veteran's Memorial Center is located close to Lafayette BART station on Mt. Diablo Blvd. It also has a good-sized parking lot. Our venue rented out the largest room - I think its called the Freedom room. High ceilings, plenty of natural lighting from the windows, and decent sound and visuals. Slightly noisy since the property is behind some residential areas and close to the main road. Seats a bit hard so be sure to stand once in a while! Free Wifi with password. The center has some nice memorabilia celebrating the military with displays of flags, trophies, and medals. Plenty of seating in the outer corridor too. Note that they may have several parallel functions going on. My event had about 50 people but next door in the smaller Liberty room and main hallway they had a Weight Watchers meeting going on. Kinda awkward to have that scale in plain view of the main walkway! Probably a good venue for business, but for weddings or celebrations the Palm Center in Pleasanton or Mira Vista in El Cerrito have better views and ambiance. read more

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I'm sad to say that I agree with "S.L." and "A.K." below. I don't even want to go into the details, it makes me so upset and I regret not listening to the bad reviews on this site. Let me just say that it was our wedding and I wished I had known better about Eileen and the general staff/event management. It's a fantastic facility at a decent price but don't do it if Eileen is still working there. Just don't. read more

We just had our wedding here and it was perfect. We lost our original venue when they closed on short notice and Eileen (the venue manager) came through and made it work for us! She helped coordinate catering and bartending for us, as well as every little detail to make the day run smoothly. She know what she's doing!!! The venue itself was spacious and beautiful, we had about 95 people and it definitely could of have fit more. The layout of the building has great flow, we had our ceremony, cocktail hour, photos, and reception all in the one location! It was easy and everything we wanted it to be. read more

The Lafayette Veterans Memorial building is a beautiful location for an event. My wife and I had our wedding reception here. The large room easy handled our 200 plus guests. Our caterer was able to use the kitchen with ease. We loved the extra bar/bonus room too! We had a dj and enjoyed a full night of fun that evening as so many thought the building was fabulous. It is newer and has many modern features. Really convenient to Oak/SF as it is near the freeway access. Many stayed in downtown Walnut Creek or the Lafayette park hotel. I think checking it out for yourself is worth it..... read more

Just don't choose this venue. I have a lot to say but I rather you just not even consider it at all. Very horrible experience on a day that was supposed to be the happiest day of my life. read more

This review is a long time coming. I was so upset about our experience at the Veterans memorial, that I could not bring myself to write a review and relive it. Do not use this facility for a special event!! We had our son's Bar Mitzvah at the venue about 2 years ago. On a good note, we loved the facility. It is beautiful and was perfect for the event. During the planning, Eileen was intense, but great to work with. The problems started the day of the Mitzvah. We came to the center and immediately noticed that Eileen was in a terrible mood. She was rude, short tempered, and irritable. We were shocked to learn that she was not going to attend our event and had put a young staff person in charge. She had promised to manage the event and we had been working with her for months. When we expressed our concern and surprise, she was extremely hostile to us. As we set up for the next 2 hours, her behavior went from bad to horrific - she berated her staff, was abusive to the DJ, yelled at my sister, was condescending to my sweet cousin, slammed a door in my (disabled) mother's face, and repeatedly acted out (mumbling under her breath, stomping around, cursing, slamming things on tables, etc.). It was so bad and created such a tense environment, that I asked if she and I could check in to diffuse the situation. This just made her more angry. It felt like we were an annoyance, when in reality, we had paid thousands of dollars to rent the facility. It was unbelievable and humiliating. Eileen was so rude to our family (who had flown in from all over the country) that they STILL talk about it. We were lucky that Eileen ended up leaving in a huff before most of our guests arrived. The rest of the staff worked hard, and were very pleasant. They apologized profusely for Eileen's behavior, and let us know that this is a common occurrence with Eileen. Especially at Bar/Bat Mitzvahs. They had seen it many times with other families. This would have been bad on any day. But for Eileen to act this way on the most important and holy day of our son's life was unforgivable. We made multiple attempts to report Eileen to the board that oversees the Veteran's building. They really did not care about our experience, which is a shame. It has the potential to be a great community resource. read more

Went here ALL day (8-8) for our department retreat/symposium/meeting. The good: -Layout: http://www.lafayetteveterans.org/floorplans.html The layout of the building was great for a small-medium symposium. After entering the main entrance, we checked in and grabbed some coffee/snacks and headed into the main hall. We had chairs set up for PPT presentations in the Freedom Hall end and science posters set up on the Independence side of things. The layout was excellent for our event. -Full kitchen: We used their catering service (or so I was told). They fed us well with breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, coffee. The food was decent, but the service was excellent. -The bar&lounge: Stocked and working fireplace? What's not to love? -The corridor outside of the Freedom/Independence hall is bright and cozy. There is space for food buffets and wine bars. There are also couches and plugs which was great for a side meeting to trade ideas. The bad: -Acoustics: chatter from one end of the hall will be transferred to the other. -Sound insulation: if a firetruck/bus passes, you'll know. If you had chatter or music in the background, you probably wouldn't notice. At a symposium, where the only noise are the guest speakers, you'll hear it. The ugly: -Parking: So we chartered a shuttle, took public transportation, and carpooled. I'm not sure how many spaces there are, but we ended up spilling over to the street. This was a bit inconvenient as we had to move our cars every 2 hours. ESSENTIALS: Parking, full kitchen, bar, atrium, and patio are good selling points. Public transportation is definitely an option. CONCLUSIONS: The Veterans Memorial building is handsome, easy to get to, and the staff was excellent. Definitely worth it to check out the location if you were to host an event here. read more

If you are looking for a great place to hold an event, search no further! For the past two years, I have had the pleasure of holding an auction at the Veterans Memorial Building and everything has gone off without hitch! I cannot say enough great things about John and Ed! The service that both they and their staff have offered me was outstanding! There is ample parking, taxis are easily accessible and it is convenient to downtown Lafayette. The spaces available are wonderful and they are maintained so nicely! You provide a floor plan and their staff will set- up exactly as you like. All you do is put up your decorations and your party is ready to go! If you have not been to the Veterans Building you need to check it out! You will not be disappointed! read more

I recently held a memorial celebration for my husband at the Veterans Hall in Lafayette. They did an absolutely incredible job of putting it together for me, especially Eileen, the event planner, who performed miracles and made sure everything went perfectly, especially on such a stressful day. Thank you, Eileen, you really are the best. Andie Shipman read more

I was the wedding planner for my niece's wedding this spring and secured this center as the wedding venue and was thrilled with the outcome. The wedding organizer Eileen was knowledgeable and informative beforehand with clear communication of the accommodations and menu and the whole wedding turned out great and seamless with Miss Lawrence in charge. Our whole family couldn't be more happier how the joyous day went and we thoroughly were able to soak in the special occasion to the fullest. read more

Our nonprofit organization recently had a Wonderful experience with the Veteran Memorial Building and Eileen Lawrence! We held a conference for over 100 people, and everything ran smoothly. The venue is fully equipped to make life as easy as possible for speakers and the event coordinator. Thank you Eileen and Trisha! read more

We hosted a wedding reception at the Lafayette Veterans Center, reserved it a year in advance. I must say Eileen Lawrence the events manager is in the WRONG business. We gave her a 500.00 tip upfront to promote good service for the evening. Eileen's staff of 2 women (who apologized profusely for her behavior) were extremely kind and appeared to be embarrassed by her behavior throughout the night. To start with; she refused admittance to the hall at 4pm to the 2 person band. The band consisted of a gentleman and his mother who requested admittance to the "wedding" and not the "reception". They had a clarinet and keyboard to set up. When the reception finally began and the father/bride & mother/groom dances began she refused to dim the lights. After the first dance I requested the lights be dimmed and she snarkily flipped the lights off and snarled "is this what you want?" Unprofessional cannot begin to describe the behavior she exhibited to our guests. She actually yelled at small children who wanted water or soda and entered her "prized bar" with their parents. Eileen was aware we would have 2 tables of children for nearly a year; it should have been her responsibility to provide a pitcher of water or soda for their tables instead of rudely addressing the 5-13 year olds as if they were sneaking alcohol-which they were not. She could cite every ABC regulation, but could not provide a pitcher of non-alcoholic drinks for the children. Throughout the night I watched her roll her eyes and huff and puff because she was asked to mix a drink. She treated the women guests particularly rude, ignoring and harrumphing behind the bar. We knew it was a large group and had asked for 3 bartenders to serve the guests; that is what was promised at the first meeting we had. We provided her with rental fees, bar fees and a $500.00 tip for her and her staff, so our guests would not feel the need to tip the bar servers, Eileen took the $500.00 tip from us and tips from guests as well, even after our discussions not to. A few weeks before the reception, I requested a particular type of whiskey; she stated we needed 2 weeks to obtain approval from the Veterans who run the bar. I reminded her there was ample time; instead of even asking them, she stated we should just have the whiskey in the parking lot and to drink it there. We had the venue until midnight, she closed the bar doors at 10:45 pm without notice; informing us she had to clean up. We assured her clean-up time would be afforded her, but not an hour and 15 minutes, that was never discussed. The caterers started to clean at 11:30 and were able to clean an entire buffet and 20 tables in that time. I am sure Eileen serves the Veterans and weight watcher groups' well, but she failed miserably at proving a hospitable pleasant environment for a wedding reception. DO NOT USE LAFAYETTE VETERANS CENTER WHILE SHE IS EMPLOYED; SHE WOULD RATHER BE HOME THAN TAKING CARE OF A PAID SERVICE... SIMPLY APPALING BEHAVIOR,THAT I HAVE BEEN APOLOGIZING TO MY GUESTS, FOR A WEEK NOW. read more

We had my son's wedding reception here in April 2014. Eileen was so friendly and so helpful from my very first phone call all the way through to the end of the evening. She was informative and accommodating and made sure the reception went just as we planned. The Veterans Building was simply a perfect and beautiful venue for the evening. Everything turned out exactly as we had imagined and it truly was a perfect day! read more

I recommend having any and all events at the LVMB. Not only is it beautiful with high ceilings and large glass windows, the staff is incredibly great to work with. I would like to give a special shout out to Eileen, who went above and beyond to accommodate the two events I've had there. As a wedding planner, I value Eileen's attention to detail, work ethics and ability to get things done no matter what the situation. That's the kind of person you want on your team during your wedding/event! Without a doubt, my business partner and I would highly recommend Lafayette Veterans Memorial Building for your next big event! read more

If I could leave 0 stars I would. My family hosted my brother's wedding reception here a week ago. After booking a year in advance, communicating as much as possible with the staff and tipping a generous amount cash before hand, the event manager Eileen's service the night of the reception was the only thing marring an otherwise perfect evening. She treated my parents terribly while they hosted 150+ guests who came from all over the country. The tone of voice she used and her entire attitude towards all of the guests was completely rude and demeaning. She never told my family that children wouldn't be allowed to get sodas and water from the bar, or we would have set up a table with pitchers outside the bar to accommodate them. Instead she snapped at every kid coming in for a beverage and told my 20 year old cousin who confronted her about her attitude sarcastically: "im sorry it's not the tone you're used to, Princess". There are no circumstances to ever speak to a kid asking for a water in that manner. To put it simply Eileen was a HUGE bitch. The rest of her staff was amazing, apologetic and embarrassed for Eileen's behavior. It was horrifying watching Eileen drag my mother into her office to pull out a contract to point out some fine print like a total asshole in the middle of my brothers wedding reception, a night my mom put a ton of effort and money into and she should only have to relax and enjoy herself at. When my mom asked if she could lower the lights as we began dancing towards the end of the evening, she slammed the lightswitch completely off and barked "is this what you wanted?" Completely inappropriate, embarrassing behavior as we were the family hosting. How awful to have to apologize to your guests who traveled to attend a wedding for some horrible woman's behavior. Eileen is in the wrong business. The place would be wonderful if she had nothing to do with it. read more

I would agree 100% with the A.K. review. The facility is perfect for an event with a lot of people. I have been to events here before, and recommended the facility to a friend for a memorial service. Had I had any dealings with Eileen prior to the recommendation I would not have made it. We came as guests (and are friends and neighbors of the deceased) to the memorial and began hearing right away that the manager was on very bad behavior and was super rude to everyone she came in contact with. My daughter arrived late and drove down from Sacramento with 3 children for the memorial. At one point, her 2 year old began crying (as were 90% of the people in the room of about 350 people) and she took him out, leaving her other 2 in their seats inside. As soon as she walked out, Eileen looked right at her and locked the door preventing her from coming back in, and leaving her 2 other children unattended. My daughter missed the entire service. When Eileen was confronted after the service was over, she claimed it was an accident and she didn't know the door was locked. My daughter would beg to differ, but as aside from that, the manager in charge should make sure all doors are unlocked during an event. Eileen offered no apology whatsoever. Being that we were one of about 20 people we heard complain about her, I would not recommend this facility, as physically perfect as it is, because you will be dealing with Eileen. read more

Beautiful building but...weddings beware don't book here actually one girl Danielle was nice but everyone else is terrible to work with. I have never been treated worse in my life especially by Dechen the wost employee they have who does not know anything about her job like set up for weddings, cake table,DJj, table, bar, and doesn't even know how many can sit at a table she told me seven max which was actually 9 but could fit 10 kinda a big deal when planning seating charts. Then on top of all that I asked if I could serve margaritas and got all kinds of hell from this one comment. She said we are going to cancel your wedding if you do that, this is 2 months prior to the date I said ok no hard alcohol but it didn't end there. Repeatedly threatened to cancel my event over and over then told everybody else there that I plan to destroy the place and serve alcohol to minors because I'm such a terrible person and I was treated like this the whole time . To make up for the lies they offered to pay for the champagne glasses which was nice but didn't make up for it. I would have change the venue in a heartbeat if I had not booked it a year earlier and had not all ready put a deposit down. These people are terrible to work with can't answer any basic questions don't know anything about weddings you will be happier somewhere else anywhere else then dealing with these people. It was the only terrible experience about the wedding. I'm a nurse, really easy going it takes a lot to piss me off and this place succeeded royally. I would never or would recommend doing an event here ever. It is no longer the vets Hall they sold their sole to the Lafayette events center "only a business to make money" this was said to me by Dechen... read more

I usually do not take the time to post reviews, but I just have to today. Yesterday, we had a Celebration of Life for my father at the Lafayette Veteran's Memorial Center. It could not have been any more perfect thanks to Eileen and the caterer, Linda, who owns Girard's. Eileen counseled me as to what needed to be done when I signed up for the room a month ago, and the day prior, we went through a quick dry run of the venue, tested the technical requirements and made some last minute changes to timing of elements per Eileen's suggestions. We had over 100 people, and I could not believe all the compliments the day of the Celebration. All I had to worry about was staging the reception table with momentos, coordinating speeches and making one myself and greeting people. Eileen and Linda did all the rest, working around our timing when it flexed a bit due to some late comer's. Awesome, awesome, awesome! Thank you so much for the perfect Celebration. My father, I know, was very pleased from where he sat! read more

My company, WeightWatchers, rents twice weekly space at the Veterans Memorial Building on both Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. Myself and my coworkers are completely SATISFIED with the staff, and in particular, Eileen, the Event Coordinator's treatment of us and our members. Each week our meeting room, check-in area and supplies are set up with the utmost care and efficiency. We are treated with respect and civility at all times. read more

Keep looking--don't flush all of your hard work in planning down the drain after the hall manager, Eileen, ruins your entire event, one guest at a time. We hosted a non-profit school auction here and she was terribly unprofessional and her behavior was beyond inappropriate. She was rude to nearly every person who came up to the bar, she yelled at my volunteers during setup, called two of my guests "bitches" in front of other guests at the bar--one happened to be one of the husbands of said "bitches", but he didn't know she was referring to his wife as "the bitch from Table 5". It goes on. And on. And on. Each step of the day's events from set up to tear down were met with resistance, a terrible attitude and contention. Every person who has complimented me on our event said that it was nearly perfect except the "rude lady from the hall". She also closed down our bar early stating that "people had enough to drink". Well, howabout if you cut off those you feel are intoxicated rather than cutting off everyone. Our remaining guests were not even able to get a soda the last hour. It was terrible. Instead of holding my head high for four months of hard volunteer work, I feel like I have egg on my face for picking a facility that would treat our guests so badly and make such a scene all night. Yes, I noticed the attitude during the planning phase, but I have to put up with all types of people in my job and figured that I could handle her and shield my guests from her. Impossible. She will come into contact with every one of your guests too. I had the auction heads from several local schools volunteering that night and all said they will NEVER consider the hall as their auction venue because of her. Nice facility, could be great but you need to keep looking. read more

We have been planning our High School Reunion for 15 months. People in our class wanted to have it there, so we looked the place over, and decided it would work. We left with the paperwork, but there was no pressure to sign it, for a deposit was needed, and we hadn't collected funds yet. The day we toured the facility, Eileen was INCREDIBLY rude. We either used our caterer, with paperwork galore required, or their caterer with a much higher price point. Then they required a daily liquor license, which the City does NOT require and neither does ABC. We touched base frequently with them as our date was approaching, and discovered the rates had dramatically increased, they no longer "allowed our caterer" who had worked there before, and she was so RUDE. I cannot imagine that the board of Directors of the facility knows with this woman is really like. She was incredibly rude on the phone, and in person. We decided to find another place to hold our event. We didn't want our classmates to be subjected to this kind of unprofessional behavior. Since we have posted that we have moved the event, we have hear from others where there were memorial services held there, and wedding receptions held there as well. IF you are considering this facility for a function for your wedding or meetings, or services...look somewhere else. This Woman ( Eileen ) will ruin your event, and I am surprised that she hasn't taken the LVMC down with her. read more