1544 Events

This venue is phenomenal and holds a special place in my heart. Chris helped me set up a surprise proposal here for my now-fiancé and it went exactly as I'd imagined.

The space itself is beautiful -- high ceilings with great skylights, beautiful brick wall on one side, and every media capability you can think of including customizable lighting, sound, and 2 projectors.

But as much as the venue was amazing, what really made the day magical was Chris. From my very first conversation with him I could tell that he was going to do everything in his power to make the proposal as perfect as possible. He provided every option, made great suggestions, and went above and beyond for me. I can truly say that I would not be engaged if it wasn't for Chris. I cannot thank him enough.

I highly recommend this venue! We rented it for a wedding reception of 125 people and start to finish had a great experience with the 1544 Events team. I have nothing negative to say- the space was beautiful, displayed artwork was beautiful, the bartenders, day-of staff, security guard were all so helpful and friendly to not only me as the bride but to ALL of our guests. We got a ton of compliments all night about what a cool space it was and that it was a perfect choice for our party.

We worked closest with Stacy and she was phenomenal! She helped us throughout the year of planning and went above and beyond on numerous occasions to make sure our needs were met. We are so happy we chose this venue for our special day!!!

We used 1544 Events for our wedding reception. The space is gorgeous; my only complaints go to the management and rules attached to the venue:
*Management is entirely unwilling to negotiate prices. They are much more inflexible than other venues I have worked with while planning events in Oakland in the past.
*After we had been in communication with the management team for around 3 moths without providing a down payment, I received an urgent email from management threatening to give my date away because someone else was interested. I worry that no one was concretely interested in that date... it felt to me that the venue was trying to secure my reservation and did so by pushing me into paying a down payment before I was comfortable.
*The items the venue offers for free (some table and chairs) are mis-advertised. For example, the venue purports to offer 6 foot banquet tables, but in reality, the tables are closer to 5 feet long, and are buffet tables that are too narrow to be used as a normal 6 foot banquet table.
*When it came to use of the venue, they have a very specific list of rules that they won't budge on at all. They don't allow outside lighting unless they are installed by a licensed lighting professional, so my plan for hanging string lights was dashed. They don't allow candles unless they are in a votive that extends six inches above the flame, so my plan for jar candles was dashed. They won't allow you to use the plentiful glassware for their bar (which they require you use as opposed to bringing your own or going with your caterer's drink set up) for water during dinner, so I had to pay extra to rent glasses. Though they have a full kitchen, they do not allow you to use it unless you pay a $200+ oven fee, so I had to abandon my order of fresh appetizers. Had I known there were going to be so many rules, and so little flexibility, I would have gone with another venue.
*As a more comprehensive critique, the venue is closed on weekends and after around 4:30 on weekdays, making it impossible for a person who works a typical 9-5 job (like myself and my husband) to visit the venue without taking time off. The management team was not helpful in accommodating our completely normal schedules, instead forcing us to work around them. The venues restrictive hours are apparently due to the fact that their staff is all based in San Francisco. I would suggest the venue hire someone to be based in Oakland, if they plan on servicing that community. Similarly, the management representative I worked with was often unavailable via email, and if she was on vacation, there was no one else I could direct questions to.

TLDR: The space and location are perfect, but maybe not worth the struggle of working with an unresponsive and inflexible management team.

Helped organize a launch party here and the space is really special and much bigger than it looks in pictures. If you are looking for a venue in Oakland, please check this space out, it won't disappoint.

Really exceptional staff. Very helpful and accommodating. I work for a nonprofit that held a fundraising event at this venue and it was not only great, but the staff were incredibly helpful in our planning. I especially appreciated how they rolled with everything as our planning progressed. No one was making their millions off of this event either, but they treated us like we were VIP. The space itself is also amazing - a great fully accommodated gallery-style space with repurposed wood, full kitchen, exposed brick, high ceilings, and more. I highly recommend

In my three years organizing the holiday party for a local professional organization, Chris Curtis and 1544 Events was easily the most professional, organized, and easy venue to work with. We will definitely continue to work with Chris and host events at 1544 in the future.

Beautiful event space. Very cool hip urban vibe. I've been to multiple events there and the space works for larger or smaller groups.

An incredible place to host your next event. Chris Curtis from 1544 Events really went above and beyond to make sure our event was a success. He was easily reachable, approachable, flexible, and understanding when it came to our event needs. Our event would not have run nearly as smooth as it did without his venue expertise, willingness to get the job done, and attention to detail. The space itself is wonderfully modern and equipped with anything you could possibly need (projectors, chairs, tables, kitchen, etc). The location is central and easily accessible by car or public transportation. Couldn't have had a better venue or events team to work with. Highly recommend.