June Meetup @ O'Brien's Pub

Our next event will be at O'Brien's Irish Pub on Saturday, June 6th 2026 from 4 - 6PM (note the different time, the World Cup means there is many more people who want to use the venue). We're looking forward to seeing new and familiar faces again!

We will be meeting in their open-air patio, way at the back of the pub. Attendance is free to all! You don't have to RSVP to attend, though it helps us to know roughly what numbers to expect.

Our speaker this month will be Nuri Halperin, who will be presenting Is Vector Search Right for Me?

Is the term "AI" obfuscating every practical conversation about everything? Can we cut through the noise and ride this wave by understanding, designing, and deploying a new breed of search, fully integrated with your existing data and database? Yes, yes, we can! This talk will dig into the weeds of vector search. We'll explore both the core math of the technology, as well as the applicability to a wide variety of use cases. We'll differentiate it from preceding search technologies and find how it fits within an overall data retrieval strategy. I'll discuss some concrete ways this can make your life better but also touch on some pitfalls you might want to watch for. Attending this session will help you: 1) Understand what Vector Search is and how it works 2) Discover the ways that vector search and "semantic search" help solve problems 3) Learn about some concrete implementations of vector search and how to integrate this architecture into your project 4) Pros and cons of using vector search vs. keyword search.

Nuri is a Software Architect, Author, Speaker, and founder of Plus N Consulting, a Santa Monica based software consulting company.

As always, if you are interested in giving a talk at a future event, please message us and let us know (either here, or at https://socalpython.org/contact/). This is a great place to get speaking practice in a low-stakes, friendly environment, and to share your knowledge with an attentive and grateful audience!

Getting there

Car: There's a good deal of metered parking available on the nearby side streets, and its usually not too crowded on weekends. You can also park on the residential streets north of Wilshire (most are 2-hour parking districts during the day). Still, we'd recommend you consider carpooling if you can.

Bus: Big Blue Bus #2 stops directly across the street, and Big Blue Bus #1 stops at Santa Monica (which is just 2 blocks south). The nearest transit station is the 26th / Bergamot Station on the E-line, that lets out at Olympic (still a bit of a trek to the venue from there unfortunately).