Page 20 - SLO Visitors Guide Fall 2025

20 FALL 2025 slovisitorsguide.com
San Luis Obispo
Remembering and honoring local veterans
Take a step into history at the Cen-
tral Coast Veterans Memorial
Museum and learn from experienced
docents about the amazing objects
located inside. Visitors can expect to
view artifacts from times of combat
dating back to World War I and walk
away with a greater understanding of
military history.
“We are a free, all-volunteer
museum that honors and remembers
our veterans, with a special emphasis
on Central Coast veterans. We are
an educational facility that tells our
veterans' stories, and we bring in au-
thors and historians for our speaker
series, we conduct outreach through-
out the Central Coast, and we are
partners with the Library of Congress
as the only Central Coast representa-
tive conducting the Veterans History
Project recording and preserving
The Central Coast
Veterans Memorial
Museum is open to all
History on display at the Veteran’s Museum.
veterans stories,” president and direc-
tor Bart Topham said.
History on display
For over 20 years, the Central
Coast Veterans Memorial Museum
has collected artifacts from the
local and national community
that are on display. The displays
include uniforms from World War
II, recruitment signs, a military
communications unit, and more.
One special item is a piece from
the U.S.S. Arizona, which was de-
stroyed during the attack on Pearl
Harbor on December 7, 1941.
Make sure to stop by the
armory, which displays over 100
weapons from the Vietnam War,
World War II, and more. There are
multiple opportunities to interact
with history through videos and
kiosks. Displays are changed twice
a year, so there is always something
new to discover with each visit.
Group tours are available, and
guests can approach any friendly
docent with questions about the
exhibits.