Interesting, we run a lot of tech related meetups, and finding a space is rarely an issue because its an important promotion tool for tech hiring. Whats difficult is finding speakers.
The first meetup I had was a bit of a vicious cycle - we had no home, which made scheduling hard, which made getting speakers lined up hard.
The second meetup I ran started out a Pivotal Labs which was amazing. Free food, free drink, nice atmosphere, good location - and most importantly, we had "the second Wednesday of every month", which made scheduling ridiculously easy. Actually running the whole meetup was a level of magnitude easier after that. Current venue is also similarly awesome. I wouldn't go back to not having a regularly-scheduled venue.