After years without a local movie house, La Jolla residents were delighted to welcome the opening of The Lot, a stylish theater that opened Wednesday, September 30.
The Lot is the first theater to open in the San Diego neighborhood in more than 10 years, when the old Cove Theater shut its doors.
Movie buffs like Rhonda and Lee Read enjoyed going to see films, but found driving miles to get to a theater somewhat difficult. They were delighted by the new house, and were among its first customers. They said they remembered the Cove as being a “marvelous place” that was convenient and showed good films, but it was much less fancy than The Lot.
‘Fancy’ appears to be a gross understatement, since the house will feature gourmet dining, specialty coffee drinks, walls packed with HD-TVs, and seven separate movie theaters, each with stadium seating, food service during the films, and leather seats.
The new complex cost about $17m, and is the brainchild of Adolfo Fastlicht, who founded Cinepolis. Fastlicht noted that as home theaters and services like Netflix grow in popularity, theaters have to offer more than just good films to get people out of the house.
Theater managers might want to work with a postcard printing company on a card to mail to locals, featuring a photo of the theater and listing its amenities.
