Downtown La Jolla resident Rhonda Read loves going to the movies.
But with no theater for miles, they've been hard to get to for her and her husband Lee.
"For us, we're older and it's a little bit of a difficulty,” she said.
That all changed Wednesday. And then some.
The Reads were two of the first customers at the lot, an upscale movie complex that opened in downtown La Jolla. It's the first theater in The Village since the old Cove Theater closed more than a decade ago.
"That was a marvelous place, it was close by, and good movies, but of course not as fancy as this place,” Read said.
Fancy may be an understatement. The Lot has an expansive dining room, walls of HD-TVs, a wine rack, and seven movie theaters with stadium seating, plush leather seats, and in movie food service.
The $17 million-plus Lot is the latest theater to be created by Adolfo Fastlicht, who also founded Cinepolis. He says with the popularity of services like Netflix and home theaters, it takes more than just a good movie to get people to come to the theater.
“We believe that the future of the out of home entertainment is of the nature that we'll have to have several components that are layered on top of it,” Fastlicht said.
All of those comforts do come with a price. But Read says she doesn't care about forking over more than $20 for a ticket for the Everest matinee.
"Well, my husband said he'll pay, so that's great,” she said, laughing.
The Lot also has plans to open another theater in Liberty Station next year.
