You wouldn’t have figured you’d get table service at The Lot’s Sept. 29 opening-night party, especially amid the crush of the eleventy-thousand bodies that eventually showed up. But sure enough, the smiling, excellent young staff was on its toes, schlepping out the wine and cocktails in record time (I asked for a glass of Chardonnay at one point; no sooner had the girl taken my order than a guy came up and served it). That was par for the evening’s course as La Jolla welcomed a seven-screen, totally-cooler-than-state-of-the-art cineplex and full-service restaurant along one of the Village’s most well-traveled corridors. In fact, this wasn’t even a press party. This was an outright conclave, formally bidding fond adieu to predecessor Jonathan’s Market, which closed in June of 2014, as 7611 Fay Ave. became a central address in the neighborhood’s future (presuming, of course, the 29th’s bar bill doesn’t break the place). “The objective is a simple one,” Lot owner and CEO and La Jolla resident Adolfo Fastlicht said in his opening remarks – “to deliver a top-quality product in everything we do. Inspired by its locale and the sophistication of its eclectic demographics, we are honored at the opportunity to share The Lot with this wonderful community… No one aspect of our venue or operation has been left to chance. “By combining the power and awe of motion pictures with the love of moviegoing, the pleasures of fine dining and drinking and the appreciation for good coffee, we have conceived and created an amazingly powerful lifestyle destination that is inviting and strikingly elegant. “It’s showtime, baby!” Fastlicht concluded. But he forgot “accessible” in his litany of descriptors. Man, this place is a veritable community center, from Mexican designer Ezequiel Farca’s wide-open architecture to the family-style eatery (food preparation in full view) that straddles Fay. It opens at 6 a.m. for breakfast, in plenty of time for the Village’s business faction to get a handle on the day and five hours before the first movies show. Meanwhile, the $18 million facility’s seven theaters seat between 55 and 70 and feature plush leather chairs and call buttons in the event the munchies declare themselves. Track lighting, fire pits and oversize umbrellas bedeck the outer shell – by the time it’s all said and done, you know you’ve been part of as high-end a business/pleasure scenario as today’s technology can craft. The business model isn’t new – La Jolla’s ArcLight and Del Mar’s Cinépolis venues feature similar high-end treatments, and cineplexes themselves have been staples at shopping malls for decades (Toledo, Ohio’s former Southwyck Shopping Center boasted a 24-screen facility as early as 1975). But Fastlicht, who in November will open a second Lot location at the long-dormant Luce Auditorium in Point Loma’s NTC, has been in the luxury cinema trade for two decades – that and his education at Harvard Business School ought to account for a lot (pun intended). For now, La Jolla can be vastly pleased with its newest source of fuel for neighborhood culture. Jonathan’s purists may expect a twinge of pain amid their nostalgia, but they needn’t worry. Hey, man – they can always take in a movie. For a close-up look at the venue and schedules and cool pictures and stuff, see thelotent.com. The phone number is (858) 777-0069.
