The Lot was founded in 2015 in La Jolla, California, a community in San Diego.[1] It was founded by Adolfo Fastlicht, a cinema proprietor who previously co-founded Cinemex. The company's name is a shortening of the word "backlot". The first location, a seven-screen multiplex located on Fay Avenue in La Jolla, cost US$18,000,000 to construct and opened on September 30, 2015.[2][3]
On May 5, 2016, The Lot opened its second location in the Luce Auditorium, a former United States Navy facility at Liberty Station in San Diego. The former 2,200-seat auditorium was divided into six smaller auditoriums. Several parts of the historic theater, such as the original wood stage flooring and the proscenium arch, were preserved and incorporated into the lobby.[4]
On April 26, 2018, The Lot opened its third location and first outside of San Diego County, a seven-screen complex at the Fashion Island mall in Newport Beach, California.[5] On November 8, 2018, the company's fourth location was opened in San Ramon, California, as an inaugural tenant of the Bishop Ranch mall.[6]
In 2024, the restaurant of the historic La Jolla location was overhauled to redefine the company as an "entertainment establishment that houses a theater."[7]
