Blum & Poe was founded by Tim Blum and Jeff Poe in Santa Monica, California, in September 1994.
The inaugural exhibition in Santa Monica featured Stroke, an installation by British artist Anya Gallaccio, consisting of chocolate smeared onto the gallery walls.
In 2003, Blum & Poe relocated to a 5,000-square-foot warehouse on the edge of Culver City, an area of industrial warehouses. Several other galleries subsequently opened on the same stretch of La Cienega Boulevard, resulting in the formation of the Culver City Art District. On its 15th anniversary in 2009, the gallery purchased a 22,000-square-foot building across the street on La Cienega Boulevard and renovated it into a series of exhibition spaces on two floors.