"El Rey Theatre is a movie house in downtown Chico. Until 2005, it served as a first-run movie theater, getting many of the big Hollywood titles. It closed in 2005, and was used as a venue for live music until reopening as a movie theater showing cult and classic films in early 2010. It was originally built in 1905, and served as a vaudeville theater. Only later was a movie screen installed and were films shown. It went through many name changes over the decades (The Majestic, The National, The American, and finally El Rey). It was Chico's original movie theater.
Despite the conversion of most theaters such as the Senator Theater to multi-screen showings, El Rey remained a single screen venue and tended to play some of the larger blockbuster films when they opened because of the size. It became difficult for such theaters to compete against the large multiplexes that have become so popular, and this may have ultimately led to El Rey's demise in 2005.
Perhaps one of the most interesting things about the building itself is the murals painted on the inside. There are elaborate paintings of fairies adorning the interior walls. The building was being used as a live music venue for a while, although it was being offered as downtown office space when it closed. It was also an example of a theater turned church, a trend in Chico in which closed down movie houses are used by local churches, when Bidwell Presbyterian Church held services there. This is no longer the case." (
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