Located in downtown Chico, the El Rey offers better access to community restaurants, stores and parking.

The theater opened in 1905 as a vaudeville house called the Majestic. There have been many renovations over the years including extensive repairs in 1946 following a fire that damaged the building and destroyed the marquee. The interior auditorium, which offers a fantasy landscape of fairies and imps, was hand-painted around this time by Chico artist James Seaton. The most recent renovation, completed in 2010, lovingly restored the murals and updated the audio/visual equipment.