The 110-year-old El Rey Theatre in downtown Chico has likely seen its last days as a theater, although official decisions are still up in the air.
The El Rey Alliance, which is a group formed to try and save the theater from a potential purchase about 10 years ago, was given a few weeks to raise the nearly $1.5 million it needed to buy the theater, alliance member Ken Naas said. It started a generosity.com crowdfunding page and was able to raise a little less than $5,000 by a deadline on Sept. 9.
The El Rey Alliance reformed this year to save the theater from being bought and turned into a restaurant-residential accommodation.
Naas said that the group contacted many different people in hopes of borrowing enough money by the deadline of Sept. 9 to buy out the theater and keep it as an operating theater.
“We weren’t asking them to donate the money,” said Naas, “We were asking them to front the money. If it was taken over and it was marketed well and we put on even more events in there, fixed it up and painted it, we would be paying that money back.”
Naas still remembers seeing shows like the Rocky Horror Picture Show at the El Rey about 30 years ago. It’s a historical landmark in downtown Chico and its closing would affect many people in Chico.
A meeting on Sept. 10 about the uncertain future of the El Rey Theater included a discussion of whether entertainment booked through the fall will be canceled.
Not only does the theater’s potential closing affect the El Rey Alliance, but it also affects people in the community.
“Since moving to Chico for college I’ve been wanting to explore the different aspects of it, and one thing that I had looked into was going to that theater,” said Chico State student Michelle Navarrete. “Not getting the chance to experience that theater would be very saddening.”
A Chico charter school now stages performances at the El Rey Theatre and it would lose access if the theater closes.
“It’s expensive to go to a nicer venue,” Naas said. “If it goes away, where do those kids perform?”
“The El Rey Theatre has a historical impact on the city of Chico,” said Chico resident Mylie Hook. “I would hate to see it get shut down and remodeled into something complete different.”
-- Alina Bringsjord