The El Rey Theatre has stood on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile section of Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, since 1936, when architect Clifford A. Balch designed it as a single-screen movie palace with Zigzag and Streamline Moderne detailing. Balch, who designed more than twenty Art Deco theatres across Southern California, gave the El Rey a lobby and marquee that still define the building’s identity today.
The theatre spent nearly five decades as a cinema before closing and reopening in the 1980s as a dance club called Wall Street. Since 1994 the space has operated as a live music venue, hosting touring acts across rock, pop, and electronic genres in an intimate room that still carries its original mirrored walls and crystal chandeliers. The City of Los Angeles designated the building Historic-Cultural Monument No. 520 in 1991, protecting its facade and interior details even as its use evolved.
Stats at a Glance
- Location: 5515 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA
- Type: Art Deco theatre turned live music venue
- Opened: 1936
- Capacity: About 771
- Architect: Clifford A. Balch
- Historic Designation: LA Historic-Cultural Monument No. 520 (1991)
- Famous for: Art Deco interior with original chandeliers and mirrored walls
From Movie Palace to Music Hall
The El Rey opened in 1936 as a neighborhood movie house, part of a wave of Art Deco cinemas Clifford Balch designed for Southern California audiences. It stayed a working cinema through the 1970s, later passing through the Fox West Coast, National General, and Mann Theatres circuits before closing as a film venue.
In the 1980s and early 1990s the building found new life as Wall Street, a dance-music club, before converting to a dedicated concert venue in 1994. That switch preserved the room’s ornate lobby and sightlines while adapting it for standing-room shows, a combination that still sets it apart from larger, more generic LA venues.
A Landmark Booked by Goldenvoice
The theatre is owned by AEG Live and booked exclusively through Goldenvoice, putting it in the same promotional family as Coachella and the Fonda Theatre. Its roughly 771-person capacity makes it a favored room for acts stepping up from clubs into their first theatre-sized headline dates.
The building’s Art Deco bones have also made it a recurring filming location, appearing in the 1984 film Night of the Comet and Cowboy Junkies’ 1995 music video for ‘Angel Mine,’ among other productions drawn to its period detail.
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El Rey Theatre FAQs
Where is the El Rey Theatre located?
It sits at 5515 Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile area of Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles.
How many people does the El Rey Theatre hold?
The venue has a standing and seated capacity of about 771 people.
Is the El Rey Theatre a historic building?
Yes, it was designated Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 520 in 1991 for its Art Deco architecture.
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Photo: Justin Higuchi / CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.