Look up at this six-story downtown landmark that has watched the corner change for a century. Built in 1924 by local theater owner Joseph Barnett, it still houses the Sunshine Theater along with commercial space and offices. The theater operated primarily as a movie house until the 1980s, though it was originally equipped for Vaudeville shows and other live performances.
Since 1990 the Sunshine has lived again as a live music venue, hosting many notable acts. The building was designed by the El Paso firm Trost & Trost and is of reinforced concrete construction faced in yellow brick, its style firmly Renaissance Revival. Locals long whispered about what was believed to be the last manually operated elevator in New Mexico inside these walls.
One of the longest running commercial tenants was F. D. Fogg and Company, a jeweler that occupied space here from 1948 to 1985 and that closed in 2004 after 83 years in business. The building was listed on the New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties in 1985 and is an Albuquerque City Landmark. Notice the yellow-brick facade and Renaissance Revival details that still front the Sunshine Theater today.