Sunshine Theatre
120 Central Avenue SW,
Albuquerque,
NM
87102
120 Central Avenue SW,
Albuquerque,
NM
87102
1 person
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Opened on May 1, 1924, the 1,200 seat Sunshine Theatre was designed by El Paso architect Henry C. Trost, and was Albuquerque’s first big movie palace.
It continued to operate as a movie theatre into the 1980’s, and has recently been reborn as an all-ages night club, with an over-21 bar in the former balcony and a second bar called the Moonlight Lounge in one corner of the main floor.
Contributed by
Joe Vogel
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Recent comments (view all 17 comments)
1981 photo of the Sunshine Theatre.
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Here are two 1983 photos:
Photo1
Photo2
Here are two more 1983 photos:
Photo1
Photo2
When theatres are allowed to deteriote and go down hill like that, it’s clearly a wake-up call that it’s demise is around the corner, so to speak. Not a good sign, imho.
This is a 1946 ad for “Albuquerque” at the Sunshine Theater.
I’m at my wit’s end. I first attended the Sunshine in 1973 for GONE WITH THE WIND, and my immature mind could not put a finger on what was wrong. I attended regularly in the late 1970s when it was a repertory house, and I still could not put my finger on what was wrong. Now I can. The entire interior of the theatre was drastically remodeled in 1948 in art moderne style. The only remaining trace of architect Henry C Trost’s and the anonymous decorator’s original design is the plaster mold surrounding the proscenium. Many moons ago I went through the microfilms of the local papers from circa May 1924 and found a single illustration of the original interior: a detail of an exit door, which was framed by three arches, all traces of which have been erased forever. The Henry Trost archives appear to have nothing about the Sunshine. The Albuquerque Public Library has nothing. The Albuquerque Museum has no illustrations of the original interior, and UNM’s Center for Southwest Research has papers relating only to the hideous 1948 remodeling. Does anyone, anyone, anyone at all have illustrations of the original 1924 interior? Many thanks!
Here is another photo:
http://tinyurl.com/y9qxkft
Thanks ken mc.
Nice Theatre,interesting story by lhl12.
Through the years with “GWTW”: Boxoffice