The historic Golden West Saloon caught fire at around 6 a.m. Thursday.
Investigators have yet to determine the cause.
Melissa Romero, spokeswoman for the Albuquerque Fire Department, said firefighters went into the bar to stop the flames. But the fire was too intense, so firefighters went outside to put it out, she said.
"Shortly after that, the roof collapsed, which is a good thing that we got out," Romero said.
She said two firefighters received minor injuries.
Golden West owner Kathy Zimmer said the El Rey remained unscathed, but she doesn't know when or if the Golden West will re-open.
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"If I knew that, I would be a fortune teller," Zimmer said. "If we get some help from the community, we'll rebuild. Otherwise, it's a parking lot."
She said it can take up to $500,000 to rebuild.
"They haven't let me in, so I don't even know how much damage there is, but it looks pretty bad," she said. "We have three good walls. The back wall looks pretty bad, and the roof is gone. I hear the floors are OK. I could see the bar still standing. I can see the cooler still standing. We'd have to put in new electric. I don't know if the plumbing is gone."
She said she was surprised nothing else burned down.
"All I can say is thank the lord that the whole block didn't catch fire," she said. "To me, it's astonishing if you'd seen the size of the flames. It's kind of a really bad dream. I'll probably wake up from it in a few days."
Launchpad owner Joe Anderson said he has yet to assess the extent of the water and smoke damage to his building.
"It seems (the wall) either collapsed or there's a hole," he said. "What I'm speculating is we're going to have to tear that whole wall down and rebuild the wall. I'd say (it will take) any time between four and six months before we're open again."
Anderson said it's depressing to see the historic building in shambles.
"(Puccini's Golden West Saloon is) an important part of the scene that went up in smoke today," he said. "It's really a sad, sad situation. As far as recently, I don't think it had the impact it once had. But it will be missed for sure."
Dana Baca, a former Golden West worker who lives Downtown, said her power went out during the fire. She got there after the firefighters began putting out the fire.
"All the old booking team was here, and the owner Kathy, and we were all crying," she said. "It felt like a funeral this morning watching it burn down. It's been here since 1929. It had a lot of beautiful art in it. It was a beautiful bar. It made you feel like you were actually in the Wild West. The owner does not have money to fix this."
Joshua Romero, who plays in the local band See What Happens, said he played at the venue last month. He stood outside watching the stage smolder, he said.
"It's where we started out playing," he said. "It's where we did our first gig. I'm getting teary-eyed seeing the stage all like that. It was all old-fashioned - that's what I liked about it. It's a trip seeing it like that."
