The fire at Puccini's Golden West Saloon started because of some linseed oil left on cleaning rags, owner Kathy Zimmer said.
"It was a freak accident," she said. "We had been treating our floors with linseed oil. We thought it was being handled properly, but the linseed oil didn't quite get out of the rags that were used to clean with, so those rags spontaneously combusted during the night. We were told that people in fire training had been told about this but had never seen it."
The historic building, on Central Avenue and Seventh Street, caught fire early Thursday, leaving much of the building in shambles.
The fate of the building is unknown. But for now, Zimmer said the Golden West will be turned into a nonprofit organization, Puccini's Productions.
The nonprofit will use performance space at El Rey Theater, adjacent to the saloon.
"Whenever you fill out the paperwork for something like this, it's always kind of vague, so this is just a nonprofit to do productions as a production entity for music, theater, dance and other art, which is what we've been doing all along," she said. "The way we operate is not going to be any different. The only difference is there's a board of directors, and people can take a tax deduction for any donations they make toward the rebirth of the saloon."
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Zimmer said what happens next depends on community feedback.
"The community has to step forward and tell us what they want that property to be," she said. "If they want it to be another Puccini's, that's what it'll be. A parking lot? That's what it'll be. And that's what it will be if we don't get any help with this."
Zimmer said it's not just the age of the 79-year-old building that makes it historical.
"It's the only example of Mediterranean-style architecture in a theater in the state of New Mexico," she said. "So, the facade in front of the Golden West survived. It's in perfectly good shape - everything is fine. It just needs to be cleaned and painted. So, whatever goes behind there, that facade stays. Even if it's a parking lot, that facade stays."
Launchpad owner Joe Anderson said the Golden West was a big part of Albuquerque's music scene in the '90s.
"There was more traffic through the Golden West, and there was a lot more going on there than there is now," he said. "The Golden West was pretty much the core of the whole Resin Records scene, and that's when the local music scene was very strong here. It was kind of during the time when Nirvana blew up."
Anderson said live music was a big deal back then.
"The Golden West had a lot of appeal," he said. "I would say there were a lot more bodies to the door at that time. Bands starting to get big were going through there all the time. Korn and 311 were playing in the El Rey."
Zimmer said international cello star Matt Haimovitz, who was scheduled to play El Rey on Saturday, will probably be moved to the Kimo Theater.
Haimovitz is turning over his proceeds from the show to Puccini's Productions to help with the cost of the fire's aftermath, Zimmer said.
She said last week that it could cost up to $500,000 to rebuild the saloon.
She said that while rubble is still around, the Albuquerque Fire Department will use it to train its dogs to pick up smells in chemical fires.
"They don't usually have an opportunity to smell chemical fires, so they want to use our burned-down building to be able to do that," she said.
