[4] The TV Show In Plain Sight filmed the exterior of this location, as the fictional office of the US Marshals' Witness Protection Service.

The Sunshine Building was built in 1923–24 by Joseph Barnett (1866–1954), an Italian-American businessman who arrived in Albuquerque penniless in 1896 and worked his way up through the saloon and theater business to become one of the city's largest property owners.

With a seating capacity of 1,200, central heating and cooling, and fireproof reinforced concrete construction, it was advertised as "the most modern and beautiful theater in the southwest"[11] and was considered Albuquerque's first movie palace.

Supporters of the project believed it would revitalize the mostly vacant area around First and Central, while preservationists opposed the demolition and organized a "Save the Sunshine" committee.

[11] The architecture is usually identified as Renaissance Revival,[19] with decorative brickwork and pilasters, a heavy cornice, and a balustraded parapet.

[24] By the time of the 1980s Festival Marketplace controversy, the building was the only structure left on the block and its detractors criticized the "not so handsome" wall greeting traffic entering Downtown.

[22] The Sunshine Theater has hosted a number of notable acts such as The Strokes, Snoop Dogg, Soulfly, Deltron 3030, Stone Temple Pilots, The Smashing Pumpkins, Queens of the Stone Age, The Dead Weather, Arctic Monkeys, Modest Mouse, Rancid, Coheed and Cambria, Awolnation, Cannibal Corpse, Ratatat, Social Distortion, Pennywise, Hollywood Undead, Deftones, Nightwish, Melanie Martinez, Damian Marley and Deadmau5 among others.

The Sunshine Theater's set up is an open floor, a large balcony, and a bar that seats a 21 and older audience, in all they accommodate about 1,000 people.

The theater is the most popular venue in the Albuquerque metro area to accommodate smaller but still notable acts, many with five or more shows in one month.

The band Soulfly with Max Cavalera was given the key to the city at the venue, on January 28, 2023, by Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller (politician).