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High Noon Restaurant and Saloon owner Carla Villa said she is fortunate that her nearly 50-year-old business did not receive more damage from a Tuesday morning fire.

According to an sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Fire Rescue Facebook post, firefighters responded to a call of a fire at 6:30 a.m. at the restaurant in the 400 block of San Felipe NW, near Mountain. It took firefighters about 10 minutes to put out the fire. No one was hurt.

鈥淚鈥檓 very thankful for whoever called it in so quickly,鈥� she said.

Villa said the only damage was to the restaurant鈥檚 electrical system and dry storage area where perishables had been stored. The food was not burned and was donated to the Roadrunner Food Bank.

The adobe wall acted as a 鈥渇irewall鈥� and prevented the fire from spreading, she said, adding that she felt 鈥渧ery, very lucky today.鈥�

Fire Rescue鈥檚 Facebook post states the cause of the fire is still being investigated. However, Villa said she learned from Fire Rescue that someone tried stealing copper wire atop the restaurant roof, which 鈥渃aused a live wire arc that sparked the fire.鈥�

For Villa, the incident sparked a flashback from over 50 years ago.

鈥業鈥檓 super grateful鈥�

On Tuesday afternoon, Villa showed a picture on her cellphone of a June 1971 Journal article with a photo of her dad鈥檚 store. 鈥淐ee-Vee Stores Looted, Burned,鈥� the headline reads.

In 1971, Charley Villa owned a liquor store and gas station near Roosevelt Park called Cee-Vee Liquors. Carla said he had planned to open up a Cee-Vee in 鈥渁ll four quadrants in the city.鈥� The plan changed during the Roosevelt Park riots, when his business was looted and set on fire.

But that did not deter Charley Villa from pursuing his entrepreneurial dreams.

Carla said months after her father lost his business, he got a moving truck and operated a 鈥減ortable beer wagon鈥� at stock car races. But soon after that, he reached a crossroads: sell his liquor license and perhaps look into another line of work, or use the license somewhere it can be used.

鈥淭hat was when he decided he liked Old Town,鈥� Carla said.

Charley and his wife, Shirley Villa, bought what would become High Noon. The property included a building built sometime between the 1750s and 1780s that now houses the restaurant鈥檚 front entrance and a dining room, Carla said. According to the restaurant鈥檚 website, the original building remained an apartment until High Noon took over. Its last reported tenant was a nun.

While the Villas were turning the building into a restaurant, Carla said Charley tried to make an appointment with 鈥渁 lawyer or contractor鈥� to talk about the property. To settle on an exact time, she said, her dad said, 鈥淗ow about high noon?鈥�

When her parents were thinking about a name for the business, Carla said they thought High Noon 鈥渟ounded great.鈥�

鈥淗igh Noon came to life because of that riot, for sure,鈥� Carla said.

The restaurant opened on July 3, 1974, but instead of preparing for High Noon鈥檚 50th anniversary, Carla is left trying to pick up the pieces from the fire.

As employees and others shoveled burnt debris into a trailer, she walked inside the restaurant and stopped to look at a photo on the wall behind a bar of Carla and her parents sitting at a table inside Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada.

鈥淚鈥檓 super grateful it was not a total loss,鈥� she said.

There is no timeline as to when the restaurant will reopen.

鈥淲e will be back as soon as the electrical is reinstalled and inspected, and we get the green light from PNM and the city,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t also depends on the supply chain (issues). If the materials are here in town, it will be open a lot quicker.鈥�