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With Patrons, Family and Friends, Bill designed and built The Central Torta. As with his title for his book "Talfulano", "Torta"
is a Spanish word that Bill adapted to his own needs or use. The word refers to a sandwich but also implies, in Bill's
usage, a meaning similar to "the whole enchilada". Even today there are, some twenty-five years after the
close of the project, many in Albuquerque, New Mexico who cannot forget the singular beauty of this unique coffeehouse.
As usual, Bill was way ahead of his times. In truth he had created a space for addressing all of a human's
needs: food, aesthetic, music, spiritual and psychological, or sociological, needs.
Today, and likely more so in the future, advanced healers, urban planners and psychologists increasingly recognize
the significance and importance of bringing together all legitimate human needs, on an accessible scale where the artificial
separation of the "modern" society is made holistic and collapsed to proportion of the individual and in an easily
accessed manner, in an environment that embraces both vast quantum potential and individual relevance--both at once.
This very notion was at the heart of Bill Rane's The Central Torta.
THE ANSON BURGER:
One of the culinary main features of
the Central Torta was the "Anson Burger". This was a delicious concoction involving a beef hamburger, mexican
sweet bun, many fixings and a special sauce conceived with the red chile drippings from roast pork. Beyond comparision
for flavor, the delicacy was named for Bill and Judith's first son, Anson Rane, who worked at the Central Torta while studying
architecture at the adjacent University of New Mexico.
| Looking Up the Stairs to the Heavenly Garden |
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| Central Torta, 1980 |
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| This untitled mural hung at the Central Torta |
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| Many Latin American influences are seen in this mural of four separate canvas panels combined. |
Here at the Bill Rane Story, we do not know whether this magnificent four piece Bill Rane panel, directly above, survives.
We welcome warmly any available information on the matter. Notice that the two side panels, on the right
and left, were hinged so that the piece could be displayed in many different manners and could, even, be "closed".
We estimate the size of the combined four panels at 10 feet by 9 feet. This piece reflects many important historical
aspects in Mr. Rane's work. The use of numberless symbolic elements combined with exquisite color and form marks this
piece as extraordinarily important Bill Rane work. We certainly hope that actual work is not lost to history.
Note also the "rooster" figure on the right and its relationship to the historic Bill Rane Painting "Two Women with Crystal and Rooster".
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