The University of Arizona Press
Date: Tuesday, January 14, 2025
Time: 6 p.m., MST
Where: Tumamoc Hill Boathouse (bottom of the hill), 1675 W. Anklam Rd., Tucson
Melani Martinez, Tucson author of The Molino: A Memoir, talks with writer and multi-disciplinary artist Kimi Eisele as part of the Tuesday Tumamoc Author Series. They will speak on “The Tucson family behind El Rapido tamal and tortilla factory.” Martinez’s new book takes place in the sunset shadow of Tumamoc Hill, and reckons with one family’s loss of home, food, and faith. Weaving together history, culture, and Mexican food traditions, Martinez shares the story of her family’s life and work in the downtown eatery, El Rapido. Martinez’s work documents the work required to prepare food for others, and explores the heartbreaking aftermath of gentrification that forced the multigenerational family business to close its doors.
This event is free and open to the public, and it is co-sponsored by the Desert Laboratory at Tumamoc Hill and the Southwest Center at the University of Arizona.
About the book:
Opened by Martinez’s great-grandfather, Aurelio Perez, in 1933, El Rapido served tamales and burritos to residents and visitors to Tucson’s historic Barrio Presidio for nearly seventy years. For the family, the factory that bound them together was known for the giant corn grinder churning behind the scenes—the molino. The book also tells of Martinez’s personal story—that of a young Tucsonense coming of age in the 1980s and ’90s. As a young woman she rejects the work in her father’s popular kitchen, but when the business closes, her world shifts and the family disbands. When she finds her way back home, the tortillería’s iconic mural provides a gateway into history and ruin, ancestry and sacrifice, industrial myth and artistic incarnation—revealing a sacred presence still alive in Tucson.
A must-read for foodies, history lovers, and anyone searching for spiritual truth in the desert, this is a story of belonging and transformation in the borderlands.
