Watts Towers

The Watts Towers, at 1727 East 107th Street in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, are a monumental work of self-taught folk art. Simon Rodia, an Italian immigrant construction worker also known as Sabato Rodia, built the structure by hand between 1921 and 1954, working alone in his spare time on a triangular lot beside his home. The complex includes 17 major sculptural elements, the tallest rising to about 99 feet, along with a gazebo, birdbaths, a ship-like structure and decorated walls. Rodia formed the towers from steel rods and pipes, wrapped them in wire mesh and coated them in mortar. He then embedded fragments of tile, glass bottles, seashells, pottery and other found objects, many collected from the neighborhood and from the nearby Pacific Electric rail yards. He used no welding, bolting or scaffolding, and he climbed the structure with a window-washer's belt. In 1955 Rodia deeded the property to a neighbor and left Los Angeles. The city later condemned the structure, but a citizens' committee fought to save it, and a 1959 load test using a steel cable showed that the towers were structurally sound. The site was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, a National Historic Landmark and a California State Historic Park property, and conservation by the city and the Watts Towers Arts Center has addressed cracking, corrosion and the effects of earthquakes. The Watts Towers Arts Center next door offers gallery space, classes and the guided tours that provide access to the grounds. The curatorial approach is guided and interpretive, with docents explaining the construction method and the artist's biography. Annual events such as the Watts Towers Day of the Drum Festival and Jazz Festival take place on the grounds. The towers remain an influential monument to individual creativity and to the immigrant history of Southern California.