Watts Towers of Simon Rodia
(U.S. National Historic Landmark)
Watts Towers, 1765 East 107th St., Los Angeles
Location:	Los Angeles, CA
Coordinates:	33°56′19.38″N, 118°14′25.97″W
Built/Founded:	1921
Architect:	Simon Rodia
Designated as NHL:	December 14, 1990 [1]
Added to NRHP:	April 13, 1977[2]
NRHP Reference#:	77000297
Governing body:	Local

The Watts Towers or Nuestro Pueblo in the Watts district of Los Angeles, California, is a collection of 17 interconnected structures, two of which reach heights of over 99 feet (30 m). The Towers were built by Italian immigrant construction worker Sabato ("Sam" or "Simon") Rodia in his spare time over a period of 33 years, from 1921 to 1954. The work is a superb example of non-traditional vernacular architecture. The Towers are located near (and visible from) the 103rd Street-Kenneth Hahn Station of the Metro Rail LACMTA Blue Line. Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from... This article or section needs additional references or sources to improve its verifiability. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1633x1977, 760 KB) Watts Towers in Watts, California File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This article is about the largest city in California. ... Sabato Simon (or Sam to his friends) Rodia was an Italian immigrant to the United States who spent much of his adulthood living in Los Angeles, California. ... This article or section needs additional references or sources to improve its verifiability. ... is the 348th day of the year (349th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar). ... A typical plaque showing entry on the National Register of Historic Places. ... is the 103rd day of the year (104th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also: 1977 (album) by Ash. ... Watts is a district of central Los Angeles, California. ... Los Angeles and L.A. redirect here. ... Sabato Simon (or Sam to his friends) Rodia was an Italian immigrant to the United States who spent much of his adulthood living in Los Angeles, California. ... Vernacular architecture is a term used to categorize a method of construction which uses locally available resources to address local needs. ... 103rd Street-Kenneth Hahn is a station on Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authoritys Metro Blue Line. ... The Los Angeles County Metro Rail is the mass transit rail system of Los Angeles County. ... The Metro Blue Line of the Los Angeles County Metro Rail is a light rail line connecting Downtown Los Angeles at the 7th St/Metro Center station and Downtown Long Beach. ...

Design and construction

The sculptures' armatures are constructed from steel pipes and rods, wrapped with wire mesh, coated with mortar. The main supports are embedded with pieces of porcelain, tile, and glass. They are decorated with found objects: bed frames, bottles, ceramic tiles, scrap metal and sea shells. Rodia called the towers Nuestro Pueblo, meaning "our town." Rodia built them with no special equipment or (so far as is known) predetermined design, working alone with hand tools and window-washer's equipment. Neighborhood children brought pieces of broken glass and pottery to Rodia in hopes they would be added to the project, but the majority of Rodia's material consisted of damaged pieces from the Malibu Pottery, where he worked for many years. Green glass includes recognizable soft drink bottles, some still bearing the logos of 7 Up, Squirt, Bubble-Up, and Canada Dry; blue glass appears to be from milk of magnesia bottles. For other uses, see Steel (disambiguation). ... Mortar holding weathered bricks. ... “Fine China” redirects here. ... Fountain by Marcel Duchamp. ... This article is about a soft drink. ... Squirt logo Squirt is a caffeine-free citrus-flavored soft drink created in 1938 by Herb Bishop. ... Canada Dry Logo Canada Dry Crown Logo Canada Dry is a brand of soft drinks marketed by Dr Pepper/Seven Up, a unit of Cadbury-Schweppes. ... Milk of Magnesia, or Magnesium Hydroxide, Mg(OH)2 is a saline osmotic (hydrating) laxative. ...

Closeup view of the mosaic decoration

Rodia bent up much of the Towers' framework from scrap rebar, using nearby railroad tracks as a sort of makeshift vise. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1440x1920, 1229 KB)Photographed and uploaded by user:Geographer. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1440x1920, 1229 KB)Photographed and uploaded by user:Geographer. ... A tied rebar beam cage. ...

Other items came from alongside the Pacific Electric Railway right of way between Watts and Wilmington. Rodia often walked the right of way all the way to Wilmington in search of material, a distance of nearly 20 miles (32 km). The Pacific Electric Railway main company depot at Sixth Street and Main Street in downtown Los Angeles, circa 1910. ... General Phineas Banning Wilmington, California is a neighborhood of Los Angeles, with industry as its primary economical activity. ...

Rodia reportedly did not get along with his neighbors, some of whom allowed their children to vandalize his work. Rumors that the towers were antennae for communicating with enemy Japanese forces, or contained buried treasure, caused suspicion and further vandalism.

In 1955, Rodia gave the property away and left, reportedly tired of the abuse he had received. He retired to Martinez, California, and never came back. He died a decade later. John Muirs home. ...

After Rodia

The property changed hands, Rodia's bungalow inside the enclosure was burned down, and the city of Los Angeles condemned the structure and ordered it razed. An actor, Nicholas King, and a film editor, William Cartwright, visited the site in 1959, saw the neglect, and decided to buy the property for $3,000 in order to preserve it. When the city found out about the transfer, it decided to perform the demolition before the transfer went through. The towers had already become famous and there was opposition from around the world. King, Cartwright, and a curator of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, along with area architects, artists, and community activists formed the Committee for Simon Rodia's Towers in Watts. The Committee negotiated with the city to allow for an engineering test to establish the safety of the structures. The City of Los Angeles, led by an EMD E2 unit, makes a station stop in Cheyenne, Wyoming on February 13, 1938. ... Film editor responsible for a number of documentaries. ... The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, also known as LACMA, is the official art museum of the County of Los Angeles, California. ...

For the test, steel cable was attached to each tower and a crane was used to exert lateral force. The crane was unable to topple or even shift the towers, and the test was concluded when the crane experienced mechanical failure.

The committee preserved the towers independently until 1975, when it deeded the site to the City of Los Angeles, which deeded it to the State of California in 1978. It is now designated the Watts Towers of Simon Rodia State Historic Park. It is operated by the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department. The towers are one of nine folk art sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and were designated a National Historic Landmark in 1990.^[1],^[3],^[4] State nickname: The Golden State Other U.S. States Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Official languages English Area 410,000 km² (3rd)  - Land 404,298 km²  - Water 20,047 km² (4. ... The Watts Towers, 1765 East 107th St. ... A typical plaque showing entry on the National Register of Historic Places. ... This article or section needs additional references or sources to improve its verifiability. ...

The steel, concrete and glass folk art structures were undamaged during the Watts riots in 1965. However, the towers did suffer minor damage in the Northridge Earthquake in 1994. They were repaired and were reopened to the public in 2001. This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... The term Watts Riots refers to a large-scale riot which lasted six days in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, in August 1965. ... The Northridge earthquake occurred on January 17, 1994 at 4:31 AM Pacific Standard Time in the city of Los Angeles, California. ...

The Watts Towers Arts Center is an adjacent community arts center that was opened in 1970.

References in Popular Culture

The towers in silhouette

• The Watts Towers, and their creator Simon Rodia's friendship with a 10-year-old boy, are a major focus of Daniel and The Towers, a 1987 made-for-television movie.
• Ambient musical group Porn Sword Tobacco recorded a song called "Watts Towers".
• The towers are celebrated in Episode 3 of Jacob Bronowski's famous TV documentary Ascent of Man.
• The Watts Towers play a significant role in the 1991 crime-thriller film Ricochet.
• In Solomania!: A Festival of one-man(woman) shows (2006), Roger Guenveur Smith's The Watts Towers Project relates to the audience his fascination of the Watts Towers as he attempts to discover his own personal mark as an artist.
• Menace II Society has a flyover shot of the towers.
• A recreation of the Watts Towers is depicted in the Rockstar Games video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, as a recognizable landmark in the fictional city of Los Santos, which is modeled on the City of Los Angeles.
• Charles Mingus' autobiography, Beneath the Underdog makes reference to the towers as a part of Mingus' upbringing.^[5]
• Don DeLillo's novel Underworld refers to the towers.
• An episode of the HBO original series Six Feet Under features the towers, (series 3, episode 4, timecode 33.17).
• Colors features a car chase scene that ends when the Crips' car being chased crashes into one of the towers.
• The Towers were once used to film (or videotape) a brief location segment that appeared on the Donny & Marie variety show. In the segment, the Osmonds sang, then briefly described the Towers.
• The 1976 blaxploitation horror film Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde climaxes with the title villain confronted by police outside the towers. The police refuse to fire on him because he is standing in front of the mosaic walls surrounding the towers. He escapes inside the structure and climbs one of the towers until he is shot down by the police. The towers were even featured prominently in the poster art for the film.
• The towers make a brief appearance in the car racing video game, LA Rush, on which the city is based on Los Angeles
• Robert Duncan (1919- ) wrote a poem entitled "Nel Mezzo Del Cammin Di Nostra Vita," published in Roots and Branches in 1964. This poem uses the Watts Towers as the focal image, discussing them as "art dedicated to itself" and as a kind of celebration of the individual, comparing the towers to the church and suggesting that they are a kind of church of the creative self.
• The towers appear on the original cover of the 1975 album Brown Rice, by jazz trumpeter Don Cherry and the 1958 album Harold in the Land of Jazz by saxophonist Harold Land.
• The towers appear in the show on BET called Baldwin Hills.
• The towers briefly appear in the music video for "Hate It or Love It" by The Game featuring 50 Cent.
• The towers feature heavily in an episode of the short-lived science fiction series Dark Skies. With the strong suggestion being that Rodia was inspired to build them by a telepathic vision of the human DNA helix!
• The towers appear in the movie The Cable Guy when the title character climbs one of them.
• Los Angeles underground MC MURS references the towers in the song "LA" from his 2006 album Murray's Revenge : "From the Towers in Watts, to the hills of Alta Dena."
• The towers appear in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in the Ballas-controlled Idlewood area in east Los Santos, San Andreas, the game's fictional take on Los Angeles.
• An episode of Sanford and Son called "Tower Power" involves Fred Sanford building a structure from his own junk that was obviously inspired by the Watts towers, although they are not mentioned by name.

Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (827x1024, 152 KB)Carol M. Highsmith Collection at the Library of Congress Carol M. Highsmith Rights and Restrictions Information Ms. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (827x1024, 152 KB)Carol M. Highsmith Collection at the Library of Congress Carol M. Highsmith Rights and Restrictions Information Ms. ... Sabato Simon (or Sam to his friends) Rodia was an Italian immigrant to the United States who spent much of his adulthood living in Los Angeles, California. ... Daniel and The Towers is a Made-for-TV movie featuring the famous folk art masterpiece, the Watts Towers (located in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles), and their creator Simon Rodias friendship with a 10-year-old neighborhood boy. ... “Telefilm” redirects here. ... Jacob Bronowski (January 18, 1908, Łódź, Congress Poland, Russian Empire - August 22, 1974, East Hampton, New York, USA) was an English-Polish mathematician, best known as the presenter of the BBC television documentary series, The Ascent of Man. ... The Ascent of Man (1973) was a groundbreaking BBC documentary series, produced in association with Time-Life Films, written and presented by Jacob Bronowski. ... This article is about motion pictures. ... Ricochet is a 1991 crime-thriller film, directed by Russell Mulcahy and starring Denzel Washington, John Lithgow, Ice-T, Kevin Pollack, and Lindsay Wagner. ... Roger Guenveur Smith in Final Destination (2000) Roger Guenveur Smith (born July 27, 1959 in Berkeley, California) is an American writer, director, and actor. ... Menace II Society is a 1993 American film and the directorial debut of twin brothers Allen and Albert Hughes. ... R* redirects here. ... Computer and video games redirects here. ... Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is the fifth video game in the Grand Theft Auto series. ... Western Los Santos is predominantly affluent, compared to the less well-to-do east side. ... Flag Seal Nickname: City of Angels Location Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates , Government State County California Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 1,290. ... Charles Mingus (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz bassist, composer, bandleader, and occasional pianist. ... Don DeLillo (born November 20, 1936) is an American author best known for his novels, which paint detailed portraits of American life in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. ... Underworld is a novel written in 1997 by Don DeLillo. ... For the death metal band, see Six Feet Under (band). ... Colors is a 1988 film starring Sean Penn and Robert Duvall and directed by Dennis Hopper. ... The blue bandanas worn by most Crip gangs. ... Donny & Marie was a variety show which aired on ABC from January 1976 to May 1979. ... // Events March 22 - Filming begins on George Lucas Star Wars science fiction film. ... Shaft (1971) Blaxploitation is a film genre that emerged in the United States in the early 1970s when many exploitation films were made that targeted the urban black audience; the word itself is a portmanteau of the words “black” and “exploitation. ... Dr. Black, Mr. ... Computer and video games redirects here. ... L.A. Rush is a video game to be released on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox consoles. ... Flag Seal Nickname: City of Angels Location Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates , Government State County California Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 1,290. ... Robert Duncan may refer to: Robert Duncan (1919-1988), U.S. poet Robert Duncan, U.S. physicist Robert Duncan, British TV comedy actor Robert Duncan McNeill, U.S. actor, director and producer Robert Duncan, Episcopal bishop of Pittsburgh This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other... Don Cherry (November 18, 1936–October 19, 1995) was an innovative jazz trumpeter probably best known for his long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman. ... Harold de Vance Land (1928–2001) was an American hard bop and post-bop tenor saxophonist. ... Bet may refer to: Look up bet in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Baldwin Hills is a district in southwestern Los Angeles, California, in South Los Angeles. ... Hate It or Love It is the second offical (third overall) single off of rapper The Games debut album entitled The Documentary. ... Jayceon Terell Taylor (born November 27, 1979 in Los Angeles,[1] California), better known by his stage name The Game, is a multi-platinum American rapper signed to Interscope Records. ... 50 cents may refer to 50 subunits of currencies where the subunit is called a cent. ... Dark Skies is an United States sci-fi/drama television series which aired 1996-1997 for 20 episodes. ... For the comedian, see Larry the Cable Guy. ... Underground rap is a term sometimes used to describe forms of rap music which have little or no mainstream appeal, visibility or commercial presence. ... A Master of Ceremonies or MC (sometimes spelled emcee), sometimes called a compere or an MJ for microphone jockey, is the host of an official public or private staged event or other performance. ... This article is about the rapper. ... Murrays Revenge is the second collaboration album from California rapper Murs (of the Living Legends) and North Carolina producer 9th Wonder (formerly of Little Brother). ... Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is the fifth video game in the Grand Theft Auto series. ... Western Los Santos is predominantly affluent, compared to the less well-to-do east side. ...

See also

• Antoni Gaudí, a Catalan architect with a similar style, particularly La Sagrada Família in Barcelona.
• Qutub Minar, including a similarly-shaped ancient Indian tower.
• Baldasare Forestiere, another Italian immigrant in California born the same year as Rodia who built the Forestiere Underground Gardens.
• Hermit House, a unique residence located in Herzliya, Israel with intricate mosaics entirely constructed by one man over thirty years.
• Nitt Witt Ridge a house in Cambria, California constructed in a similar style.
• Ferdinand Cheval, a french postman who constructed an "ideal palace" out of rocks in his spare time.

Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (Riudoms or Reus, 25 June 1852 – Barcelona, 10 June 1926) – sometimes referred to by the Spanish translation of his name, Antonio Gaudí – was a Catalan architect, who belonged to the Modernisme (Art Nouveau) movement and was famous for his unique style and highly individualistic designs. ... The Catalans are an ethnic group or nationality whose homeland is Catalonia, or the Principality of Catalonia (Catalan: Catalunya, or Principat de Catalunya), which is a historical region in southern Europe, embracing a territory situated in the north-east of Spain and an adjoining portion of southern France. ... For the Alan Parsons Project song, see La Sagrada Familia (song). ... Location Coordinates : Time Zone : CET (GMT +1) - summer: CEST (GMT +2) General information Native name Barcelona (Catalan) Spanish name Barcelona Nickname Ciutat Comtal (City of Counts) Postal code 08001–08080 Area code 34 (Spain) + 93 (Barcelona) Website http://www. ... At 72. ... Baldasare Forestiere (1879 – 1946) created the Forestiere Underground Gardens in Fresno, California, a spectacular ten-acre subterranean villa built solely by him over a period of 40 years. ... Forestiere Underground Gardens located at 5021 W. Shaw Avenue in Fresno, California are an unusual manmade creation built by Baldasare Forestiere, an immigrant from Sicily over a period of 40 years from 1906 to until his death in1946. ... Hermit House, Herzliya, Israel. ... Ben-GÅ«ryōn Avenue in the centre of Herzliyyāh, facing north towards Sōkōlōv Street (1998) Herzliya (in Hebrew: הֶרְצְלִיָּה, without Niqqud: הרצלייה, commonly pronounced in Hebrew as Hertseliya) is a city in Israel, on the central coastal strip in the south of the Sharon region, just north... Nitt Witt Ridge is a house on two-and-a-half-acres in Cambria, California, located at 881 Hillcrest Dr, Cambria Pines. ... Burton Drive, a typical street scene in Cambria. ... Chevals Palais Idéal. The signs on the right read Travail dun seul homme (Work of only one man) and Défense de rien toucher (It is prohibited to touch anything) Ferdinand Cheval, who was born in 1836 and died on 19th August, 1924, was a French postman...

References

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External links

• I Build the Tower, a feature-length documentary film about Simon Rodia and the Watts Towers
• the Watts Towers Arts Center - images, history and admission
• www.wattstowers.org
• KCET Life & Times. History of the Towers
• Official State Park Website
• The website dedicated entirely to Sam Rodia's Watts Towers and their impact on international art
• Spherical panoramas of Rodia's work
• Most Everything That Ever Mentioned, Showed, Documented or Featured the Watts Towers
• The Towers, A 1957 documentary
• Maps and aerial photos for 33°56′20″N 118°14′28″W / 33.93874, -118.241046Coordinates: 33°56′20″N 118°14′28″W / 33.93874, -118.241046
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  • Topographic maps from TopoZone or TerraServer-USA