THE WATTS TOWERS by SIMON RODIA
Located in south Los Angeles, in a community known as Watts, stands a monument to one man's spirit, ingenuity, and determination. Built single-handedly by Simon Rodia over a period of 34 years, the Watts Towers consists of 17 separate sculptural forms made of steel and covered with cement mortar embedded with pieces of ceramic tile, pottery shards, sea shells, and broken glass. The tallest tower is nearly 100 feet high.
Simon Rodia, also known as Sabato “Sam” Rodia and “Don Simon” by some of his neighbors and visitors, was born in 1879 in the town of Ribbotoli in Italy. He was sent to America when he was 15, following an older brother who had gone that way a few years earlier. While growing up in America, Rodia worked in the coal mines of Pennsylvania and eventually moved to northern California where he married and had three children.
While moving around on the west coast, Rodia worked in rock quarries, logging, and railroad camps as a construction worker. In 1921, he purchased a wedge-shaped plot of land with a house in Watts and began to construct his masterpiece, which he called “Nuestro Pueblo” (meaning “our town”).
Without benefit of special equipment, scaffolding, or drawing board designs, Rodia worked alone on his towers using simple tile-setter's tools and a window washer's belt and buckle. From 1921 to 1955, Rodia surrounded his house with three tall sendor towers; a patio; a gazebo containing a circular bench, 3 bird baths, and a spire 38 feet tall; and a structure he called the “Ship of Marco Polo” which has a 28-foot tall spire. All of this is enclosed in walls build by Rodia and decorated with an assortment of embedded objects and materials.
After Rodia completed the Watts Towers in 1955, he deeded the property to a neighbor and moved to Martinez, California where he died in 1965. He never returned to see his creation stating “that part of his life was over."
Today the Watts Towers are a National Historic Landmark and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. To see and learn more about this monumental work of art, visit the Web sites listed on the right side of this page.
Special thanks to Bud Goldstone, co-author of The Los Angeles Watts Towers (1997), for reviewing this page and offfering corrections to the content.
