The Watts Towers
Simon Rodia's Vision of "Something Big"

The Watts Towers in Los Angeles are unique monuments of vernacular architecture, and an engineering masterpiece.

Simon Rodia (1876 - 1965) not only shared Albert Einstein's birth year, he was a genius in his own right.

Uneducated but endowed with creative intelligence and practical know how along with a soul of an artist, architect and engineer, he set out to "build big" - to create his dream out of the debris of civilisation.

© Wayne Nabeta

His heroes were no less than Copernicus, Galileo, Columbus and Marco Polo. Barely five feet tall, with gnarly hands and a will as strong as his towers, Rodia set out to build his dream with nothing more than his creative mind and strong hands.

Born Sabato Rodia in impoverished Italy, he immigrated at the young age of 14 to the United States. He worked his way across the country as a labourer in rock quarries, logging and railroad camps. He was a construction worker, a telephone repairman, security guard and a tiler.

First, he moved westwards from New York to Seattle, where he married Lucy Ucci in 1902, and then to Oakland. They had three children, though the marriage didn't last and they divorced 10 years later.

He called himself Sam, never Simon. It is reported, that the name Simon was the result of an inaccurate Los Angeles Times newspaper article, and it stuck.

© Wayne Nabeta

There was no blueprint and no drawings, just a dream in his head. He built single-handedly inch-by-inch, day-by-day for the next 33 years after a full day of work at his job as a tiler. He used the simplest of tools and only window washer's belt and buckle to secure himself.

His spiraling and slender towers are made of recycled steel rods, wire mesh and reinforced concrete and embellished with pieces of ceramic tiles, bottles and pebbles for support and decoration.

They poke gracefully into the air. From afar, they look delicate, almost fragile. Minarets, gilded domes and gothic cathedrals come to mind.

Two of the towers are almost a hundred feet (over 30 m) high, the third one 55 ft (16.76m). A spire reaches 38 ft and the mast of his "Ship of Marco Polo" spirals up 28 ft.

Humorous details - seven-up bottles and a coffee cup with the handle still intact - poke out of a concert arm, a vase and a funny nosed tea pot sit on top of rods as do flirtatious hearts.

© Wayne Nabeta

His Italian accent was strong, but his Spanish flawless. In fact, neighbours thought he was Mexican. He lived in a ramshackle house on the property and had almost nothing else to his name than the land that he called "Nuestro Pueblo." Some viewed him with suspicion, others, especially children, brought bits and pieces to incorporate into the structures. Contrary to reports, he wasn't a recluse. He invited neighbours and friends to celebrate weddings and baptisms under the towers.

In the mid 1950s, he declared his work finished, gifted the property to a neighbour, Luis Sauceda, and moved away, never to return again. Sauceda sold the towers for $1000 to Joseph Montoya.

© Wayne Nabeta

King, Cartwright and the 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". They negotiated with the city for an engineering test to establish the safety of the structures.

© Wayne Nabeta

The committee preserved the Towers for 16 years. Next door, they constructed the "Watts Towers Arts Center" that offers art classes to the community and features changing exhibitions. The upkeep proofed too expensive and the whole property was deeded to the City of Los Angeles in 1978. They are now a component of the California State Parks.

© Wayne Nabeta

Sam Rodia was publicly honoured in 1961 with the feature exhibition "The Art of Assemblage" at the Museum of Modern Art and at the University of California, Berkeley. He was persuaded to attend and answer questions about his unique construction techniques.

The first documentary film of the Watts Towers was made by William Hale as a student project in 1952. Rodia told Hale: "You have to be good good or bad bad to be remembered."

"I Build the Tower" by Edward Landler and Brad Byer chronicles his life with audio interviews. The film qualified for Oscar consideration, was shown at the Landmark Theatre in Los Angeles, and has been showcased in the USA, Canada and in numerous film festivals around the world.

The Annual Watts Towers Day of the Drum and the Annual Simon Rodia Watts Towers Jazz Festival draw more than 5000 spectators.

© Wayne Nabeta

• Wikipedia
• California State Parks
• National Historic Landmark Program

• Watts Towers Documentray: free download
• Feature-length Film by Landler and Byer I build the tower

Books

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