The Los Angeles Watts Towers

by Bud Goldstone, Arloa Goldstone

The Watts Towers, located in south-central Los Angeles, are the monumental work of one man: Simon Rodia. Born in Ribottoli, Italy c. 1879, Rodia immigrated to the U.S. when he was about fifteen. In 1921, he purchased a triangular-shaped lot at the end of a dead-end L.A. street and over the
next thirty years he worked single-handedly--without machine equipment, scaffolding, bolts, rivets, welds, or drawing-board designs--to build the nine sculptures that constitute the Watts Towers.

This book recounts the story of Rodia and his creation, as well as the considerable history of the Watts area itself. Other chapters discuss Rodia's building techniques and materials, as well as the conservation efforts underway at the site. Visitors to the Towers and the armchair traveler alike
will enjoy this in-depth look at Rodia and his singular creation.

Genres: Art

120 pages, Paperback

First published December 4, 1997

Reviews

[Jia C]

With an image count of 113 and the overall pages in book being 120, I'd recommend this book to anyone doing research on the life story of Simon Rodia and his work in the Watts district. Chapters discuss Rodia's building techniques and materials, as well as the preservation efforts underway at the
site. The images range from black and white to colored and the layouts from text paired with images, portrait and landscape (across bleed and square).

[Rogue Reader]

Outsider art by another mad, immigrant Italian. Splendid in spontaneous conception, deliberate and focused execution, and preserved by those who appreciate the masterpiece. Interesting to see how the Watts Towers reflect and morph with the changes in the neighborhood. William Cartwright's 1957 film is on YouTube

[Melissa]

A collection of articles written about the Towers, focusing on the man, the neighborhood, the architecture and dissection of the area as folk art.

I was disappointed to read as a man, Rodia was no saint. Reclusive to the point of abandoning wives, children and friends, he was a man obsessed with his project.

I shaved off a star because, having never been there, I was hoping for grander pictures to give me a sense of scale. The details were nice, but I was hoping for something more in reviewing this fascinating slice of American folk culture.

[Jess]

I'm a little bit fascinated with the Watts Towers. This book had a really good history of what they are, how they got there, and the man that built them, Simon Rodia.
There are also these little sidebars with LA Times headlines and the dates they appeared, all during the many years Rodia was building the Towers. Cool history.