September 13, 2017
Watts Towers
The Watts Towers are located in the southern Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles about a block south of the 103rd Street station of the Metro Blue Line. An Italian immigrant named Simon Rodia came to Watts in 1920, finding his perfect triangular shaped parcel of land bounded by railroad tracks(the only other parcel of land like this is at the current intersection of Wilshire Blvd and Santa Monica Blvd in Beverly Hills). He began construction of the towers in 1921 and over the next 30+ years the towers rose next to his home. He mixed his own special type of concrete and collected various materials(the bottoms of glass bottles, tile, etc) that would adorn the towers. Then in 1954, he stopped his work on the towers and moved away. His house burned down the next year and the City of Los Angeles condemned the property and wanted to tear down the towers. The local community had grown rather fond of the towers and managed forge an agreement with the City to keep the towers if they were structurally stable, so the City did a stress test on the towers with crane providing increasing amounts of pressure pulling on the towers, reaching a maximum pressure of 10,000 pounds. This proved the towers, which only have a 2 foot foundation to be structurally sound. The area has become a historic park with an art museum and an area for public performance adjoining the towers.
I’d encourage anyone either living in LA or visiting to see the towers, they’re a true treasure. I waited much too long to visit them.
Read MoreThe Watts Towers are located in the southern Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles about a block south of the 103rd Street station of the Metro Blue Line. An Italian immigrant named Simon Rodia came to Watts in 1920, finding his perfect triangular shaped parcel of land bounded by railroad tracks(the only other parcel of land like this is at the current intersection of Wilshire Blvd and Santa Monica Blvd in Beverly Hills). He began construction of the towers in 1921 and over the next 30+ years the towers rose next to his home. He mixed his own special type of concrete and collected various materials(the bottoms of glass bottles, tile, etc) that would adorn the towers. Then in 1954, he stopped his work on the towers and moved away. His house burned down the next year and the City of Los Angeles condemned the property and wanted to tear down the towers. The local community had grown rather fond of the towers and managed forge an agreement with the City to keep the towers if they were structurally stable, so the City did a stress test on the towers with crane providing increasing amounts of pressure pulling on the towers, reaching a maximum pressure of 10,000 pounds. This proved the towers, which only have a 2 foot foundation to be structurally sound. The area has become a historic park with an art museum and an area for public performance adjoining the towers.
I’d encourage anyone either living in LA or visiting to see the towers, they’re a true treasure. I waited much too long to visit them.
Closer view of the 3 main towers.
While Simon Rodia never said what inspired him to build the towers, it’s often thought that it was probably a ship. These would be the masts for sails.
