Sabato Rodia, Watts Towers
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Location:
Los Angeles, California, USA (Map)
Status:
Extant
Artist:
Built:
1921 to 1954
Materials:
concrete, bottles, cups, glass, tile, shells, steel
Visiting Information
The Watts Towers may be viewed from the street; tours are offered by the WTAC on Saturdays.
Portrait of Rodia.
Sign: No one has the right to damage or destroy a work of art - help preserve the Watts Towers.
Mosaic detail circa 1976.
View from top looking downward circa 1981.
Towers circa 1964.
Towers at street level circa 1976.
Rodia in Martinez.
Towers circa 1976.
Mosaic detail circa 1976.
Concerned Citizens observing the stress test, October 10, 1959.
Photograph documenting the stress test that occurred October 10, 1959.
Photograph documenting the stress test that occurred October 10, 1959.
Photograph documenting the stress test that occurred October 10, 1959.
Photograph documenting the stress test that occurred October 10, 1959.
Photograph documenting the stress test that occurred October 10, 1959.
Photograph documenting the stress test that occurred October 10, 1959.
Photograph documenting the stress test that occurred October 10, 1959.
Photograph documenting the stress test that occurred October 10, 1959.
Photograph documenting the stress test that occurred October 10, 1959.
Photograph documenting the stress test that occurred October 10, 1959.
Photograph documenting the stress test that occurred October 10, 1959.
Photograph documenting the stress test that occurred October 10, 1959.
Photograph documenting the stress test that occurred October 10, 1959.
Photograph documenting the stress test that occurred October 10, 1959.
Photograph documenting the stress test that occurred October 10, 1959.
Photograph documenting the stress test that occurred October 10, 1959.
Photograph documenting the stress test that occurred October 10, 1959.
Photograph documenting the stress test that occurred October 10, 1959.
Photograph documenting the stress test that occurred October 10, 1959.
Photograph documenting the stress test that occurred October 10, 1959.
Photograph documenting the stress test that occurred October 10, 1959.
Photograph documenting the stress test that occurred October 10, 1959.
Photograph documenting the stress test that occurred October 10, 1959.
Photograph documenting the stress test that occurred October 10, 1959.
Supporters observing the stress test, October 10, 1959.
View of Watts Towers.
View of Watts Towers.
Image of the community surrounding Watts Towers.
Image of the community surrounding Watts Towers.
Image of the community surrounding Watts Towers.
Image of the community surrounding Watts Towers.
Image of the community surrounding Watts Towers.
Image of the community surrounding Watts Towers.
Image of the community surrounding Watts Towers.
View of Watts Towers circa 1964.
View of Watts Towers.
View of Watts Towers circa 1967.
View of Watts Towers, June, 1976.
View of Watts Towers, December, 1976.
View of Watts Towers, December, 1979.
View of Watts Towers circa 1964.
Portrait of Rodia in roominghouse, Martinez, California, circa 1964.
Three towers circa.
Impression throughout the floor.
Dense structure of the sculptures.
At the entry to the Gazebo.
Mosaic surfacing continues to the top of the Towers.
Detail.
North and south walls meeting at the east apex.
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Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Photograph by Seymour Rosen. ©SPACES
Used with permission of the photographer, Jason Church
Used with permission of the photographer, Jason Church
Used with permission of the photographer, Jason Church
Used with permission of the photographer, Jason Church
Used with permission of the photographer, Jason Church
Used with permission of the photographer, Jason Church
Used with permission of the photographer, Jason Church
Used with permission of the photographer, Jason Church
Used with permission of the photographer, Jason Church
Used with permission of the photographer, Jason Church
Used with permission of the photographer, Jason Church
Used with permission of the photographer, Jason Church
Used with permission of the photographer, Jason Church
Used with permission of the photographer, Jason Church
Used with permission of the photographer, Jason Church
Used with permission of the photographer, Jason Church
Used with permission of the photographer, Jason Church
Used with permission of the photographer, Jason Church
Used with permission of the photographer, Jason Church
Used with permission of the photographer, Jason Church
Used with permission of the photographer, Jason Church
Used with permission of the photographer, Jason Church
Used with permission of the photographer, Jason Church
Used with permission of the photographer, Jason Church
Used with permission of the photographer, Jason Church
Used with permission of the photographer, Jason Church
Used with permission of the photographer, Jason Church
Used with permission of the photographer, Jason Church
Used with permission of the photographer, Jason Church
Used with permission of the photographer, Jason Church
Taking the Art to the Streets: How the Citizens of Los Angeles Saved Watts Towers:
Presentation by Jo Farb Hernández, Director of SPACES.
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About the Artist/Site
Sabato Rodia was born 1879 in Ribottoli, in the Avellino province of Campania, Italy. He immigrated to the United States as a teenager. After working as a laborer in various cities, he settled in the early 1920s in Watts, California, a town later annexed to the City of Los Angeles. There, on a 400 square-meter triangular lot alongside railway tracks, Rodia worked alone for the next 34 years, building what are now known as the “Watts Towers.”
To create the towers’ infrastructure, Rodia used steel beams, bending them by wedging the ends under the tracks, and then applying weight by leaning on them. The structures he assembled became ladders he could climb to add new levels. Using no bolts, welds, or rivets, he overlapped or abutted metal joints instead, wrapping them with wire and cement. To this surface he added colorful shards of pottery, glass, seashells, and tile.
By 1954, when Rodia deeded the property to a neighbor—never to return—his complex environment included seventeen discrete sculptures, along with fountains, gardens, and plazas.
The property had several subsequent owners. In 1957, the City of Los Angeles, citing a lack of engineering plans and the deterioration of certain components, condemned the towers as an “unauthorized public hazard” and called for demolition. In protest, artists and activists formed the Committee for Simon Rodia’s Towers in Watts (CSRTW). They demanded the City allow a stress test to determine the towers’ stability. Following the successful test, designed by N.J. (“Bud”) Goldstone, in October 1959, and some minor repairs, the towers were opened to the public in 1960.
Sabato Rodia died in Martinez, California in 1965. That same year, an uprising in Watts resulted in the destruction of several blocks near the towers, but Rodia’s creation was unharmed. To support the local community, the CSRTW began offering free art classes on site, and in 1970, the Watts Towers Art Center opened next door.
Over the years, ownership of the towers has passed from the CSRTW to the City, and then to the State of California, which leased the property back to the City for maintenance and stewardship. The towers were designated a National Historic Landmark in 1990. Nevertheless, poor conservation over many years has restricted public accessibility and has compounded damage caused by natural forces.
~Jo Farb Hernández
SPACES Archive Holdings
The SPACES archive includes 17.3 linear feet of archives, including approximately 1,700 photographic prints, slides and negatives by Seymour Rosen. Sources for this entry include Bill Billiter’s April 1979 article in ArtNews; CSRTW’s 1976 The Towers of Simon Rodia in Watts; N.J. (Bud) Goldstone and Arloa Paquin Goldstone’s 1997 The Los Angeles Watts Towers; Calvin Trillin’s 1965 article in The New Yorker; and Daniel Franklin Ward’s 1986 Simon Rodia and His Towers in Watts.
Map and site information
1765 E 107th St
Los Angeles, California, United States
Latitude/Longitude: 33.9386381 / -118.2414088
Visiting Information
The Watts Towers may be viewed from the street; tours are offered by the WTAC on Saturdays.
is a nonprofit public benefit organization created with an international focus on the study, documentation and archive of art environments and self-taught artistic activity.
Seymour Rosen
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