Watts Towers / Nuestro Pueblo (Part 1)

At a height of 99.5 feet, the Watts Towers are a striking example of 20th century American folk art sculpture and mosaic. They are one of the most prominent landmarks in the United States, and with the site's other structures, sculptures and mosaics they have served as a beacon of cultural arts and activism in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles for more than half a century. 

Rodia's driving concept for the 17 metal and concrete towers was to symbolize a masted ship, pointing east toward his homeland of Italy.  Higher and more complex towers-as-masts followed his first at the forefront, the "ship's bow."   A "sail" spans two towers, and a "ship's wheel" is built into a tower framework.

Rodia's work is famous for the decorative use of "found objects" applied to the mortar-covered towers, spires, archways, gazebo, and numerous features and panels.  Fragments of ceramic, pottery, glass, sea shells and rocks are common. Much of the ceramic and pottery material came from damaged ware discarded by nearby factories where he occasionally worked.  Unfortunately, many unique pieces that originally topped the spires, such as tea pots and bowls, are gone.  His street-side mosaic panels, however, are largely intact.

Rodia had no formal engineering training, yet he achieved structurally stable towers based on his own ideas and experience.  Beginning with a 14-inch mortar/concrete foundation, he built conical columns of structural steel rebar wrapped in wire mesh and covered with a unique mortar or concrete.  Public safety concerns about the towers' structural stability eventually arose, and the City of Los Angeles required proof of structural stability to avoid having the towers razed.  

Just as Rodia's Towers are lauded as architectural and engineering marvels, so has the Nuestro Pueblo place itself, on the ground, both astonished and charmed the world.   Part 2 of WATTS TOWERS / NUESTRO PUEBLO presents "Nuestro Pueblo" as the social place Rodia intended it to be, full of sculptural and decorative beauty and whimsy.