So, 11 years ago when I first saw the Watts Towers all lit up in da club in that video, I didn't really have a clue what they were. Seeing as they are in a city called "Watts," I kind of just assumed that they were unnecessarily fancy power lines or something of the sort (Watts, wattage, get it?). It wasn't until many years later when I first moved to LA and was reading up on LA's ghetto's histories (it's really fascinating stuff) that I learned the Watts Towers are actually an art installation. Huh. Who knew.
The more I read about them, the more intrigued I was to see them in person. They are, however, in Watts, which as any self-respecting hip hop fan could tell you, is in the heart of the South Central ghetto. And I'm not talking ghetto like "omg this place is soooo ghetto, it only serves Coors Light." I'm talking ghetto like "that building over there is a home-base for the Crips, which might explain the bullet holes all over its walls." Certainly not a place I would want to find myself after sundown, if you know what I mean.
My friend Kaio and I have been wanting to go to Watts for years (for the towers and also to try the legendarily amazing soul food at the Watts Coffee House) but every time we were about to go, we chickened out. It really takes a lot to ignore the South Central reputation. Many older LA locals refuse to go anywhere near Watts or South Central in general, because they still remember the Watts Riots of 1965, not to mention the "Rodney King Riots" of 1992 and all the crimes in-between glorified by hip hop artists since the '80s. But after reading probably about 100 yelp reviews, many of which say "get your white ass down here, you'll be fine" we finally built up the cajones to just go. And I must say, I am SO glad we did.
As we got off the freeway at Wilmington, it was very obvious that we weren't in "Kansas" anymore... or really anywhere slightly resembling our usual LA haunts. There were lots of people walking around and all of the buildings looked very, very shabby, but no one bothered us or even paid attention. We had a little bit of trouble finding the Coffee House, since it is literally in a building inside another building, and the exterior building is some sort of youth outreach organization. Luckily we saw the little sign in the window and made our way through. The place was tiny, with probably only about 10 tables, and only 2 were filled. One table had a well-dressed black guy and his mom ("When you say well-dressed, do you mean he was wearing a sweet FUBU track suit?" - my racist boyfriend) and the other table had a bunch of white college kids. I'm not gonna lie, I was a little upset that it had taken me so long to work the nerve up to go here, since it was completely harmless.
Our waitress, though, was the real deal. Low-cut shirt with cleavage up to her chin, a permanent scowl on her face and popping gum, she took our order even though I'm sure she had better things to do. We ordered chicken, waffles, biscuits, eggs, and I ordered a Diet Coke. Was told there was only regular coke, which I said was fine, but then the waitress brought me a Sprite, with a look on her face like "I dare you to complain about this Sprite"... so I drank the Sprite. The fried chicken wings were AMAZING. Like, a thousand times better than Roscoes. They were obviously freshly cooked, and to perfection. I was sad when the meal was over.
.JPG) | ||
| Mmm... fried chicken. |
.JPG)
After we worked up the energy to move, we quickly drove over to the Towers, which are less than a mile from the coffee house. Anywhere else in LA, we would have walked. But I didn't want to push our luck, since things were going well so far. I also had to talk Kaio out of taking the "scenic" route, which would have taken us right through one of the most (in)famous projects in Watts, Jordan Downs.
The thing about the Watts Towers, is that even though they are technically a state park, they are in the middle of a very unassuming neighborhood. Describing the Watts Towers, or looking at pictures, doesn't really do them much justice. They really are a sight to see in person. Anyone can drive around the neighborhood where the towers are, and you can get pretty close to them if you get out of your car. However, there is a (see-through) fence around the perimeter, and you can only go inside by paying $7 to take a tour (you can purchase your tour tickets from the visitor/art center which is right next to the towers). The tour was extremely informative, and it was obvious that our guide had personal pride in these symbols of his hometown.
 |
| View from the street |
The story of the towers is truly fascinating. As I learned from our guide, as well as the 12-minute video they showed us in the visitors center, Simon Rodia was an Italian immigrant, who found himself in Southern California in the 1920s working construction. He was a very small man (4'10"), and like many small men, he was determined to do something "big" with his life. He began building the structures in his backyard, using only simple tools like hammers, pliers, mallets and nails. He used scrap steel from the railroad for the rebar base of the structures, then wrapped chicken wire around the metal, and covered the wire in a cement sand mixture. He then covered the cement with "garbage," mostly pieces of broken pottery or ceramics, soda bottles, and more scrap metal. Over 32 years, he spent every moment of his free time building a total of nine towers, with the tallest standing at 99 feet. In order to get to the tops, he would just climb up, and use a basic window-washers belt to keep himself from falling.
As the story goes, Rodia was working on the towers one day in 1954 when he fell, and he says the fall was so bad that he knew that was his cue to stop. He was in his 70s at the time, and was content with just stopping where he was. It wasn't long though, that neighbors started hassling him, and defacing his masterpiece. Throughout his time building, everyone had accused him of being crazy, of building the towers to communicate with the Japanese, or aliens, or that he was building a weapon. One day, he had had enough, and just left. He sold his property to a neighbor for $1, and moved to Northern California to never come back again.
Over the years, the city wanted to tear the towers down, convinced that they were unsafe and a hazard to people around them, especially during an earthquake. A few local advocates, who wanted to preserve the towers (as they had very quickly become a local landmark) asked the city to do a stress-test before tearing them down. The city sent out a crane to exert 10,000 lbs of force and the crane broke before any of the towers moved an inch! The engineer hired to do the test said that it could cost the city more money to take them down than they would ever get out of the worth of the land, so the towers were allowed to stay. Soon after, a trust was set up and the towers and the lot they stand on became a state park, and is currently curated by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Every single surface of these 9 towers, as well as archways and other fountains he built, are covered in colorful mosaics. The intricate criss-crossing of the lines shows that he had a vision from the very beginning, and that at the end everything would come together. I was truly amazed at the scope and vision of this artist. He really did turn trash into treasure - a treasure that is really valued by locals as a sign of perseverance, hope, and success.
(Trivia Bonus! Simon Rodia is included in the big group picture on the cover of the Beatles album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band!)
 |
| Entry archway mosaic made from Sprite and Ginger Ale bottles. |
 |
| Fountain with tallest tower behind it |
 |
| Fountain mosaic detail |
 |
| What looks like a bunch of random pieces from far away, are all symmetric and make sense up close |
 |
| Rodia actually named his installation "Nuestra Pueblo" which means "Our Town." |
 | |
| These connected towers are supposed to represent the sail of a ship, based on a parade float Rodia saw in his childhood in Italy. |
 |
| 1930's Canada Dry ginger ale bottles - Canada Dry was Rodia's favorite drink so he featured these bottles prominently throughout the towers. |
 |
| Rodia signed his work with a simple "S.R." and imprints of the tools he used |
 |  | ||
| Me and Kaio in front of one of many archways |
.JPG) |
| We saw THIS GUY on our way out of town. It may be prejudicial, but we both felt like our South Central experience was a bit more authentic since we saw a bad ass pimp in a bright-green lo-lo. |
