History of the Towers

As Rodia worked through the 1920s, '30s, and '40s, Watts itself was changing. From an ethnically diverse area of small Anglo, Mexican, and African-American homes alternating with larger Japanese truck farms, the Anglos moved on, the Japanese were interned, and their farms were turned into a higher-density, more homogenous residential district. During World War II, rumors swept the neighborhood that the Towers were transmission stations used to send classified information to the enemy Japanese and, later, to pass secrets to the Communists. Rodia was becoming increasingly solitary, isolating himself from his neighbors, angry at the world and what he saw as its disintegrating values. Contemporaries reported that he stopped actually expanding his structures by the mid-1940s, spending the next decade finessing the site and repairing damage that was already starting to appear. Local children, gleaning from their parents that he was a crazy old man, tossed rocks and climbed over the walls to smoke and drink; treasure hunters unearthed sections and smashed the crockery, certain there was a fortune buried underneath; debris and trash accumulated. Finally, Rodia had had enough.

In 1954, Rodia packed up his few belongings, deeded his property to his neighbor, Louis H. Saucedo, and walked away, never to return. When asked what should be done with the Towers, he shrugged his shoulders, indicating that he didn't care. Saucedo soon sold the property for less than $1,000 to another neighbor, Joseph Montoya, who planned to open a Mexican fast-food stand. Rodia's cottage, located within the enclosing wall, burned to the ground in 1955 or 1956, likely a result of arson, and the area within continued to deteriorate.

In 1959, actor Nicholas King and film editor William Cartwright were visiting the site when, seeing its neglect, they proposed that Montoya sell it to them, offering a twenty dollar down payment and a total of $3,000. They hoped to preserve the Towers as the spectacular art environment that they were. Only later, when they applied for a permit to build a caretaker's cottage on the site, did they discover the reason Montoya had never achieved his objective and had been so eager to sell: on February 5, 1957, the City of Los Angeles had issued a demolition order, condemning the buildings as 'an unauthorized public hazard' and refusing to allow further development on the site until the Towers were removed.

Since Montoya had ignored the demolition order and had sold the property, the City prepared to flatten the Towers at taxpayers' expense. An international cry went out, led by King and Cartwright, Jim Elliott, curator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and other unaffiliated artists, architects, activists, and community members, who came together to form the Committee for Simon Rodia's Towers in Watts. The Committee took over the responsibility for the Towers, worked to pay off the debt, and began the task of proving that the Towers were structurally sound. Committee members leveraged technical experts to volunteer and testify. After much discussion at the demolition hearing, the City agreed to a lateral stress test, spearheaded by aerospace engineer N.J. 'Bud' Goldstone, at the Committee's expense. Cables were to be connected to the tallest tower, and stress applied in 1,000-pound increments, up to the top load of 10,000 pounds. If the tower could withstand this load for five minutes, the City would concede that the Towers were stable enough not to be demolished.

On October 10, 1959, the test was set up, with over 1000 supporters and detractors standing by. When the stress load finally reached the 10,000-pound level, the steel beam attaching the tower to the testing apparatus began to bend, but the tower remained standing, showing no signs of buckling or strain. The City rescinded the demolition order and granted an Occupancy Permit to the Committee.

Following some minor repairs, in 1960 the Towers were opened to the public for a fifty-cent entrance donation. The Watts Towers Art Center, an entirely new building earmarked for community cultural events, formally opened in 1970.

In the meantime, media attention led Rodia's relatives in Martinez, California, to contact the Los Angeles Times, informing them that Simon had been living near them ever since he had left Watts. Committee members made several trips up north to meet, interview, and photograph Simon Rodia, although he generally didn't want to talk about the Towers. Nevertheless, in 1961, they convinced him to attend two events honoring his work - at the San Francisco Museum of Art and the University of California, Berkeley - where he answered questions and received a standing ovation. On July 16, 1965, Simon Rodia died quietly in Martinez. The dramatic civil revolt that took place in Watts the very next month burned and leveled numerous blocks of neighboring South Central Los Angeles, but his Towers remained untouched.

In 1975, the Committee, which had preserved the Towers independently for 16 years, gave the Towers and Art Center to the City of Los Angeles for operation and maintenance. In 1978, the Towers were deeded to the State of California. Finally realizing the value of Simon's life's work, the State undertook an extensive restoration project. By 1985, the restoration project was again assumed by the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department.

The Towers were closed for restoration after the Northridge earthquake. Full height scaffolding was erected in late 1994 and repairs began on the three tallest towers in April 1995. Progress was slow because only a few workers at a time could work form the scaffold at any level. The Cultural Affairs Department repaired the sculptures using trained staff and expert consultants with worldwide principles of art conservation. Extensive inspections, documentation and labor were required so that each broken part and piece may be carefully preserved, repaired and reinstalled.

It was a time-consuming process. The decorated mortar covers were photographed and then carefully cut off in measured pieces around the damaged area. Damaged steel reinforcements were then cleaned, repaired or replaced if necessary. Newly formulated mortar made of a measured ratio of sand, cement and water was applied over the reinforcement. Then the original covering was carefully replaced over the new mortar using the photographs as a guide to guarantee that the replacement was accurate. More than 7 years after the earthquake, the Towers reopened to the public in September 2001.