The Watts Towers, located in south-central Los Angeles, are the monumental work of one man: Simon Rodia. Born in Ribottoli, Italy c. 1879, Rodia immigrated to the U.S. when he was about fifteen. In 1921, he purchased a triangular-shaped lot at the end of a dead-end L.A. street and over the next thirty years he worked single-handedly--without machine equipment, scaffolding, bolts, rivets, welds, or drawing-board designs--to build the nine sculptures that constitute the Watts Towers. This book recounts the story of Rodia and his creation, as well as the considerable history of the Watts...
The Watts Towers, located in south-central Los Angeles, are the monumental work of one man: Simon Rodia. Born in Ribottoli, Italy c. 1879, Rodia immig...