Watts Up

Sabato "Simon" Rodia.  Image courtesy of Lucien den Arend (see link below).

He wanted to build something really big.  So Sabato "Simon" Rodia did.  The former construction worker used scraps and a few tools to build the structures that are known as the Watts Towers, one of the most famous landmarks in Los Angeles.

His background is sketchy, but he was born in Serino, Italy in 1875.  He came to the U.S. with his brother when he was 15.  His brother was killed in a mining accident, and Rodia moved to Seattle, then Oakland, Long Beach, and finally Watts in 1920, where he purchased an odd-shaped property.  He began his work on the towers in 1921, and finished in 1954.  The Watts Towers are a collection of 17 inter-connected structures and were built in his spare time; he worked construction jobs during the day.

All three images above courtesy of Lucien den Arend.

Rodia called it "Nuestro Pueblo" (Our Town), and built it without scaffolding, bolts, rivets, welds, or by a planned and written design.  His tools were a pipefitter's pliers and a window-washer's belt and buckle.  The structures are made of steel pipes and rods, wrapped with wire mesh and coated with mortar.  The main supports have pieces of glass, tile, and porcelain embedded in them, as well as found objects such as bottles and shells.  Some of the identifiable soda bottles still bear the logos.  The property is near some railroad tracks, which he used as a vise.

This is known as the "ship's wheel", and you can see the soda bottle labels.
Image courtesy of Victoriansecrets (see link below).

He worked without drawings, and designed the structures as he built them.  Some liken them to an ark, saying the tall towers form masts.  Certainly there are ship elements throughout.  Within there is also a gazebo with bird baths and a circular bench.

This resembles a prow.  Image courtesy of Victoriansecrets.

The "gazebo".  Image courtesy of Victoriansecrets.

Unfortunately, these were paranoid times, and Rodio did not get along well with his neighbors, so his place was frequently vandalized.  Rumors spread that he was building antennae for transmitting secrets to the commies or the Japanese (you pick 'em), and he finally gave up and moved.

Image courtesy of Lucien den Arend.

He gave the property to a neighbor.  It was then bought by a man who hoped to put a Mexican fast food restaurant on the lot.  It changed hands again, and the bungalow was torched, most likely by vandals.  The City of L.A. condemned it and ordered it razed.  An actor and an editor visited the site in 1959, saw how neglected it was, and purchased it for $3,000 with the goal of preserving it.  When the City found out, they planned to raze it before the property was transferred, but the Towers were already world-renowned and there was international opposition to their destruction.

Image courtesy of Lucien den Arend.

The Committee for Simon Rodia's Towers in Watts was formed, consisting of the two owners, the curator of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), and local architects and community activists.  The Committee negotiated to have the Towers tested for safety.  The crane used to attempt to topple or shift the Towers was unable to make them budge.

Image courtesy of Lucien den Arend.

The Towers were deeded to the City in 1975, and then deeded to the State in 1978.  It was designated as the Watts Towers of Simon Rodia State Historic Park, and is operated by the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department in a partnership with LACMA.

Image courtesy of Lucien den Arend.

The Towers suffered structural damage in 1994 from the Northridge earthquake. After repairs were made, it was reopened in 2001.  It was further damaged in a windstorm, and was reopened this year.  A lot of vandalism still occurs.  Earlier this year LACMA announced that a $500,000 grant was received from the James Irvine Foundation for preservation and to promote the site.

Image courtesy of Lucien den Arend.

The Watts Towers have been hailed as a prime example of American Naïve art. There are annual festivals held there which include the Simon Rodia Watts Towers Jazz Festival, and the Day of the Drum Festival.  For more information on events and visiting the site, check here.

He may have been deterred by fear and hate and chased away, but he will be immortalized always by the Beatles - and how many can claim that?  He is on the cover of the Sgt. Pepper's album, top row and second from the right (behind Bob Dylan), peering over the heads of Karl Marx and H.G. Wells.  Not bad for someone just following his artistic impulses.

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Unless otherwise noted, images courtesy of Wikipedia.

Website maintained by Lucien den Arend is here.

Website for Victoriansecrets is here.

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El Pueblo de la Reina de los Ángeles

Downtown Los Angeles with the San Gabriel Mountains.

This past Sunday was the 230th anniversary of the California city now simply known as Los Angeles, or L.A.  September 4, 1781 was the date recorded by Felipe de Neve, the Spanish governor of California, as the official date of the establishment of El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Ángeles, or the Town of our Lady the Queen of the Angels.

The Plaza, 1869.  The Plaza Church is on the left.

Popular belief states that the original name was "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora La Reina de Los Ángeles de Porciúncula" ("The Town of our Lady the Queen of the Angels of the Porciúncula" - Porciúncula meaning "little portion").  But scholars studying official documents of Governor de Neve, Commandant General la Croix, and Viceroy Bucareli, have confirmed it was the simpler name.

Statue of Felipe De Neve, the first governor
of California, in Los Angeles Plaza.

California was first claimed for Spain by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo in 1542, who sailed and explored the coast.  But attempts to establish colonies were not made for over two hundred years.  In 1769, Gaspar de Portolà explored what was known as Alta California by land.  With him were two Franciscan priests, Fray Junipero Serra and Fray Juan Crespí.  They established the first Spanish presidio (military garrison), the Presidio of San Diego, and the first mission, Mission San Diego de Alcalá.

Junipero Serra statue at the San Fernando Mission.
Every California child knows his name.

As they traveled further north, they found a river running south from the northwest.  Fray Crespí named it "El Rio de Nuestra Señora de los Angelese de Porciúncula", or "the River of Our Lady Queen of the Angels of Porciúncula".  The Porciúncula was the church in the little Italian town of Santa Maria degli Angeli (Saint Mary of the Angels), where St. Francis of Assisi lived.  Fray Crespí found a spot along the river that was suitable for a mission or pueblo.

The Porciúncula where the Franciscan movement
began.  It is in the Basilica of Santa Maria degli
Angeli about 2.5 miles from Assisi, Umbria, Italy.

Fray Serra, in 1771, had established the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel by the San Gabriel River.  Due to a flood, the mission had to be relocated.  Governor de Neve recommended to Viceroy Bucareli the new site, but in 1781 King Charles III ordered that a pueblo be built instead.  The king wanted secular pueblos to be centers of commerce and agriculture to supply the military presence.  Fray Serra and Fray Crespí, however, ignored him and developed ranching and trading centers of their missions, producing items that competed with those of the pueblos.

The Los Angeles River today,  looking north from the Union Station area.

1863 waterwheel on the Zanja Madre taking water to the brick reservoir in the
Plaza.  It was in use until the early 20th century.  Zanja Madre means "mother
ditch", and it was an open, earthen ditch dug by the community within a month
of the founding of the pueblo.  It was the original aqueduct bringing water
from the Los Angeles River.  This is not far from the above picture.

Governor de Neve had maps and a plan drawn for the new pueblo, the Reglamento para el gobierno de la Provincia de Californias, and this is recognized as possibly the first time a town had been planned before anyone got there.  Gathering people was more difficult.  He was unable to get families from Soñora, so he had to go to the Mexican state of Sinaloa.  There he found eleven families of mixed heritages. These 44 people left the San Gabriel Mission escorted by two padres and a military detachment, and went to the new site on September 4, 1781.

Page one of the Nuevo Reglamento (click link to see it all).
Courtesy of the William Clark Memorial Library/UCLA

The pueblo was granted a cabildo, or town council.  The first municipal officers were appointed by Governor de Neve, and then were elected by the people.  The first alcalde, or municipal magistrate, of record was José Vanegas.  Subsequent alcaldes reflected the mixed population of the pueblo.

The Plaza Church, circa 1890-1900.  Image courtesy this site.

The Plaza Church, La Iglesia Nuestra Señora Reina de los Angeles, today.

The primary purpose of creating a pueblo was to cement Spain's claim on the territory.  Russia was settling in the north, and Spain was worried about France and England.  It would also help keep the presidios supplied (they were supplied by ships).

The San Gabriel Mission circa 1900.  The trail in the foreground is
 the El Camino Real - the highway that linked the missions and pueblos.

In 1847, all of Alto California was surrendered to the United States, ending Mexican jurisdiction of the area they settled.  Since then it's been a battle for the descendants of these settlers, as the pressure for them to "return home" has been applied.  Yet every year the Los Pobladores 200, descendants of the original founders, march from the Mission San Gabriel to Olvera Street.  The "Historic Walk to Los Angeles" takes about three hours, and commemorates the nine mile journey made by their ancestors to make a new beginning.

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Unless otherwise noted, images courtesy of Wikipedia.

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