The Man Who Dreamed Big
Simon Rodia was an Italian immigrant and tile‑layer who arrived in Los Angeles in the early 20th century. In 1921, at age forty‑two, he bought a triangular lot in the Watts area of LA and told everyone he would build “something big.” It turned out he wasn’t kidding. Working alone with hand tools and salvaged materials, his ambition sparked an art project unlike anything the city has ever seen: the Watts Towers.
From Trash To Towers: Rodia’s Method
Rodia bent scrap rebar, wrapped it in wire mesh, packed it all in with mortar, embedded glass, tile, shells, pottery, and broken bottles. No scaffolding. No welding. Just ladders, cement, and his own mule-like stubbornness to keep building higher. His evolving towers proved that beauty could rise from people’s discarded fragments and the determination of a single creator.
Herald Examiner, Wikimedia Commons
A Dream Spanned Three Decades
From 1921 to 1954, Rodia worked on a daily basis, and often even at night, shaping seventeen towers, walls, sculptures, and mosaics. He built slowly but very surely, driven more by instinct than any clear concept laid out on a blueprint. By 1954, after thirty‑three years of uninterrupted effort, his towering creation loomed over the skyline of the Watts neighborhood.
Unibond, Wikimedia Commons
“Nuestro Pueblo” — His Name For The Creation
Rodia gave his complex the name “Nuestro Pueblo” (Our Town), a gesture toward the community rather than his own ego. Although he’d built it alone, the name signaled an inclusive spirit toward the people around him. His towers were meant to be shared. It was an imaginative public gesture from a man who rarely spoke but built with deep conviction…