Watts Towers of Simon Rodia

Sabato Rodia was a tile setter who worked evenings and weekends on a triangular lot by the railroad for thirty-three years, from 1921 to 1954, using no scaffolding, no bolts, no rivets and no welds. He called it Nuestro Pueblo. The tallest spire stands ninety-nine and a half feet. Then he signed the property over and left. The city condemned the towers, and on October 10, 1959 a crane pulled sideways on one with ten thousand pounds of force before a crowd. The testing rig bent first. No landmark plaque stands here, only a road sign.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Domínguez Rancho Adobe — 5.1 mi
  The first Spanish land grant in California contained the whole harbor, and in 1846 fifty Californio lancers turned back three hundred Marines on it.
• Chavez Ravine — 9.3 mi
  Three Mexican American neighborhoods cleared for public housing that was never built, then traded to a ballclub.
• The Banning Museum — 10 mi
  The man who made a harbor out of an open bay: freight, dredging, the first railroad in Southern California, and a cupola for watching ships.
• Bruce's Beach — 10 mi
  Willa and Charles Bruce ran a seaside resort here for Black families until the city took the land in 1924. It came back in 2022.

More markers nearby

• Heritage House — 3.3 mi
• La Mesa Battlefield — 4.6 mi
• Domínguez Ranchhouse — 5.1 mi
• Site of the Initial United States Air Meet — 5.3 mi