JONATHAN ALCORN


Neighborhood residents have been helping to plan a new park for the underutilized space surrounding the iconic Watts Towers. Below: Italian immigrant artist Simon Rodia, who built the towers between 1921 and 1954.


She is at exactly the right event to be making a wish


list. The purpose of this community cookout, sponsored by the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks and coordinated by The Trust for Public Land, is to encour- age local residents to brainstorm plans for a vacant parcel adjacent to the Watts Towers—the site of a future park. The cluster of towers, the tallest reaching nearly 100 feet, is a National Historic Landmark—“one of the most revered and symbolic public artworks on the West Coast, if not the nation,” according to the Los Angeles Times. The landmark towers cry out for a worthy setting, but for now the future park space consists of a flat concrete plaza and some struggling trees and grass. Nearby are a pair of community art centers that offer instruction in dance, music, and visual arts. If Rodia were alive today, he’d likely be astonished


BETTMANN/CORBIS 38 LAND&PEOPLE Fall/Winter 2012


by the attention. In 1921 he bought a bungalow on a tri- angular lot in the heart of Watts—then, as now, a poor community. A tile setter by day, Rodia spent his free time building the towers in his backyard, because, he said, “I


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