Simon Rodia (February 12th, 1879 – June 17th, 1965) was born in Ribottoli, Italy and is the artist behind what is known as Watts Towers. Rodia’s older brother immigrated to the United States in 1895 and settled in Pennsylvania where he worked in the coal mines. Rodia followed his brother a few years later. Little is known about his early life in the United States except that he moved to the west coast and found work in rock quarries and logging and railroad camps as a construction worker.
He lived in Pennsylvania, washington (Seattle), California (Oakland, San Francisco and Martinez), Texas (El Paso) and again in California (Long Beach). In 1921, after having lived in Long Beach since 1917, Rodia purchased the triangular-shaped lot at 1761-1765 107th Street in Los Angeles and began to construct his masterpiece, which he called “Nuestro Pueblo” (meaning “our town”). when he was asked why he made the towers, he answered “I wanted to do something big and I did it.”
External Links:
- His project Watts Towers’ website: http://www.wattstowers.us/simon_rodia.htm