It took Italian immigrant Simon “Sam” Rodia more than 25 years to build the Watts Towers, starting work on the massive, one-of-a-kind structure in 1921.
The city later protested.
Rodia had no permits to build the structure on the vacant residential lot he owned at 1765 E. 107th St.
But the towers could not be easily taken down or moved. And so Rodia’s vision and landmark in South Central Los Angeles remained and was, over the years, warmly embraced — drawing thousands of visitors each year to see the creation.
Rodia’s story will be told with a showing of the 2006 documentary “I Built the Tower” at 3 p.m. Sunday, July 30, at the Warner Grand Theatre, 478 W. Sixth St., in San Pedro. Admission is free but reservations are requested through eventbrite.com. It is being presented in commemoration of the towers’ 100th anniversary by the Los Angeles Harbor International Film Festival.
Stephanie Mardesich, founder and director of the film festival, said members of the Watts community are expected to attend, as will representatives of the Harbor Interfaith Services, YWCA Harbor Area and Toberman Neighborhood Center.
The film, made by Edward Landler and Brad Byer (Rodia’s great-nephew, who is now dead), includes audio interviews of Rodia from the early 1960s.
Archival footage and interviews include scenes of Naples and the southern Italian region of Campania, where Rodia was born, and of the San Francisco Bay Area, where the immigrant lived before coming to Los Angeles. He’d also lived in Long Beach before moving to Watts.
Lander will be on hand for the screening to participate in a question-and-answer session following the film. Los Angeles Councilmember Tim McOsker, will also participate in the Q&A. McOsker is co-presenting the event as part of his goal to better connect the five disparate communities that make up the 15th District that he represents — Watts, Harbor Gateway, Harbor City, Wilmington and San Pedro.
“The documentary film helps promote and highlight” the artistic connections with San Pedro, its Arts and Cultural District, and Watts, which is home to the towers and is now surrounded by an arts center as well, McOsker said in a written comment.
Other Q&A participants will be Watts Towers Art Center Campus Director Rosie Lee Hooks and Education Coordinator Rogelio Acevedo.
The event, promotional materials said, is billed as a “cinematic bridge” from the Harbor Area to Watts.
The story of Rodia has long fascinated those who have admired the towers, formally named Nuestro Pueblo.
Rodia was determined to build “something big,” so he labored for decades without helpers or scaffolding — he climbed the structure as he was building it — to create the spires now viewed as an artistic and engineering marvel.
The Watts Towers Art Center described the structure as “a collection of 17 interconnected sculptural towers, architectural structures, and individual sculptural features and mosaics within the site of the artist’s original residential property in Watts, Los Angeles.”
The artist worked with what he could find and use — steel rebar, wire, concrete, salvaged pieces of colorful pottery, seashells and pieces of old bottles.
Rodia worked on the project in the evenings and on weekends, after his day jobs, until finishing it in 1948. He lived in a bungalow on the property.
After having a stroke, he gifted the property to his neighbors before retiring to Martinez, in Contra Costa County, where his sister lived. He died in 1965.
But the remarkable free-hand monument he created — which is now famous throughout the world and became a National Historic Landmark in 1990 — remains, standing nearly 100 feet tall.
