Things to do in Los Angeles - Watts Towers

The two over 99 feet (30 m) high Watts Towers well reflects the words of its designer Simon Rodia who once said “I had in mind to do something big and I did it”.  The whole structure area consists of seventeen interconnected creations made of bed frames, scrap metal, wire mesh, glass,  plenty of seashells and different pipes. The cretivity of its designer seem to have exedeed regular limitations and the whole place can be percieved as a good source of inspiration for any artist. Rodia built them with no special equipment or predetermined design, working alone with hand tools and window-washer’s equipment. They all were built from 1921 to 1954, over a period of 33 years. This impressive structures are a good example of non-traditional vernacular architecture and American Naïve art. After the place changed its owners, it was ordered to be razed by the Los Angeles council. Only because it had managed to gain popularity from the outside world it was decided that the place should be preserved.  In 1965 and 1992 the place witnessed violent riots, thus althought it holds unquestionable cultural value, it sholud be approached with caution, particularly after dark.