5. Sabato “Simon” Rodia
The Watts Towers, Towers of Simon Rodia, or Nuestro Pueblo (“our town”), are within the Simon Rodia State Historic Park, in the Watts community of Los Angeles, Southern California. They are a collection of 17 interconnected sculptural structures, the tallest reaching a height of over 99 feet. The towers and walls were designed and built by Italian immigrant construction worker and tile mason Sabato (“Simon”) Rodia (1879-1965), over a period of 33 years, from 1921 to 1954. But these grand outsider works were frequently vandalised by his neighbours, and Rodia gave this as the reason why he moved to Martinez, where he remained until his death in 1965, having never returned to his masterpiece – I doubt he sent them a postcard.