Inside the Gate at Watts Towers, One Man's 33-Year Town
Climb inside Simon Rodia's handmade towers on a 30-minute tour, then walk the campus galleries next door.
🧱 Thirty-Three Years of Broken Tile
Simon Rodia reached Watts in 1921. He wired steel rods, wrapped the joints in wire mesh, packed them by hand with mortar, then pressed in broken tile, green glass and river rock. Seventeen structures rose across 33 years, the tallest close to 100 feet. He called the piece Nuestro Pueblo, our town, and stopped in 1954.
A guide is the only way through the gate. Tours run Thursday to Saturday at 11:00 AM, 11:30 AM, 12:00 PM, 2:00 PM, 2:30 PM and 3:00 PM, twenty people per slot. Pay at the front desk, cash or check only. Adults pay 12 dollars, visitors 62 and over and college students with a student ID pay 6 dollars, and anyone 17 or under enters free.
Park free at 10624 Graham Ave, and skip rainy days or federal holidays. The campus galleries hold work by local artists, which is the point of a site a neighborhood kept alive.
