The Story of Rodia’s Watts Towers and the “real LA.”
In an effort to extend the “Cinematic Bridge” from the Harbor to Watts, LA Harbor International Film Festival or LAHIFF and Councilman Tim McOsker representing 15th Council District “One-Five” will present the acclaimed documentary feature film I Build The Tower July 30 in the Warner Grand Theatre in downtown San Pedro. The event is first come-first seated.
The film, first released in 2006, reveals the story of the Watts Towers creator, Italian immigrant Simon “Sam” Rodia (Feb. 12, 1879 – July 17, 1965) including rare interviews with him, renowned architect Buckminster Fuller, elected officials, and archival footage. Directors/producers Edward Landler and the late Brad Byer spent more than 20 years filming and had direct access to Rodia, who was Byer’s great uncle.
“When we learned the WGT would not close as expected [June 30] we immediately sought to program a film as a ‘last hurrah” and the excellent documentary I Build The Tower about extraordinary Watts Towers [LAHIFF presented POLA premiere in 2005] was the perfect choice for a new audience and those who know the movie to enjoy and appreciate in the grand setting of the WGT; and to also help build propinquity and reciprocity within the council district,” stated Stephanie Mardesich, LAHIFF festival director.
The idea was presented to McOsker, who was fully supportive.
“The ‘One-Five’ represents a rich and diverse cultural history that’s important to share within the district and the region. There’s an inherent relationship between the artistic sentiments of San Pedro and Watts, with Warner Grand Theatre in the ACE District and Watts Towers in the Cultural Crescent,” said McOsker. “The documentary film helps promote and highlight the cultural connection. I encourage everyone from the ‘One-Five’ to explore the incredible work of art in Watts and to reinforce a stronger relationship of mutual respect among neighbors and all Angelenos.”
Landler will participate in a Q&A after the screening with Watts Towers Art Center Campus or WTACC director Rosie Lee Hooks, education coordinator Rugelio Acevedo and McOsker.
The incomparable Watts Towers, located in South Central LA, is the world’s largest single artistic construction created by one individual, completed over 33 years of effort. Rodia’s vision and conception of Watts Towers at his home property was begun in 1921 and completed in 1954. They were designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1990. Rodia worked as a mason and a tile setter and the tools he used to build Watts Towers predate the industrial era. While he built the towers, Rodia also worked in the construction trade sun-up to sundown. Watts Towers are a collection of 17 sculptures, adorned with a mosaic of broken glass, shells, pottery and tiles. They eventually grew to three gigantic spires, two walls, several smaller towers, a gazebo and a patio.
Landler spoke to Random Lengths News ahead of the screening.
“I hope there is a real dialogue between the people of Watts and the Harbor Area,” said Landler. “I am grateful for the attention to the film. Rodia intended on saying something with the towers, which he originally named ‘Nuestra Pueblo’ or our town.”
Landler noted the towers stand for what America stands for, specifically, the freedom to have the individual initiative to choose for yourself to work in community, in solidarity with people that you love and respect.
“America is not a melting pot,” Landler said. “People come from all over. Look how beautiful [the towers are] all the broken pieces of tile fit together as a beautiful mosaic of all different colors and shapes — like all the different people here. Rodia was expressing the true value of America. The community related to it and saw that he was speaking for us. There is a real LA and an official LA. The story of Rodia and his towers is the story of the real LA. It deals with the rich and the poor and the relationship of art, Watts and society.”
Of the Watts Towers, Landler noted the late writer, political activist, urban theorist and historian Mike Davis (City Of Quartz, Set The Night On Fire) said, “Los Angeles is a city that has lacked an official symbol.
It’s lacked its Statue of Liberty, its Golden Gateway Arch over the Mississippi River.
It has been rather Rodia’s tower which ordinary people in the city have embraced as its most profound, most poignant symbol.”
WTACC is a vital entity in the community presenting many events throughout the year, including rotating exhibits, art classes and education programs. During the last weekend of September, the Annual Watts Towers Day of the Drum Festival and the Annual Simon Rodia Watts Towers Jazz Festival both happen, reflecting the region’s multiculturalism and drawing crowds from throughout Los Angeles and internationally. The Watts Towers has been proposed for consideration to become a prestigious United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization or UNESCO World Heritage Centre.
With the Warner Grand Theatre’s capacity of 1,500 seats, a great turn out for the screening is anticipated. Mardesich and CD15 have made a special effort to the Watts community with outreach, providing buses for audience convenience. And locally, to the participants of Harbor Interfaith Services, YWCA Harbor Area, Toberman Neighborhood Center and general public, the event provides an entertaining, cultural experience to view the movie on the big screen inside the majestic Warner Grand Theatre before it’s closed for up to two years.
Praise for the Towers: In 2010, Los Angeles County Museum of Art or LACMA partnered with the Department of Cultural Affairs to address the long-term preservation of the Watts Towers.
“This is perhaps one of the most important works of art produced in Los Angeles and one of the most important examples of vernacular architecture in America, and it’s certainly up there with Nek Chand Rock Garden in India, the Palais Idéal in France, and a few other very stellar examples of this kind of artistic experience …” — Brooke Davis Anderson, deputy director of Curatorial Planning LACMA, 2010.
I Build The Tower
Time: 3 to 6 p.m., July 30
Cost: Free
Details: Reservations, www.tinyurl.com/i-build-the-tower-documentary
Venue: Warner Grand Theatre, 478 W. 6th St., San Pedro