One of Los Angeles’ most significant cultural landmarks, Simon Rodia’s monumental Watts Towers sculpture, finally re-opened last month after a five-year multimillion-dollar restoration effort spearheaded by LACMA.

The project was overseen by the museum’s Senior Conservation Scientist Dr. Frank Preusser, Art Conservator Elisabetta Covizzi, and other staffers whose focus fell mainly on repairing the aging concrete and makeshift armature of the 100-year-old towers in addition to cleaning, stabilizing, and reattaching its many thousands of vulnerable ornamental elements. 

The complex had been standing largely unaltered since a previous late-90s restoration aimed at seismic upgrades was completed in 2001. A decade later, LACMA began organizing a City Hall-backed effort that identified critical areas of need with help from the engineering department at UCLA. A challenging conservation process followed, and the result is now the regained ability for Angelenos to connect with and be inspired by an exemplary piece of visionary art formed by an immigrant stonecutter’s determination to leave behind proof of his solitary existence.

L.A. as a city has been finding newer and more creative ways to make use of its most treasured cultural touchstones since the pandemic began. This summer’s wild bacchanals on Michael Maltzan's completed Sixth Street Viaduct furnished proof that civic engagement with art and architecture is vital, unpredictable, and in tune with the deeper need to engage with and enshrine the valuable contributions of community members past.  

“It’s so important for the people in Watts. For them it’s everything and let me tell you, those towers are still there because they were built in Watts,” Covizzi told LA Taco in a 2021 preview. “If they were built in any other neighborhood, they would’ve demolished them. My biggest drive in this job is that I want future generations to enjoy every piece of art there is [...] If we keep doing this, I feel like people can be inspired just by looking at the Watts Towers and looking at what Rodia left behind.”

“For me that’s beautiful,” she said succinctly, speaking of the Nuestro Pueblo. “What your eyes see is very important.”

More information about visiting Watts Towers can be found here.