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 The Bathtub/Baptismal Font of Watts Tower (Built sometime between 1921 and 1954)
Simon Rodia
 Watts Towers
 Hawaii Ian at Watts |
Simon Rodia's Watt's Towers:
Bathtub or Baptismal Font?
In March 2004, I visited the famous "Watts Towers" built by Simon Rodia from 1921 to 1954 in South Los Angeles. This unique "outsider art" structure & masterpiece is well worth a visit. While the tour was a short 20 minutes, with only 3 minutes to look around unguided, our tourguide had so much enthusiasm as she told the story of the Watts Towers, we all were in awe. Of course my favorite part of the tour was the Watt's Bathtub/Baptismal Font. But first a little history on the Watts Towers.
History of Watts Towers Simon Rodia (aka Simon Rodilla, Don Simon) was born in 1879 in Italy. He immigrated to the United States, eventually settling in California. In 1921, he purchased a triangular shape lot in the Watts Neighborhood in South LA. He built a house on one side, but then he began building what is now known as the Watts Towers on the adjacent land next to his house. For 33 years Simon Rodia --single handed -- constructed 17 interconnected structures including two towers (one just shy of a 100 feet), "the ship", a gazebo with seats, bird baths, and a bathtub/baptismal font built into the wall. All the structures, he built out of homemade concrete, steel, and reinforced wire. He then decorated the structures with a variety of found objects including 7-up bottles, broken dishes, sea shells, as well as stamped designs made from faucet handles and other finds. The towers were built without any known plans, without any scaffolding and only simple tools. At the age of 75 (1955) Simon Rodia decided he was done, moved away, and deeded the towers to his neighbor, who, as the story goes, planned to turn the place into a fast food joint -- Tower Tacos! In 1956, the house next to the towers, burned down, and the Department of Building and Safety ordered the towers to be demolished. A group of neighbors and artists formed a group to "Save the Towers" by collecting signatures and funds for an engineering test in 1959 to prove the towers were safe. Today the Towers are a National Historic Landmark, State of California Historic Park, and Historic-Cultural Monument (No. 15). The Towers have lived through many earthquakes, a nearby fire, and the Watt's Riots of 1965. To continue the Arts in the Watts neighborhood, there is currently an art center, education program, and jazz festival. Watts Bathtub/Baptismal Font
And to answer the question , Is it a Bathtub or Baptismal Font. I would say both. It is just an educated guess that the bathtub structure was mainly used for baptisms, but since no one really knows much about Simon Rodia's life at Watts Tower, we shall never know how else he used the bathtub-like structure. To learn more about Watt's Towers, try these web links:
Watt's Towers/Art Center (Offical Site) |
During my tour of the Watts Towers, the guide paused at a bathtub-like structure, built out of the back/north wall. The guide said that most people think it is just a bathtub, but in fact, Simon Rodia was an ordained evangelical minister, and it is believed that the bathtub is a baptismal font that Simon used in baptisms. There is no drainage system, so water would have be poured in. The tub is a little deeper than a regular bathtub. Some of the designs on the outside are of cowboy boots, a couple are lifesize, and may have been made from a mold from a real boot. Some people say the symbolism is Simon Rodia's joking way of giving people the "Boot into Heaven."