Visited the Watts Towers in La today.

[AndyS]

Not able to get a guided tour so had to shoot over/through the security fence. There's a long story behind this 60+ year old art installation so a google search might be in order.



It could use some post because a I shoot everything kinda' flat in-camera but I'm 1400 miles away from my photo editing desk top, so forgive me . . . straight out of the camera.

[elleng]

1. Thanks, learned about them in high school, but never got there.

The Watts Towers, Towers of Simon Rodia, or Nuestro Pueblo ("our town" in Spanish) are a collection of 17 interconnected sculptural towers, architectural structures, and individual sculptural features and mosaics within the site of the artist's original residential property in Watts, Los Angeles. The entire site of towers, structures, sculptures, pavement and walls were designed and built solely by Sabato ("Simon&quot Rodia (1879–1965), an Italian immigrant construction worker and tile mason, over a period of 33 years from 1921 to 1954. The tallest of the towers is 99.5 feet (30.3 m).[5] The work is an example of outsider art (or Art Brut)[6] and Italian-American naïve art.[4][7]

The Watts Towers were designated a National Historic Landmark and a California Historical Landmark in 1990.[4][1] They are also a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, and one of nine folk art sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles. The Watts Towers of Simon Rodia State Historic Park encompasses the Watts Towers site.

The Watts Towers are one-half mile (0.8 km) from the 103rd Street/Watts Towers station of the Los Angeles Metro A Line.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watts_Towers

[AndyS]

2. Thanks Ellen.

That was a wonderful synopsis of the history. At one time it sold for as little as $20 and was under a city demolition order. What a long strange trip it's had . . .

[George McGovern]

3. Great shot AndyS even straight out of the camera!

[ShazamIam]

4. I have always want to visit the towers, I'm not religious, but I find they have a powerful spiritual

message, then I saw photos of, Antoni Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia Catherderal in Spain, and while I don't often find buildings spiritual, looking at photos of it affects me in a similar manner.

https://gizmodo.com/the-most-ambitious-cathedral-in-human-history-might-fin-5989955

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. This is a very effective shot, Andy! You have the eye, for sure. n/t

[Grumpy Old Guy]

6. That's great!

I haven't been there in forty years.

[AndyS]

7. Thanks Grumpy.

Not bad for a $99 7mm fisheye.

I'd like a 7-14 but can't justify $1200 for a lens I'll use a few times a year. Might buy one of the slr 7-14s for $500. Already have the adapter somewhere in the pile of miscellaneous stuff.

[mopinko]

8. it's very moving.

i saw it about 10 yrs ago. i was in l.a. for adobemax, and got a car and drove around. like i do.

i didnt get inside the fence either, but i was humbled.
got a real soft spot for a phoenix story. just the scale of it.
inspiring.