Watts, California

The same ground, surveyed 85 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

1896 1981

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register within a mile 3 records

The National Register names another town for these. They stand within one mile of this settlement's coordinate.

• Watts Towers of Simon RodiaNational Historic Landmark · listed 1977 · 0.2 miles away
• Watts Stationlisted 1974 · 0.2 miles away
• Watts Happening Cultural Centerlisted 2023 · 0.3 miles away

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

• 1896 USGS Downey quadrangle1:62500
• 1899 USGS Downey quadrangle1:62500
• 1901 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 1 quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
• 1902 USGS Downey quadrangle1:62500, 9 printings
• 1904 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 1 quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
• 1923 USGS Watts quadrangle1:24000
• 1924 USGS Watts quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
• 1937 USGS Watts quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
• 1942 USGS Downey quadrangle1:62500
• 1943 USGS Downey quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
• 1943 USGS San Pedro quadrangle1:125000
• 1949 USGS Long Beach quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
• 1949 USGS South Gate quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
• 1952 USGS South gate quadrangle1:24000
• 1957 USGS Long Beach quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
• 1958 USGS Long Beach quadrangle1:250000
• 1960 USGS Long Beach quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
• 1964 USGS South Gate quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
• 1981 USGS Long Beach quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 461 fires within 5 miles of Watts between 2005 and 2020, burning about 2,200 acres in total. None started naturally. 36 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

• Hacienda Village
• Nickerson Gardens
• Imperial Courts
• Willow Brook
• Willowbrook
• Avalon Gardens

Every fire recorded in Los Angeles County

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Watts: 2 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Clay. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Every working recorded in Los Angeles County

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Watts in 2 storm reports in 2003: 2 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

Every storm recorded in Los Angeles County

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1661656. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.