Photograph by Carol M. Highsmith, Public domain. Via
Wikimedia Commons.
Watts Towers of Simon Rodia
A National Historic Landmark. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. 19 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1896.
From the record
“The Watts Towers, Towers of Simon Rodia, or Nuestro Pueblo 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, California, United States. The entire site of towers, structures, sculptures, pavement, and walls were designed and built solely by Sabato Rodia, an Italian immigrant construction worker and tile mason, over a period of 33 years from 1921 to 1954.”
Wikipedia article Watts Towers, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 616 National Register listings published here for Los Angeles County · listed in 1977 · category: Structure · a National Historic Landmark.
National Register reference number.77000297- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Then and now
1896 to 1901
The ground this property stands on, surveyed
5 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are
United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.
18961901
Fires near this property
465 since 2005
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 465 fires within 5 miles of Watts Towers of Simon Rodia
between 2005 and 2020, burning about 2,200 acres in total. None started naturally. 37 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.
Reported cause
Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
332
Smoking
50
Arson/incendiarism
37
Misuse of fire by a minor
20
Equipment and vehicle use
16
Debris and open burning
9
Power generation/transmission/distribution
1
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Date
Cause
Size
Reported by
Name on the report
9 September 2008
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
1.0 acres
California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection
not named
8 September 2019
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
under an acre
Los Angeles County Fire Department
not named
8 September 2016
Arson/incendiarism
under an acre
California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection
not named
8 September 2008
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
under an acre
California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection
not named
8 September 2007
Equipment and vehicle use
under an acre
California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection
not named
7 September 2011
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
1.0 acres
Los Angeles County Fire Department
not named
6 September 2011
Smoking
under an acre
Los Angeles County Fire Department
not named
6 September 2007
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
under an acre
California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
2 workings within 5 miles of Watts Towers of Simon Rodia: 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.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Los Angeles, the town this property stands in, in 8 storm reports between 2000 and 2026: 3 flood, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 high wind, 1 tornado.
The reports record 2 injuries. 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.
A weak tornado developed in the community of Montebello. The EF1 tornado impacted the area around the intersection of Washington Boulevard and Maple Avenue. There was substantial damage to the industrial warehouse and commercial business district, including nearly total roof collapse in one building and a total of 17 damaged structures. Numerous vehicles were damaged due to flying debris.
United States Geological Survey topographic
sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the middle of the area the National Park Service maps for this listing, then
testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
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.
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