L.A. STORIES : A Towering Presence in the Neighborhood

When Felix Madrigal came to inspect the house he planned to buy in Watts 14 years ago, he found himself impressed less by the new home than by what loomed across the street.

Plastered with seashells and shards of green 7-Up bottles, the structures soared nearly 100 feet on spidery legs. “I was shocked to find I had lived in Los Angeles for 20 years and had never heard of the towers,” he says.

His daughter Noemi, now 22, recalls the day her parents told her that she wouldn’t believe what was standing in front of their new house on 107th Street. She remembers piling out of the car with her brother and sister and rushing over to investigate the dreamlike Watts Towers built more than three decades ago by Simon Rodia, a reclusive Italian immigrant.

Rodia had finished his project in 1948 and six years later deeded the towers to a neighbor before leaving Los Angeles. A nearby plaque states his appraisal of his efforts: “I had in mind to do something big and I did it.”

And, says Noemi Madrigal, “It was just there for us to touch.”

Now the structures tower over 107th Street with their fanciful decoration covered by scaffolding. Repairs of damage from weather and earthquakes is expected to take at least three years.

When the Madrigals moved in, Noemi didn’t realize that her family had moved next to more than a personal playground. They had chanced upon a window to the world.

The magic of the towers drew curious visitors from abroad--Germany, Italy, China, Japan, India, Malaysia. And under the towers’ shadow, people seemed to forget their differences.

Noemi Madrigal says her family was among the first Latinos on a street whose residents were mostly African American. Yet, one by one, the neighbors came offering gifts of food. “It was like, wow. They like us here.”

As she grew up, best of all was the arts center across the street. It was Noemi Madrigal’s little paradise when racial tension at Washington High School rose with the influx of Latinos in the ‘80s.

There, she learned arts from calligraphy to quilt-making to playing the kalimba. She met artists and musicians. Living next to the towers, Noemi Madrigal says, “opened our eyes to a lot of things. The visits, the festivals, the people we encountered, have all made us open-minded.”

The then-teen-ager was thrilled when the director of the arts center, John Outterbridge, hired her and her older sister to work weekends. “First we moved into this place, and everyone was nice,” she says. “Next we were earning a paycheck from it.”

The towers stopped Outterbridge in his tracks when he first saw them in 1963. An artist who had recently moved from Chicago, he was on a shopping trip when he happened to drive down 107th Street. He was captivated by Rodia’s vision, and thrilled to discover the Watts Towers Arts Center, a nexus for artists.

He says the creative spirit that lingers among the spindly struts of the towers has helped inspire a generation of artists. “Rodia possessed the kind of insanity that we need,” he says. “It’s all about the essence of creativity that can get anything done.”

In 1976, when the director of the center retired, Outterbridge got the job. His energy and the draw of the towers helped push along a cultural renaissance in Watts. With the help of Los Angeles’ music community, he established the annual Watts Towers Jazz Festival and the Watts Day of the Drum, which have drawn thousands of people to the block-long triangle of land occupied by the towers and the arts center. (This year’s jazz and drum festivals will be held the last weekend in September.)

“It was the place to hang out,” says Outterbridge, who retired three years ago to spend more time in his studio.

Those familiar with the center remember Outterbridge as a hands-on director who would arrive at 6 a.m. to pick up trash and look after broken street lights before spending a day on the phone with foreign dignitaries.

After Outterbridge left the directorship, a city hiring freeze resulted in a succession of temporary directors until Mark Greenfield was hired last year. The mixed-media artist says he knows he has big shoes to fill. “People are in a wait-and-see mode,” he says.

Outterbridge fears that without constant effort, the image of Watts will continue to suffer. “The positive aspects of that part of L.A. have never been elevated the way they should,” he says.

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Blighted by negative stereotypes, the name “Watts” has been enough to discourage many would-be pilgrims to the towers. Noemi Madrigal, who still works at the arts center, admits to fighting the urge to hang up on the many callers to the center who inquire about the area’s safety.

The towers are monitored around the clock by security guards. The night watchman, who identifies himself as Mr. Cardenas, says he likes to keep a low profile and stay on friendly terms with the youths in the area.

He points across the wasteland of railroad tracks and dirt to Santa Ana Boulevard, where he often sees gun fights. Two weeks ago, a couple of cars zipped down the boulevard, with the one in back blasting away.

“Rat tat tat,” he says. “That’s not my job.” Two years ago a guard at the towers was shot to death while on duty.

But that was two years ago. On a recent day, even though only a few young people can be seen chasing each other up and down the street, Noemi Madrigal says the 45 neighborhood children “just creep out of places” for the classes and events at the center.

One night Banda music blares from a balloon-festooned house in the shadow of the towers. It’s a birthday party.

On another evening, Uless Simon, 69, is out for a stroll, watching his grandson play with a friend in front of the arts center.

“I love this part of the city,” he declares, an irrepressible smile breaking across his face. “It’s glorious.”

* Tours of Watts Towers are scheduled to resume on Jan. 7, after the scaffolding is secured. A series of events commemorating the 25th anniversary of the arts center, at 1727 E. 107th St., is scheduled to begin March 12. For information call (213) 485-1795.