Rodia's immigrated from Italy to PA. He moved to the West Coast and worked in rock quarries and later as a construction worker. In 1921, he bought a triangular lot in Watts and 2 years later started building the towers in the backyard.

He worked as a construction worker by day and built at night. There are three main towers and six shorter ones. The first tower he built is 55' tall, the second 97' tall and the third 99' tall. He spliced them all together with steel mesh and cement. He worked without machine equipment and no rivets, bolts or welds were used anywhere. Nor did he use scaffolding – he just climbed as he built using only a window cleaner's belt.

Rodia built as he went with no long-term plan. Neighbors would bring “Sam” bottles and plates from the dump. There are thousands of green 7-Up and blue Milk of Magnesia bottles. Every square inch of his creation is decorated either with broken tiles or patterns. He repeatedly wrote his name, initials, address and the date using faucet tops, corn cobs, wrought iron gates, straw platters and fiber doormats to impress patterns in the cement. There are 3 bird baths and a fountain at the center (unfortunately, the city wouldn't allow a water supply).

In 1954, at the age of 75, Rodia retired and stopped building. He gave the house, garden and towers to a neighbor and left, moving to Martinez, CA to be near his family. He never returned and died in 1965.

The adjacent house was burned by vandals in 1955 and the City ordered the structures to be demolished in 1958. It was thought they were unsafe. But when jackhammers failed to make a dent and a crane failed to pull down the central tower, they gave up. The Towers were saved in 1959 and are now a National Landmark.

Restoration of the Towers took 13 years and they were reopened in 2001. It still remains a mystery what Rodia intended to convey. He had a wife and 3 children in Seattle and some people say the work sprung from the guilt or loss of what he left behind.

For more, see these websites: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.