INTRODUCTION: Sabato Rodia’s Towers in Watts and the Search for Common Ground

The core Watts Towers narrative serves as the inescapable touchstone for each of the essays in this volume. It narrates the identity of Sabato Rodia and the extraordinary feat of creating his Towers in Watts, as well as the travail of their preservation.¹ Indeed, the Towers built by Sam Rodia in Watts, Los Angeles, not only are wondrous objects of art and architecture in and of themselves, the expression and embodiment of the resolve of a singular artistic genius to do something great, they also recount the heroic civic efforts to save them, both of which (art and social action)