Simon Rodia

ABOUT SIMON RODIA

Italian immigrant who created the Watts Towers in Los Angeles; his name adorned the public Simon Rodia Continuation High School.

He worked as a tiller and a construction worker. His work on the Watts Towers started in 1921, but he didn't finish until 1954; his neighbors often vandalized the Towers.

He and Bob Dylan can both be seen in the top row on the album cover of 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band,' the legendary 1967 Beatles album.

His family raised him in Serino, Italy, before he emigrated to the U.S. in 1895 with his brother; he was only 15. His brother was killed in a mining accident. He married Lucia Ucci in 1902 and together they had three children; they divorced in 1909.

He and I.M. Pei were both world-renowned, pioneering architects of their respective generations.