Wave Staff and Wire Reports
WATTS — A week after being named to the World Monuments Fund’s inaugural Irreplaceable America list, the Watts Towers received more accolades this week when it received a $10.1 million grant from the Bezos Earth Fund for development of a five-acre park and arts and culture campus.
The grant from the organization led by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife Lauren announced grants to eight cities, with the awards totaling $100 million, as part of its Greening America’s Cities campaign.
“Growing up in Albuquerque, I remember in middle school taking the city bus to my grandma’s house after school,” Lauren Sánchez Bezos, vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund, said in a statement. “Right by her house there was a park. I loved that park so much. I went there all the time.
“It felt enormous to me as a kid but I’m sure if I went back now it would look a lot smaller,” Sanchez Bezos added. “I felt safe there. Protected. I would go by myself and just play for hours. “That’s what a great park does. It makes the world feel bigger and the world feel safer. That’s what we’re trying to give people with this program. Not just green space. A place that feels like yours.”
According to the fund, the Watts Towers park project will include shade trees, native and drought-tolerant plants, a walking path, an outdoor amphitheater classroom and interactive art installations.
“As the only official tourist site and major cultural destination in Watts, the revitalized campus will expand access to arts and museum education programming and welcoming green space for more than 50,000 annual visitors, supporting a vibrant community hub in advance of the 2028 Olympics under city stewardship,” the fund said in announcing the grant.
The Watts Towers, created over more than three decades by Italian immigrant Sabato “Simon” Rodia, consist of 17 hand-built reinforced-concrete structures decorated with tile, glass and found objects. The tallest tower rises nearly 100 feet.
“The Watts Towers are a monumental achievement by one individual, Simon Rodia, yet are of cultural significance and meaning to all of the local community, and its visitors,” Daniel Tarica, general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, said. “The conservation and preservation of the Watts Towers … reinforces a message to the community of investment, value, and stewardship, while also supporting increased cultural tourism and generating economic opportunities that benefit both the immediate Watts community and the wider region.”
The landmark also is home to the Watts Towers Arts Center, the Charles Mingus Youth Arts Center and the Garden Studio, which provide arts education, youth programs and community events, including the annual Watts Towers Day of the Drum Festival and Simon Rodia Watts Towers Jazz Festival.
Last week, the Watts Towers was named to the World Monuments Fund’s inaugural Irreplaceable America list, recognizing 10 U.S. historic sites considered essential to preserving the nation’s cultural heritage.
The list was created as part of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence to highlight historic places facing significant preservation challenges.
The Bezos Earth Fund award is the second Los Angeles has received through the fund’s Greening America’s Cities program. In 2023, when the program began, the city received $10.1 million, which was used to fund a community garden in East Los Angeles, an improvement project at Juntos Family Park near Atwater, and the planting of more than 6,200 trees in South Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley.
The Greening America’s Cities program has now distributed a total of $150 million to 11 cities, with plans to ultimately award a total of $400 million across the country.
“At the Bezos Earth Fund, we want to make the planet a place people can and want to live, and that includes making sure people have green spaces woven into daily life — places to cool down and get shade, bring their families, or simply walk through on their commute,” Tom Taylor, CEO and president of the Bezos Earth Fund, said in a
statement. “Those places shouldn’t be a luxury.”
