{"id":1820,"date":"2009-07-20T18:03:12","date_gmt":"2009-07-21T01:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2009\/07\/saving-the-watts-towers\/"},"modified":"2009-07-20T13:07:44","modified_gmt":"2009-07-20T20:07:44","slug":"saving-the-watts-towers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/2009\/07\/20\/saving-the-watts-towers\/","title":{"rendered":"Saving The Watts Towers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><a href=\"http:\/\/latimesblogs.latimes.com\/culturemonster\/2009\/07\/watts-towers-fix-could-cost-5-million-the-city-doesnt-have.html\" target=\"_blank\">from The LA Times<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; color: #333333\" class=\"Apple-style-span\"><\/span><\/p>\n<h1 style=\"font: normal normal normal 18px\/normal Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0px; color: #007aaa; margin-top: 18px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; text-align: left; border-width: 0px\" class=\"entry-header\">Strapped city wants donors for Watts Towers conservation<\/h1>\n<p style=\"font-size: 10px; color: #999999; text-align: left; margin-bottom: 8px\" class=\"time\">11:33 AM, July 17, 2009<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/latimesblogs.latimes.com\/.a\/6a00d8341c630a53ef0115711c597b970c-450wi\" align=\"left\" height=\"183\" width=\"260\" hspace=\"15\" alt=\"WattsTowers\" \/>The\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/articles.latimes.com\/2005\/oct\/23\/magazine\/tm-towers43\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #007aaa; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; text-decoration: none\">Watts Towers<\/a>\u00a0may be a unique and symbolically rich work of folk art, but it is also\u00a0a world-class money trap,\u00a0vulnerable to earthquakes and the elements, and constantly in need of repair.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s been long-simmering discontent among some of the most intense admirers of Simon Rodia&#8217;s 100-foot-tall structure who say the city doesn&#8217;t spend nearly enough on its upkeep and criticize the quality of conservation work carried out by L.A.&#8217;s\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.culturela.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #007aaa; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; text-decoration: none\">Department of Cultural Affairs.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/latimesblogs.latimes.com\/.a\/6a00d8341c630a53ef01157210fe8d970b-320wi\" align=\"right\" height=\"165\" width=\"245\" hspace=\"15\" alt=\"WattsTowersDetail1\" \/>Rodia, an uneducated Italian immigrant stonemason, labored on the towers alone for more than 30 years, starting in 1921, creating a triple-spired skeleton of steel and wire, fleshing it out with concrete and adorning its surfaces with colorful bits of glass, pottery, tile and seashells. It adds up to a national landmark that is,\u00a0for many, an inspirational example of what one committed person can achieve.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I had in mind to do something big, and I did,&#8221; Rodia said &#8212; as extensive a public explanation as he ever gave.<\/p>\n<p>[ <a href=\"http:\/\/latimesblogs.latimes.com\/culturemonster\/2009\/07\/watts-towers-fix-could-cost-5-million-the-city-doesnt-have.html\" target=\"_blank\">click to continue reading at The LA Times<\/a> ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>from The LA Times Strapped city wants donors for Watts Towers conservation 11:33 AM, July 17, 2009 The\u00a0Watts Towers\u00a0may be a unique and symbolically rich work of folk art, but it is also\u00a0a world-class money trap,\u00a0vulnerable to earthquakes and the elements, and constantly in need of repair. There&#8217;s been long-simmering discontent among some of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture-art","category-los-angeles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1820\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}