Simon Rodia
Also recorded as Don Simon · Sam Rodia · Simon Rodilla · Sam Rodilla
Simon Rodia
Herald Examiner · CC0
- Born
- 1879. · Serino.
- Died
- 1965. · Martinez.
- Nationality
- Italy, United States and Kingdom of Italy.
- Occupation
- architect, engineer, artist and sculptor.
- Languages
- Italian.
Reference Check
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Documentary connections
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q1119723 · wikipedia · Simon Rodia
In this article
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1879
Simon Rodia born at Serino.
1965
Simon Rodia died at Martinez.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Serino.
Birth place
Martinez.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly publication
- Parallel Expressions: Artistic Contributions of Italian Immigrants in the Río de la Plata Basin of South America at the Time of Simon Rodia, Sabato Rodia's Towers in Watts, 2020
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2020
- Rodia, Simon (1879-1965), artist, American National Biography Online, 2000
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2000
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q1119723: Simon Rodia
Reputable secondary · Wikimedia Foundation
- “Simon Rodia”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority file
- VIAF cluster 13155858 for Simon Rodia, aggregating national library name authorities.
General reference · OCLC
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.National Park Service. Watts Towers. National Historic Landmark Quicklinks.
- 2.Cite ohp 993 Watts Towers July 27, 2013
- 3.Department of City Planning. Designated Historic-Cultural Monuments. City of Los Angeles.
- 4.mdy. 77000297. Watts Towers of Simon Rodia.
- 5.Zabrodski, Sarah. An Object Called Art. The Iris Art Stories. J. Paul Getty Trust.
- 6.Record Transcription Social Security Death Index. Find My Past.
- 7.Whiteson, Leon. The Watts Towers of Los Angeles. Mosaic Press. 1989. 0-88962-394-5.
- 8.Shatkin, Elina. Watts Towers: The Story of an LA Icon. Discover Los Angeles.
- 9.Goldstone, Arloa Paquin. The Towers of Simon Rodia. National Register of Historic Places Registration. National Park Service. June 18, 1990.
- 10.About Sam Rodia - The Watts Towers — official site
- 11.The Social Security Death Index uses 15 April 1886. Other reference works use 1873, 1875, and 1879.
- 12.US Census 25 April 1910, Oakland, California, supervisors District 3, enumerators district 21, sheet 16
- 13.Big Orange Landmarks -- No. 15 - Towers of Simon Rodia.
- 14.King, Nicholas. Sabato Rodia's Towers in Watts: Art, Migrations, Development. Fordham University Press. 415. 2014.
- 15.Segre, Claudio. Sabato Rodia's Towers in Watts: Art, Migrations, Development. Fordham University Press. 380. 2014.
- 16.Landler, Edward and Brad Byer. I Build the Tower. Bench Movies. 2006.
- 17.Silverman, Emma Rose. The Watts Towers from Eyesore to Icon: Race and the Spaces of Outsider Art. UC Berkeley. 2018.
- 18.Smith, Richard Cándida. Rodia, Simon (1879-1965), artist. American National Biography. 2000. 978-0-19-860669-7.
- 19.PCAD - Watts Towers, Watts, Los Angeles, CA. pcad.lib.washington.edu.
- 20.Ceparano, Felice. Sabato Rodia's Towers in Watts: Art, Migrations, Development. Fordham University Press. June 15, 2014.
- 21.Lyons, Carolyn. Watts Towers: LA's weird masterpiece. The Guardian. August 25, 2011.
- 22.From the Archives: Simon Rodia, 90, Builder of Famed Watts Towers, Dies in Martinez. Los Angeles Times. July 19, 1965.
- 23.Reynolds, Christopher. Watts Towers at 100: Junk turned into art still casts a spell. Los Angeles Times. 2021-12-24.
- 24.de Arend, Lucien. The History of the Watts Towers. Watts Towers by Sam Rodia. Cultural Affairs Dept. Watts Center.
- 25.Goldstone, Bud. The Los Angeles Watts Towers. Getty Conservation Institute. 1997. 978-0892364916.
- 26.Boehm, Mike. LACMA gets $500,000 grant to fund its new role as Watts Towers conservator. Los Angeles Times. February 11, 2011.
- 27.Nguyen, Arthur. Conservation Proceeds at Watts Towers. LACMA. July 14, 2016.
- 28.Niland, Josh. Finally complete, the Watts Towers' restoration is a turning point for public art in Los Angeles. Archinect. December 6, 2022.
- 29.californiahistoricallandmarks.com 993, Watts Towers.
- 30.Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Simon Rodia's Towers in Watts: A Photographic Exhibition by Seymour Rosen.
- 31.Duvall, John N. The Cambridge Companion to Don DeLillo. Cambridge University Press. May 29, 2008. 9781139828086.
- 32.Fredman, Stephen. Contextual Practice: Assemblage and the Erotic in Postwar Poetry and Art. Stanford University Press. August 12, 2018. 9780804763585.
- 33.ISFDB. The Internet Speculative Fiction Database.
- 34.Preserved Projects. Academy Film Archive.
- 35.The Towers of Simon Rodia (2008), with the documentary short Watts Towers – Then & Now — available on a DVD (2-D or 3-D) from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art bookshop.
- 36.Ng, David. The Simpsons' pays tribute to Watts Towers. Los Angeles Times. February 21, 2011.
- 37.University of Pennsylvania Press. Art and the City Civic Imagination and Cultural Authority in Los Angeles. 137. 2009.
- 38.Watts Tour – Visiting (109) – Huell Howser Archives at Chapman University. November 8, 2017.
- 39.BBC Radio 4. Episode 3 Series 11. The Museum of Curiosity.
- 40.Wattstowers.us: The Watts Towers Arts Center , and Charles Mingus Youth Arts Center.
- 41.Margolies, Jane. JOURNEYS; Cape Cod by Bike, A Family Trip. The New York Times. 2003-08-15. 0362-4331.
- 42.Railroads, United States Congress House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on. Implementation of the Rails to Trails Act: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Railroads of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, House of Representatives, One Hundred Fourth Congress, Second Session, July 10 and September 18, 1996. U.S. Government Printing Office. 66. 1997. 978-0-16-054208-4.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Institutional witnessscholarly publication
Institutional witnessauthority file
Secondary witnessreference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q1119723: Simon RodiaWikimedia Foundation
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
He also worked under the names Rodilla, Simon, Rodilla, Sam and Roda, Simon. The authorities additionally record the headings Don Simon, Sam Rodia, Simon Rodilla, Sam Rodilla and Sabato Rodia. His recorded language was Italian. Recorded as architect, engineer, artist and sculptor.
Identity and origins
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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