Decades ago I had only seen the towers by driving past them. This time I went to the Watts Towers…read moreDrum Festival and finally got to see them up close.
Since we could only go in with a free guided tour, I learned some things too. Like I didn't know the artist loved ships, reminiscent of the one he came on from Italy, so the towers are actually meant to look like masts of a ship.
Also, I asked the docent how the artist made the various shapes on the cement floor and he said the artist used everything from faucet knobs to make the flower imprints to iron gates to make the heart imprints.
What I really love is how one artist had such a huge ripple effect on the neighborhood, like his neighbors also started decorating their fences with mosaics and I even saw the backboard of a basketball hoop with a mosaic design. On top of that, decades after his death, there are now art and music programs with generations of people after him becoming artists in their own right.
Speaking of music, the towers are located and named after the city they're in, Watts. If you've ever heard the song by 2Pac "California Love", the city is actually mentioned in the lyrics:
California knows how to party
California knows how to party
In the city of L.A.
In the city of good ol' Watts
In the city, the city of Compton
We keep it rockin', we keep it rockin'
Now let me welcome everybody to the wild, wild west...
The music at the festival was so diverse. I heard and saw musicians and dancers from Mexican Aztecs to Japanese to Cuban to African. Some of the instruments they played I had never seen before, like the Aztec musician blew into a snail-like spiral horn, and it was only until I realized one of the Cuban drums sounded different that I saw it was actually a big piece of bamboo sandwiched between the musician's knees.
The food was diverse too. The only vegetarian option I could find was from East Africa. They had something called "makande" and they let me have a free sample. It's made of kidney beans, corn, and various spices and it tasted so good! I ordered that, plantains (bananas), lentils, and half and half yellow and pilaf rice. If I could do it again, I would order just one huge serving of makande and yellow rice because it ended up being my favorite. I'm salivating just remembering it.
For dessert, I got a sherbert where I got to pick 3 flavors, so I ordered strawberry, mango, and peach. I really like how the colors came out and it tasted as good as it looked.
I was also able to visit 2 of the onsite art galleries and garden which also had sculptures, a turtle pond, and a huge tortoise.
My only wish is that they had made it clear there would be free valet parking near 104th and Graham for the festival. It was highly confusing since I was counting on parking by the towers themselves, not knowing the roads leading to them would all be blocked off and I wasn't the only one lost and confused.
Otherwise, I enjoyed my visit. It was both educational and fun.
