The Watts Towers and the militaristic architecture of LA

When I read the Schrank article one of the first things that struck me was Watts Towers’ stark contrast with other forms of architecture in Los Angeles. In my art history course last semester we read a chapter from Mike Davis’ City of Quartz entitled “Fortress L.A.” that discussed how the buildings and planning of Los Angeles create a militaristic and exclusionary environment. To illustrate this architectural “style” my professor focused primarily on the new Cathedral of Our Lady in the Bunker Hill neighborhood of LA. I think it’s really interesting how the Watts’ Towers both fits into Davis’ portrait of L.A. and compares to the antagonistic design of the Cathedral because it is within this framework that the Watts’ Towers developed its unique importance to the local and international communities.

In the chapter “Fortress L.A.” Davis explores the “architectural policing of social boundaries”(223) in Los Angeles. He argues that the chained link fences and video cameras that characterize downtown LA function as exclusionary symbols that frame underrepresented groups’ perceptions of the city but are unnoticeable to the upper/middle class. Coupled with an aggressive “containment” of the homeless policy and growing gentrification, the militaristic face of the city has directly influenced the continued fragmentation of LA. The destruction of public space, a familiar point in our class, is explained by Davis as a “universal and ineluctable consequence of this crusade to secure the city”(226). This point relates to Schrank’s article because the city’s attempt to demolish the towers to make space for a commercial housing project is another example of the eradication of public space in exchange for corporate defined redevelopment. The subsequent appropriation of the towers as a symbol of successful urban renewal mirrors LA’s fascination with “urban realist” architecture, as exemplified in the work of Frank Gehry (236-240).

The recently rebuilt Cathedral of Our Lady, designed by Spanish architect Rafael Moneo, similarly integrates security precautions into its post-modern design. Like Gehry’s works, the Cathedral’s tightly controlled exterior gives way to a luxurious interior complete with a 2.5 acre plaza, multiple gardens and a gift shop. Moneo wanted to restrict how people used the building, so the expansive 58,000 square foot cathedral has only one entrance, which is gated. The unwelcoming facade of the building also reflects the tensions of the Bunker Hill neighborhood that had previously been forcefully redeveloped by the city. In addition, the design of the Cathedral comments on the city’s historic past through the adobe color of its concrete exterior and location on the historic El Camino Real.

When I first learned of the Watts’ Towers, I immediately thought back to the new Cathedral of Our Lady because of the evident disparities between two of the most iconic examples of Los Angeles architecture. Although both works dominate the surrounding landscape because of their relative height, the face of the Cathedral is heavily guarded with few windows and high walls whereas the Towers are completely exposed and open. Both reflect the militaristic nature of the city that Davis articulately described in “Fortress LA” but they do it in very different ways- the Cathedral by internalizing drastic security features and displaying an exclusionary exterior; the Towers by embodying the raw and “brutalizing physicality of the modern urban experience” (Schrank 277).