I haven't been to the Watts Towers in a long, long time. The author nailed it when he said "you have to really want to go there, to make a special trip. And that ensures that they remain part of their community in a ways that a high-volume tourist attraction never could." I went with my parents as a pre-teen and didn't want to be there. This post makes me want to go again by myself and observe and see all these things that the author points out. It's interesting how the community around it seems to value themselves and their homes more because of the existence of the towers. My favorite line of the entire piece was this: This is such a great way of describing it. This happens all over LA - and I'm sure elsewhere - but I had never thought about it in these terms. Fantastic....over one of the many homes in these parts that seem to be hosting a perpetual yard sale.