Meeting Abstract
The structures of the Watts Towers (WT), an iconic Los Angeles artwork created by Sabato Rodia in 1921-1954, are covered with mosaics that include thousands of mollusk shells. Little is known about the diversity or sources of these shells, though such information would be of great utility to WT conservators and to art historians. We documented the diversity of mollusk shells present in the WT and used data on the ranges and habitats of the species, and other characteristics of the shells, to make inferences about their provenance. We identified shells of 34 species of mollusks in the WT, 24 of them bivalves and 10 gastropods. Almost all (29/34) of these species are native to southern California shorelines, especially those of bays and estuaries. Rodia could have accessed these sites on foot, by automobile, or by using the extensive network of Red Car trolleys. Some of the bivalve shells on the structures bear complete drill holes made by naticid gastropods, suggesting that the shells were collected post-mortem, presumably after they had washed up on beaches. These observations are consistent with the sparse documentary evidence on the origin of the shells of the WT. We also discuss the potential origins of the five species not native to California shorelines found on the WT. These data on the diversity of the seashells of the WT should be very useful for conservators, and also of interest to scholars of and visitors to the WT.
