In the 1950s, when the Watts Towers were created, Watts was a prosperous, middle-class enclave, and Simon Rodia had dreams of founding a religiously-grounded community centre. So, in a spirit of enterprise which seems to have vanished from community life, he took a lot of junk - old tiles, discarded Mountain Dew cans, concrete - and used it to construct his monument, the Watts Towers.

It's a little depressing to consider that, in today's communities, the Watts Towers would not only be an embarassment; they would be illegal. In a world where you can't even pick your own mailbox colour,something as eccentric as the Towers stands condemned as something that reduces property values.

I don't think anyone near the Towers feels quite that way.

Nowadays, Watts is considered a slum, and yet some of the tiny houses are strangely attractive, microcosms of the American dream. A $ 1.5 million home in Newport Beach sits on a plot only twice as large as those in Watts. The real surprise is that the residents are friendly, and don't seem dangerous. They are, after all, living the dream of suburban home ownership, even if it's spoilt by the occasional gunfire.

Despite this, it feels very odd to slip into the Watts Towers art center, funded by a bewildering variety of private and city organizations, to see an art gallery with an upscale look. And then you look out of the window, see barbed wire, and remember where you are.

Outside of the art center, right next to the towers, an ugly, impersonal concrete ampitheater is being built. I remember the last time I visited the Towers a few months ago; then there was a muddy grass expanse which seemed much more appropriate to the towers. The sheer hideousness of the concrete is going to clash badly with Simon Rodia's life work.