Raw States
Watts Summer Festival
Los Angeles, CA · Arts & Culture
- When
- August 6–8, 2027
- Where
- Ted Watkins Memorial Park, Watts · Los Angeles · CA
- Cost
- Not confirmed
- Status
- Approximate: based on past editions, not announced yet
Ted Watkins Memorial Park hosts a weekend of music, spoken word and community programming each August, born in 1966 from the aftermath of the 1965 Watts uprising to commemorate the residents who died and to rebuild community pride. It remains free and community run, with a marketplace, youth programming and panel discussions alongside the performances. The festival has run nearly every year since its founding.
The history within reach
- Watts Summer Festivalsame spot
Ted Watkins Memorial Park hosts a weekend of music, spoken word and community programming each August, born in 1966 from the aftermath of the 1965 Watts uprising to commemorate the residents who died and to rebuild community pride.
- Watts votes itself out of existencesame spot
Watts began as a ranching settlement in the late nineteenth century and grew fast once the railroads and the depot arrived, enough to run as an independent city of its own.
A free two-day festival at the Watts Towers Arts Center, pairing a Saturday of drum and percussion ensembles with a Sunday jazz festival named for Simon Rodia, the towers' builder.
- Watts Towers begun0.2 mi
Simon Rodia, an Italian immigrant tile setter, spent 33 years building seventeen steel and mortar towers alone, without scaffolding or bolts.
The Pacific Electric built this depot in 1904, one of the first buildings in Watts, and Red Cars ran through it between Los Angeles and Long Beach for decades.