Cracks in Watts Towers

A cement casting is being used to test different cement compounds to see which ones bond the best.  (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

Frank Preusser, conservation scientist for LACMA, examines the Watts Towers. He and four full-time museum employees keep daily tabs on them. At right, electronic devices monitor cracks in the posts.   (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

A cross-piece in the sculpture includes the year Simon Rodia began building the towers, 1921.  (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

LACMA employee Sylvia Schweri-Dorsh applies epoxy to a bolt on a post adorned with a mosaic.   (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

The ornate address over the door of the house where Simon Rodia lived. Rodia, a construction worker without any art training, spent his free time over 33 years building the Watts Towers in his backyard without the city’s approval.   (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

Using funds raised by LACMA, Frank Preusser and four full-time museum employees keep daily tabs on the towers. In December, UCLA engineers joined the effort to perform structural tests.   (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

Cracks are causing decorative ornaments -- pieces of glass and other items -- to fall off.   (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

The Watts Towers draw onlookers. Besides the towers’ daily movement, Mother Nature is also contributing to the slow deterioration. A 2003 hailstorm brought down glass, seashells and tile ornaments. But LACMA conservation scientist Frank Preusser and his team are finding that howling winds are causing the most damage.   (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

Neighborhood kids watch the Watts Towers restoration in 1984.  (Marianna Diamos / Los Angeles Times)

Watts Towers as seen from the Pacific Electris Red Car route, now the Metro Blue Line, in the Watts community of Los Angeles.  (R.L. Oliver / Los Angeles Times)