--- title: Watts, 1966: Photos From the Streets a Year After the 1965 Riots description: A year after the Watts Riots in 1965, LIFE magazine revisited the neighborhood through a series of color pictures by photographer Bill Ray. canonical: https://time.com/3640068/the-fire-last-time-life-in-watts-1966/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-20T16:45:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:50:45.709Z og:title: Watts, 1966: Photos From the Streets a Year After the 1965 Riots og:description: A year after southern California's catastrophic Watts Riots in August 1965, LIFE magazine revisited the scene of the devastation through remarkable color pictures by photographer Bill Ray. og:url: https://time.com/3640068/the-fire-last-time-life-in-watts-1966/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt42634292f84215ca/69876fc835ba6f5767c06162/watts-1966-03.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The Fire Last Time: Life in Watts, 1966 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watts, 1966: Photos From the Streets a Year After the 1965 Riots twitter:description: A year after southern California's catastrophic Watts Riots in August 1965, LIFE magazine revisited the scene of the devastation through remarkable color pictures by photographer Bill Ray. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt42634292f84215ca/69876fc835ba6f5767c06162/watts-1966-03.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Fire Last Time: LIFE in Watts, 1966 by [Ben Cosgrove](/author/ben-cosgrove/) and [Liz Ronk](/author/liz-ronk/) Nov 20, 2014 4:45 PM CUT  Not published in LIFE. Young men hang out near Simon Rodia's Watts Towers, 1966. Not published in LIFE. Young men hang out near Simon Rodia's Watts Towers, 1966.Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](/author/ben-cosgrove/) and [Liz Ronk](/author/liz-ronk/) Nov 20, 2014 4:45 PM CUT The August 1965 Watts Riots (or Watts Rebellion, depending on one’s perspective and politics), were among the bloodiest, costliest and — in the five decades since they erupted — most analyzed uprisings of the notoriously unsettled mid-1960s. Ostensibly sparked by an aggressive traffic stop of a black motorist by white cops — but, in fact, the combustive result of decades of institutional racism and municipal neglect — the six-day upheaval resulted in 34 deaths, more than 3,400 arrests and tens of millions of dollars in property damage (back when a million bucks still meant something).  Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image A year after the flames were put out and the smoke cleared from the southern California sky, LIFE revisited the scene of the devastation for a “special section” in its July 15, 1966, issue that the magazine called “Watts: Still Seething.” A good part of that special section featured a series of color photos made by Bill Ray on the streets of Watts: pictures of stylish, even dapper, young men making and hurling Molotov cocktails; of children at play in torched streets and rubble-strewn lots; of wary police and warier residents; of a community struggling to save itself from drugs, gangs, guns, idleness and an enduring, corrosive despair. In that July 1966 issue, LIFE introduced Ray’s photographs, and Watts itself, in a tone that left no doubt that, whatever else might have happened in the months since the streets were on fire, the future of the district was hardly certain, and the rage that fueled the conflagration had hardly abated: --- > “” --- For his part, Bill Ray recalls the Watts assignment clearly, and fondly: --- > “” --- --- _Ben Cosgrove is the Editor of LIFE.com_ --- Bill Ray (at right, on assignment in Sikkim in the Himalayas in 1965) was a staff photographer for LIFE from the mid-1960s until the magazine’s demise in the early 1970s. Based in New York, Beverly Hills and Paris, he traveled the world covering major events, wars and great personalities, from Elvis Presley and Audrey Hepburn to JFK, Marilyn Monroe, the Beatles, Ray Charles, Frank Lloyd Wright, Brigitte Bardot and many more. [See the LIFE.com gallery, “LIFE Rides With Hells Angels.”](http://life.time.com/culture/hells-angels-rare-photos-by-bill-ray-1965/#1 "undefined") \[[See more of Bill Ray’s work at BillRay.com](http://www.billray.com "undefined")\] ---  Caption from LIFE. "Children in Watts grow up with the signs of fear, desperation and hatred all around. The words painted last August on this little grocery store, telling rioters that it is owned by a Negro and urging them to burn something else, were left on the walls for months afterwards -- just in case." Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Watts, Los Angeles, 1966. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Young men hang out near Simon Rodia's Watts Towers, 1966. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Watts, Los Angeles, 1966. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Young men hang out near Simon Rodia's Watts Towers, 1966. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Watts, Los Angeles, 1966. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "William Solomon (right, in his home in Watts) commands a big Watts street gang, which he openly admits took an active part in the riot. A champion hurdler in high school, he has no job but does have a police record and is on probation for assault. With two followers shown with him, he helps now at Westminster \[Neighborhood Association\], uses his influence to keep order there and, by his interest, gives its program a certain prestige in the streets." Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Watts, Los Angeles, 1966. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Watts, Los Angeles, 1966. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Children at play, Watts, Los Angeles, 1966. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Watts, Los Angeles, 1966. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Watts, Los Angeles, 1966. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Watts, Los Angeles, 1966. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Watts, Los Angeles, 1966. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "A Westminster staff member, Booker Griffin (yellow shirt), moved in on an argument between Westminster students and police who found the youths carrying heavy boards and suspected a gang fight. He calmed both sides." Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Making Molotov cocktails, Watts, 1966. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Molotov cocktails in Watts, 1966. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Molotov cocktails in Watts, 1966. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Molotov cocktails in Watts, 1966. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "LaRoi Drew Ali refuses to join any group, but like the nationalists attacks Christianity as a device to keep Negroes down. 'Even if somebody did rise up on Easter,' he says, 'it would just be another white man to kick us.'" Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Watts, 1966. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Watts, 1966. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Watts, 1966. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Watts, 1966. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Watts, Los Angeles, 1966. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Watts, Los Angeles, 1966. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Watts, Los Angeles, 1966. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3640068/the-fire-last-time-life-in-watts-1966/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3640068/the-fire-last-time-life-in-watts-1966/"},"headline":"The Fire Last Time: LIFE in Watts, 1966","datePublished":"2014-11-20T16:45:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:50:45.709Z","description":"A year after the Watts Riots in 1965, LIFE magazine revisited the neighborhood through a series of color pictures by photographer Bill Ray.","url":"https://time.com/3640068/the-fire-last-time-life-in-watts-1966/","keywords":["Civil Rights","California","History","los angeles","photography","1966","riot","color photography","Bill Ray"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt42634292f84215ca/69876fc835ba6f5767c06162/watts-1966-03.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ben Cosgrove","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Liz Ronk","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt42634292f84215ca/69876fc835ba6f5767c06162/watts-1966-03.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Fire Last Time: Life in Watts, 1966","caption":"The Fire Last Time: Life in Watts, 1966","creditText":"Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/civil-rights/","name":"Civil Rights"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3640068/the-fire-last-time-life-in-watts-1966/","name":"The Fire Last Time: LIFE in Watts, 1966"}}]}] ```