We are big fans of the movie Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (above), which features the dinosaurs, so our minds were blown into tiny pieces when we first spotted them unexpectedly in the wild.
In fact, without a doubt these dinosaurs are the muses of Roadside Wonderland, and we visit them regularly (especially now they are given seasonal costume changes - we have seen them dressed as Santa, the easter bunny, a summer costume change, a Valentine's theme, and The Flintstones in recent times - shown here, they are ready for Coachella - oh happy days.
Sculptor and Knotts Berry Farm theme park artist Claude Bell started construction on the steel and concrete dinosaurs in 1964, and they were completed in 1975, and 1996 respectively. Bell owned the Wheel Inn diner (now sadly gone) and thought the dinosaurs might help attract customers.
The pink dinosaur (named Dinny) is a gift store you can go inside, but the green dinosaur (Mr Rex) is for photo ops only.
Visiting the dinosaurs is FREE!
You can also, for a fee visit the outdoor robotic dinosaur park located next door (but we never have)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Southern California #1 - Last visited 12th July 2022
Comments