"Sculptor and theme park artist Claude Bell began construction of the dinosaurs in 1964 with the goal of attracting more customers to his nearby restaurant, the Wheel Inn (open from 1958 to 2013).

"Dinny and Mr. Rex were completed in 1975 and 1986, respectively. Bell died in 1988 at age 91 and his family sold the property in the mid-1990s. Since then, Cabazon Dinosaurs has been the site of a roadside creationist museum and giftshop." (wikipedia)

"The creation of the Cabazon dinosaurs began in the 1960s by Knott's Berry Farm sculptor and portrait artist Claude K. Bell (1897–1988) to attract customers to his Wheel Inn Restaurant, which opened in 1958 and closed in 2013.

"Dinny, the first of the Cabazon dinosaurs, was started in 1964 and created over a span of eleven years.[6] Bell created Dinny out of spare material salvaged from the construction of nearby Interstate 10 at a cost of $300,000. The biomorphic building that was to become Dinny was first erected as steel framework over which an expanded metal grid was formed in the shape of a dinosaur.

"All of it was then covered with coats of shotcrete (spray concrete). Bell was quoted in 1970 as saying the 45-foot-high (14 m), 150-foot-long (46 m) Dinny was "the first dinosaur in history, so far as I know, to be used as a building."

"His original vision for Dinny was for the dinosaur's eyes to glow and mouth to spit fire at night, predicting, "It'll scare the dickens out of a lot of people driving up over the pass." These two features, however, were not added.

"A second dinosaur, Mr. Rex, was constructed near Dinny in 1981. Originally, a giant slide was installed in Rex's tail; it was later filled in with concrete, making the slide unusable. A third woolly mammoth sculpture and a prehistoric garden were drafted but never completed due to Bell's death in 1988.  (wikipedia)

"(The World's Biggest Dinosaurs Sculptures) were built by Claude Bell, who ran the adjacent Wheel Inn on I-10. Claude, a former amusement park statue designer, took eleven years to build Dinny, a 150-foot-long apatosaurus and arguably the largest dinosaur in America, the Roadside America reports.

"To cut costs, he scavenged rebar and cement from the construction of the freeway. A small museum in Dinny's belly still sells souvenirs. Claude's admission sign promised speedier work on the rest of the dinosaur family he planned.

Claude's next project, a giant Tyrannosaurus with a slide down its tail, was nearing completion when Claude died, age 91, in 1988. More sculptures were on the drawing board, including a Woolly Mammoth. The Tyrannosaurus -- known as "Mr. Rex" -- was never completed and, according to the museum manager in Dinny's belly, "it never will be."

"In 2005 Gary Kanter, an Orange County developer, began working with Pastor Robert Darwin Chiles to use the dinosaurs of Cabazon as a platform for their Creationist views. That ended after about ten years. The current owners like to repaint the dinosaurs several times a year in nontraditional dinosaur colors -- but, then, no one really knows what colors dinosaurs were anyway," the Roadside America reports.

Photo above: World's Biggest Dinosaur Sculptures: the Cabazon Dinosaurs. Photo: Dicklyon/wikipedia

"Today, the dinosaurs no longer house a creation museum, though they still live as a kitschy roadside attraction. You can still climb through the T-Rex’s mouth Pee Wee Herman-style, and the site now holds a dinosaur-themed exhibit and a gift store packed with all sorts of dino-themed trinkets," the Atlas Obscura reports.

"The 2 large Dinosaurs are not hard to miss driving down the freeway. Once featured in PeeWee's Big Adventure theses Giants are now a roadside attraction and a gift shop as well. The Giant Brotosaurus Ms. Dinny has a gift shop nestled in her tummy. My kids were still very happy to climb outside theses giant creatures and marvel at their Massive size. Also who can resist a photo op.

"This place is great for families with young children. Teens may be bored and adults will just have a good chuckle. But, one has to admit that the dedication of the founder of this park is amazing and heartfelt. So, for that, I truly appreciate the dinosaurs that seem to rise alongside the freeway!"

"You do have to pay admission to see them, but it’s not too expensive. I thought it was well worth the price we paid to see all the different types of dinosaurs. We also get to climb up inside the tea Rex his mouth from behind. It was pretty cool. If you don’t wanna pay, you can see the brontosaurus on the T-Rex, and visit the gift shop inside the brontosaurus."



"Make the stop, it's a fun thing to see!"