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Sam Howzit
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Dalton Kal
By Dollie Gull-Goldman For MobileRVing.com
California travelers new to the San Gorgonio Pass and the Cabazon area off Interstate-10, between Palm Springs and Los Angeles, are bound to slow down when they spot two huge dinosaurs rearing up out of the High Desert. Any children along are bound to clamour for a stop and a closer look at the huge 20 m (65 ft) tall T-Rex and 13.5 m (45 ft) tall, 46 m (150 ft) long Brontosaurus at the open-air Creationist museum tourist park known as Cabazon Dinosaurs, located at 50800 Seminole Drive, Cabazon. The park is located off I-10's Exit 106.
Originally Claude Bell's Dinosaurs, the desert statues were created by California Artist-Sculptor Claude K. Bell who built the Brontosaurus, now known as Dinny, in the 1960's, partly from salvaged materials left over in the area from I-10's construction. The Tyrannosaurus-Rex, or T-Rex, named Mr. Rex, was completed much later. Bell had also planned a woolly mammoth, but it was never built. He designed the outdoor dinosaur exhibit to lure travelers to his nearby restaurant, The Wheel Inn, built in the 1950's. The restaurant closed in 2013.
Bell, (1897-1988), was a theme park artist known for his work at Buena Park, California's Knotts Berry Farm. Construction on the Brontosaurus began in 1964, taking 11 years to complete. The other statue, Mr. Rex, the T-Rex, was built nearly 20 years later. Created of steel frames over which other metals were secured and made in dinosaur shapes, they were then covered with “shotcrete,” sprayed on concrete. Following Bell's death, his family sold the property. Cabazon Family Partnership paired up with MKA Cabazon Partnership of Costa Mesa, Calif. to create the park, plant date palms and install other features - including a sand pit, a robotic dinosaur exhibit, gift shop and museum.
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Mike Souza
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VXLA
Between the time Bell built Dinny and Mr. Rex, and the Creationist park opening, the huge dinosaurs languished without anyone caring for them. They slowly began to blend into the tan desert of their environment. Dinny was, for many years, available to anyone wishing to walk inside, although there was nothing to see there. The T-Rex did have a protective fence prohibiting access. Today, they are brightly coloured and look more like the real thing -- or at least what paleontologists think they looked like in real life.
Bell's two huge Cabazon Dinosaurs are open to the public, for whoever can climb inside, where they can look out over the park through some big, long and sharp looking teeth from within Mr. Rex. General admission to the park for is $12 for adults, $10 for children, $8 for military and seniors. Entry for children, aged two and under is free. After rambles through the statues, folks can relax under Dinny where the picnic tables are located, or on benches around the park which today sports date palms and other attractions. Inside Dinny you will find the gift shop and Creationist museum depicting creatures which, in real life, roamed the earth all those millennia ago. The robotic, yet far smaller dinosaurs featured – much smaller than Mr. Rex or Dinny, give children and adults plenty of amusement. Cabazon Dinosaurs is open seven days each week, Monday through Friday, from 10 am -4:30 pm. Saturday and Sunday hours are 9 am-6:30 pm. Hours differ on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, shortened to 9 am-4:30 pm. They are closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's days. Dogs are allowed on the premises, just not in the gift shop and there is plenty of parking available for RV's.
Go Jeffrey
Cabazon Dinosaurs' Mr. Rex has been featured in the media, most notably connected to the 1980's kid's favourite character, PeeWee Herman. The T-Rex is seen in the comedy movie: “PeeWee's Big Adventure.” The statues also appear in a 1989 movie, The Wizard, and are seen on VHS media, in a Huel Howser Production, which aired on the PBS station, KCET-TV, Los Angeles. Most cabazondinosaurs.com website comments are very favourable, indicating Cabazon Dinosaurs as well worth visiting. While some adults may balk at paying for enjoying all of the complex, kids, however, love the chance for adventure inside the great creatures. This stop is well worth it if you have children along, or if you are, yourself, dinosaur-crazy.
Weather in this part of California is extreme, both summer and winter. While temperatures can soar above 120-degrees in summer, the atmosphere is dry. The low, 35-45%, humidity with the constant breeze blowing through this mountain pass make summer's heat bearable, although winter winds can be quite cold. Cabazon is nestled between the San Jacinto and San Gorgonio Mountains, and is named for the Cabazon band of American Indians. The best time to visit is during Spring and Fall.
Dinosaur 'nuts' will certainly enjoy this stop for a close-up visit at California's two most famous dinosaurs, claimed to be the “largest in the world.” That is a claim, however, that may now be challenged at a wide variety of other dinosaur exhibits in the U.S. and around the world. Numerous other California dinosaur exhibits, including real dinosaur bones put together in a rearing statue can be seen at the University of California-Berkeley's Museum of Paleontology and at several other Californian science sites. Notable dinosaurs are seen at Disney's Animal Kingdom Park in Florida, and Dinosaur World at Cave City, Ky., as well as at numerous other locations, including at European parks. Among the first ever such exhibits was displayed around 1854 in the former London Crystal Palace. Two of the largest European dinosaur parks open today are said to be in Germany at Münchehagen's Dino Park and another Dinopark in Kleinwelka.