Cabazon Dinosaurs, Roadside attraction in Cabazon, California, United States
Cabazon Dinosaurs is a concrete and steel construction along Interstate 10 in California, consisting of a long-necked dinosaur roughly 150 feet long and a Tyrannosaurus about 65 feet tall. Both figures stand right by the road and remain visible from a distance, surrounded by sparse desert landscape.
A restaurant owner began building the first figure in the mid-1960s to draw motorists off the highway, completing the project over several years. The second dinosaur was added later, turning the site into one of the best-known constructions of its kind.
The sculptures carry names – Dinny for the long-necked giant and Rex for the meat-eater – and serve today as a photo stop for travelers pausing on their desert crossing. Many recognize the site from films and music videos, which established it as part of American pop culture.
The site sits right off the highway exit and is easily reached by vehicle, with parking available. It is best visited in the morning or toward evening, when the heat is less intense and the light brings out the figures more clearly.
Claude Bell planned a third sculpture, a woolly mammoth, along with a prehistoric garden, but neither was built before his death in 1988. The Tyrannosaurus was designed with a channel in its tail to hold a slide, though Bell worried by 1986 that the incline was too steep to use safely.
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