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Luke's Roadside Attractions

Huge Beings

Rex

Off Interstate 10, 5800 Seminole Drive, Cabazon, California

Rex and his companion Dinney are twice life-size concrete dinosaurs that reign over a small lawn behind the Burger King in Cabazon, delighting visitors and scaring young children.  They are the work of Claude Bell, who built figures for Knott's Berry Farm.  Bell began construction on Rex in 1981 (he took from 1964 to 1976 to complete Dinney).  Rex is a towering 65 feet tall, the tallest dinosaur in America (and probably, the world).  Bell, a visionary contributor to roadside Americana, died at age 91 in 1988.  He had hoped to add other concrete attractions to his dinosaur duo.

Visitors used to be able to ascend stairs inside Rex and peer out between his teeth.  Bell designed a slide down Rex's tail (photo) but that has been concreted over.

Dinney and Rex have seen better days.  As of late July 2003, they were for sale.  The slide in Rex's tail has been concreted over, and visitors can no longer go up inside Rex and peer out from behind his impressive teeth.  This door in Rex's tail was closed off, and the stairs from this little balcony to the ground had been removed.  The Denny's along Seminole, owned by the same family, is boarded up.

Photographs © Luke W. Cole

Links

        1960s roadside dinosaurs, including Rex

        Roadside America's page on the Cabazon duo

        The Big Waste of Space Photologue on Rex

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