Cabazon Dinosaurs
Cabazon was established as a settlement in the 1870s after the Southern Pacific Railroad built a railroad station there. Development efforts in 1884 and 1910 failed to attract residents. It was incorporated as a city in 1955 and disincorporated in 1972. Claude Bell bought land in Cabazon in 1946 for $5,000, started living on the land part-time in 1952, and opened the Wheel Inn there in 1958. In 1964 he started creating Dinny, a 150-foot long, 150-ton Brontosaurus out of spare material salvaged from the construction of nearby Interstate 10 to attract more customers to his Inn. In 1981, six years after completing Dinny, Bell started work on Mr. Rex, a 65-foot tall, 100-ton Tyrannosaurus rex. As an homage to Paul Reubens, who died in July 2023, Mr. Rex was repainted with a gray suit jacket, a red bow tie and white shoes, recalling Pee-wee( Herman)’s Big Adventure that included Cabazon.
Cabazon, Riverside County
Photographer: Andrew Schmidt