Mr. Rex — Claude Bell
Claude Bell · Cabazon Dinosaurs, 50770 Seminole Drive, Cabazon, California, USA
Photo: Carol M. Highsmith / Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-highsm-24447 (public domain), 2013, the same photo as in the Street Art Utopia post. Full photograph shown.
Mr. Rex is the 65-foot-tall Tyrannosaurus rex that Claude Bell built next to his Wheel Inn restaurant in Cabazon, west of Palm Springs, to get passing drivers to stop. Visit California: How to See the Cabazon Dinosaurs · SPACES Archives: Cabazon Dinosaurs · Library of Congress, LC-DIG-highsm-24447 Checked SPACES says Bell began it in 1981 and finished it in 1986; Palm Springs Life says he finished it in the early ’80s. SPACES Archives: Cabazon Dinosaurs · Palm Springs Life, 12 Oct 2024 Conflicting
4 things to know
- Bait for a roadside caféVisit California says the park started as an enticement for customers to stop at Bell’s neighbouring restaurant, the Wheel Inn, which operated from the late 1950s until 2013. The Library of Congress catalogue note says the same: Bell made the dinosaurs to attract customers to his Wheel Inn Cafe. Visit California: How to See the Cabazon Dinosaurs · Library of Congress, LC-DIG-highsm-24447 Checked
- Planned in 1975In September 1975, the year Dinny, the 45-foot apatosaurus next door, opened, Palm Springs Life wrote that visitors would usually find Bell behind the counter inside it, and that he would point to a painting of a Tyrannosaurus rex on the wall and reveal that a life-size replica would be his next project. Palm Springs Life, 12 Oct 2024 Reported
- A sculptor from Knott’sBell had worked as a sculptor at Knott’s Berry Farm, where in the late 1940s he made concrete figures for the early Ghost Town, and before that he was known for sand sculptures in Atlantic City. Visit California says a giant concrete elephant there partly inspired the dinosaurs. SPACES Archives: Cabazon Dinosaurs · Visit California: How to See the Cabazon Dinosaurs Checked
- You can climb insideWith a ticket to Mr. Rex’s Dinosaur Adventure you enter near the tail and climb three flights of stairs into a small chamber in his head, then look out through his fenced-in teeth over the highway and the San Jacinto Mountains. Visit California: How to See the Cabazon Dinosaurs Checked
Where it is
- 📍
- At the Cabazon Dinosaurs, 50770 Seminole Drive, Cabazon, California 92230, right off Interstate 10 on the way to Palm Springs. SPACES Archives: Cabazon Dinosaurs · OpenStreetMap: Mr. Rex · Visit California: How to See the Cabazon Dinosaurs Checked
- 👀
- You can photograph him for free from the parking lot. In Google Street View from February 2026 he stands behind a wooden fence at the edge of the lot, painted bright green with blue stripes instead of the grey-beige in our photo; Visit California says the dinosaurs get fresh paint jobs for holidays. Google Street View, Feb 2026 · Visit California: How to See the Cabazon Dinosaurs Checked
- 🗓️
- Going inside costs money, and the sources give different prices: $15 for adults according to Visit California, $13 according to SPACES. Visit California: How to See the Cabazon Dinosaurs · SPACES Archives: Cabazon Dinosaurs Conflicting
Sightings
- 1975Sep
Planned as Bell’s next project
- 1981
Begun, according to SPACES
- 1986
Completed, according to SPACES
- 1996
Photographed by Robert Foster
- 2013
Photo by Carol M. Highsmith
- 2026Feb
Street View
Every stamp links to its source. The amber stamps are records, not sightings: Palm Springs Life’s September 1975 report, quoted in its 2024 article, that a life-size T. rex would be Bell’s next project, and the start (1981) and completion (1986) dates given by SPACES. The green stamps are dated pictures: Robert Foster’s 1996 photographs in the SPACES archive, Carol M. Highsmith’s 2013 photograph (the one on this page) and Google Street View imagery dated February 2026.
On the record
How Claude Bell Built the Cabazon Dinosaurs Near Palm Springs
“He will point to the painting of a Tyrannosaurus Rex on the wall to his right and reveal that building a life-size replica of it will be his next project.”
From the magazine’s September 1975 report on Bell and his newly finished Dinny, quoted in the 2024 article.
The facts
- Title
- Mr. Rex. SPACES Archives: Cabazon Dinosaurs · Visit California: How to See the Cabazon Dinosaurs · Library of Congress, LC-DIG-highsm-24447 Checked
- Artist
- Claude Bell (1897–1988), a former sculptor at Knott’s Berry Farm; the Library of Congress catalogue calls him Claude K. Bell, a Knott’s Berry Farm sculptor and portrait artist. SPACES Archives: Cabazon Dinosaurs · Library of Congress, LC-DIG-highsm-24447 Checked
- Year
- Begun in 1981 and completed in 1986 according to SPACES; Visit California says Mr. Rex debuted in 1986; Palm Springs Life says Bell finished him in the early ’80s. We lean to 1986: the art-environment archive and the state tourism site agree. SPACES Archives: Cabazon Dinosaurs · Visit California: How to See the Cabazon Dinosaurs · Palm Springs Life, 12 Oct 2024 Conflicting
- Size
- 65 feet tall. Visit California: How to See the Cabazon Dinosaurs Checked The photographer’s title on the Library of Congress photo calls him “a 100-ton Tyrannosaurus rex”. Library of Congress, LC-DIG-highsm-24447 Reported
- Materials
- Steel and concrete (Visit California); concrete, steel and shotcrete (SPACES). Visit California: How to See the Cabazon Dinosaurs · SPACES Archives: Cabazon Dinosaurs Checked
- Built for
- Drawing customers to Bell’s Wheel Inn restaurant, which operated from the late 1950s until 2013. Visit California: How to See the Cabazon Dinosaurs · Library of Congress, LC-DIG-highsm-24447 Checked
- Neighbour
- Dinny, the 45-foot-high apatosaurus Bell began in 1964 and opened in 1975, after 11 years of work. SPACES Archives: Cabazon Dinosaurs · Visit California: How to See the Cabazon Dinosaurs · Palm Springs Life, 12 Oct 2024 Checked
- On screen
- The Cabazon dinosaurs appeared in the 1985 film Pee-wee’s Big Adventure; Visit California also names The Wizard. SPACES Archives: Cabazon Dinosaurs · Palm Springs Life, 12 Oct 2024 · Visit California: How to See the Cabazon Dinosaurs Checked
- Place
- Cabazon Dinosaurs, 50770 Seminole Drive, Cabazon, California 92230; about 33.92074, -116.77287 (the centre of Mr. Rex’s outline on OpenStreetMap). SPACES Archives: Cabazon Dinosaurs · OpenStreetMap: Mr. Rex · Google Street View, Feb 2026 Checked
- Owner
- Bell died in 1988; his family sold the property in the mid-1990s, and new owners added the outdoor dinosaur museum in the early 2000s. SPACES Archives: Cabazon Dinosaurs · Visit California: How to See the Cabazon Dinosaurs Checked
- Status
- Standing: seen in Google Street View dated February 2026, repainted green and blue. Google Street View, Feb 2026 Checked
- Our photo
- By Carol M. Highsmith, 2013, Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-highsm-24447; the Library says her photographs are in the public domain, though photos of artworks may be restricted by the artist’s copyright. Library of Congress, LC-DIG-highsm-24447 · Library of Congress rights statement Checked
Related
- Only in America (11 Photos vol. 3): the SAU collection with Mr. Rex and other American roadside giants and public art
All sources (8)
Official
- Visit California: “How to See the Cabazon Dinosaurs”. 65-foot-tall Mr. Rex, the Wheel Inn, Knott’s Ghost Town, steel-and-concrete, Dinny 1975 and Mr. Rex 1986, the climb into the head, holiday paint jobs, prices.
Press
- Palm Springs Life: “How Claude Bell Built the Cabazon Dinosaurs Near Palm Springs”, by Emily Chavous Foster, 12 October 2024. Dinny’s construction, the 1975 report on Bell’s T. rex plan, Mr. Rex finished in the early ’80s, the 1985 film.
Photos
- Library of Congress: “Mr. Rex, a 100-ton Tyrannosaurus rex, one of several large, concrete dinosaurs in the town of Cabazon, west of Palm Springs, California”, by Carol M. Highsmith, 2013, LC-DIG-highsm-24447. Our hero photo; catalogue note on the Wheel Inn Cafe.
- Google Street View, Cabazon Dinosaurs, February 2026. Mr. Rex in place, painted green and blue.
Records
- SPACES Archives: “Cabazon Dinosaurs”. Claude Bell (1897–1988); Mr. Rex begun 1981, completed 1986; materials; address and coordinates; Robert Foster’s 1996 photographs.
- OpenStreetMap: Mr. Rex. Outline of the sculpture (tourism=artwork, artwork_type=statue) on Seminole Drive.
- Library of Congress: rights statement for the Carol M. Highsmith Archive. Her photographs are in the public domain; photos of artworks may be restricted by the artist’s copyright.
Street Art Utopia
- Street Art Utopia: “Only in America (11 Photos vol. 3)”, October 2026. The SAU post with this photo.
Artwork File · Last checked 22 October 2026 · Certainty labels follow How We Verify Art · All Artwork Files