Located just west of Palm Springs, the 150-foot-long (46 m) Brontosaurus and the 65-foot-tall (20 m) Tyrannosaurus rex are visible from the freeway to travelers passing by on Southern California's Interstate 10.

[2] Sculptor and theme park artist Claude Bell began construction of the dinosaurs in 1964 with the goal of attracting more customers to his nearby restaurant, the Wheel Inn (open from 1958 to 2013).

[5][6] Claude K. Bell (1896–1988) began his artistic career as a teenager sculpting teddy bears in the sand on the beach at Atlantic City, New Jersey in front of a wooden building that was shaped like an elephant.

"[12] Steel and cement for the project were salvaged from the freeway, after a flash flood rendered them unusable for official state construction.

[13] Bell worked with engineer Ralph Titus to weld steel girders into the "ribs" of the dinosaur and then to wrap the structure with wire to form the shape of the skin.

"[12][14] His original vision for Dinny was for the dinosaur's eyes to glow and mouth to spit fire at night, predicting, "It'll scare the dickens out of a lot of people driving up over the pass.

[22] In December 2004, Kanter's wife Denise posted to the website Revolution Against Evolution, announcing plans to build a museum at the site to promote young Earth creationism.

[23] Plans for the museum called for a replica of Noah's Ark, a maze, a giant sand pit, and an exhibit presenting arguments for and against evolution.

"[5] Visiting the site in 2008, creationism critic Troy Britain reported the installation of new dinosaur sculptures, as well as signage promoting creationist talking points.

[24] Bell's frescoes depicting human evolution were left intact, despite inscriptions that are incompatible with the young Earth time scale (e.g., "Peking Man 200,000 [years ago]").

Other activities at the site include a sand pit where visitors can experience a "dino dig"[25] as well as a gemstone and fossil-panning sluice.