Listen here:
If you gas up at the Sinclair station in Yucca Valley, perhaps you or a younger passenger noticed a vacancy on the corner of the station – the Sinclair dinosaur has gone missing.
The small concrete dino resembling a brachiosaur used to sit on the corner of Fox Trail and HWY 62, next to the the sign advertising the constantly fluctuating gas prices.
No – it wasn’t stolen – and there isn’t any magic afoot that made the dinosaur get up and walk away. The cause of this crustaceous-era caper is nothing more than city code. A manager at the gas station told Z107.7 that the Town of Yucca Valley said that the sign needed to be moved due to its proximity to the street. When asked if the dino statue could be moved away from the street to the opposite side of the lot, the city said that wouldn’t work either.
So currently – there’s no dino at the Sinclair – which could be potentially devastating for any hi-desert children (or reporters) who love seeing the small-sized sauropod on gas fill-ups.
Luckily, some privately owned dinos can fill the void if you are hankering to see a reminder of the terrible lizards that used to stomp around the Morongo Basin. There are plenty of dino-themed yard art speckling our communities. If you know of a good spot in the hi desert to peep some prehistoric statues, email us your snap at [email protected]
Edit: A previous version of the story stated that the dinos near the Animal Action League on HWY 62 were still standing – however a reader pointed out that they were taken down last month.
