Towering T-rex spotted in SLO County town. What is the dinosaur sculpture doing there?
There’s a prehistoric new presence in Cambria’s downtown business district.
A welded-steel sculpture of a dinosaur stands nearly roof high at 1561 Main St., alongside a building that Pismo Beach Surf Shop owner Bill Bookout hopes to open soon as a store specializing in surf, bicycle, e-bike and kayak rental and sales.
The metal Tyrannosaurus rex appears to be in a running stance as it heads toward the main drag.
That’s compared many of the dino sculptures that Bookout has had at his Pismo Beach store, which stand upright.
The as-yet unnamed replica T. rex in Cambria is probably female, but the shop owner’s not sure, he said with a chuckle.
The sculpture arrived in Cambria in June, much to the amusement of some residents and consternation of others.
Soon thereafter, photographer Michele Sherman of Cambria took the Facebook humor level up a notch by taking the T. rex’s image “on the road” — placing its image in front of various shops and positioning it peering over the shoulder of Heidi Huff of Cambria Vacation Rentals.
Dinosaur sculptures draw attention
According to Bookout, his steely reptiles always attract a lot of attention from children, their parents and other adults.
If those family groups go into his Pismo Beach business to browse, rent or buy surf equipment, then the sculptures have served their marketing purpose well, above and beyond the amusement factor.
However, the shop owner said, “I just want people to have fun with them.”
The dinosaur sculptures are shiny when Bookout buys them from various makers, but quickly acquire their rusty patina.
They come in a variety of sizes. Some are considerably smaller than his Cambria critter, which was likely made by Gilbert Rodriguez from Ontario, and some substantially taller, he said.
Most tend to be in a more upright “attack” position, Bookout said.
“Adopting the dinosaurs,” as he describes it, costs about $450 for smaller sculptures to $3,000 or more for the big ones.
One customer in rural Arroyo Grande “bought at least 10 of them, and completely transformed Huasna with them,” Bookout said.
“There are a couple of 4-foot-tall ones inside the Cambria shop,” being stored there until the store can open, he said, “and I have probably 30 of sculptures stored on my Pismo property.”
Pismo Beach Surf Shop, 470 Price Street, in Pismo, also sells a variety of other critters, Bookout said, “including deer, giraffes and horses.”
The entrepreneur said the Cambria dino isn’t up for adoption yet, because the North Coast business isn’t open yet.
Bookout said he hopes to have San Luis Obispo County’s code-enforcement issues with his plans solved soon, so he can open the shop he described in May to the North Coast Advisory Council members as “surf shop, bike rentals, fishing tackle, yard art, a little bit of everything.”
