Rainbow Rock Shop Dinosaurs

Today all across Holbrook one can find giant statues of dinosaurs in front of stores. They near Petrified Forest National Park, where dinosaur remains have also been found. (Such real dinosaurs are exhibited at the Rainbow Forest Museum inside the park.) Furthermore, the city's location on Route 66 naturally draws tourists eager to snap photos of roadside attractions.

The first and largest group of mock dinosaurs is at a rockhounding shop south edge of town, surrounded outdoors by an unbelievably large array of petrified wood. They are the work of owner Adam Luna, a welder and amateur "jack-of-all-trades" who first constructed a brontosaurus in 1986. His process involved first building a steel skeleton which be surrounded by rebar netting and a painted concrete outer shell. Positively received by tourists, Luna went on to build more than 11 dinosaurs that now stand outside his store by 2000. The tallest is a larger brontosaurus standing at 25 feet, still a fraction of the real animal's size. He intentionally painted the dinosaurs cartoonishly and smoothly in order to avoid frightening children.

Luna's statues were successful enough to inspire numerous copycats around town, especially at other petrified wood shops. Some were even made by his own assistants, earning his ire. There was even an International Dinosaur Park where one could drive by various dinosaur models; although it has since closed its statues have moved elsewhere. However, few of these other dinosaurs manage to recreate the unusually smooth concrete skin of the original ones. Luna also made another dinosaur for the Moon Lite Barbershop, run by his son Daniel.