In 1989 I was 11 and my life revolved around my NES. Unlike most normal children, I wasn’t out playing, I was in the basement trying to beat Zelda II and reading my Nintendo Power Magazines. As if my obsession weren’t already at it’s peak, a movie came out called “The Wizard” starring Fred Savage and Christian Slater (and a young Jenny Lewis) that was all about a few kids traveling to California to get to “Video Armegeddon”. I won’t go into the whole plot but basically Fred Savage’s little brother is some kind of autistic genius and he can kick anyone’s ass at any video game ever made. So on the run from his parents who want to keep his brother in a home for ‘mentally challenged’ kids, Corey (Fred), Jimmy (some kid), and Haley (Jenny) hatch a scheme to get Jimmy to this video game competition to win some cash. Don’t ask me what some 9-13 years old kidswould do with the cash…buy out all the Jordache jeans and friendship bracelets? Anyway, at one point in the movie they are all at a park in California that has big ass dinosaur statues, and aside from Universal Studios where they had Video Armegeddon, it’s the only recognizable place one could pay homage to the movie that has been ingrained in my mind since childhood. (Nevermind it was just one big Nintendo commercial…this is my childhood we’re talking about!)
A couple weeks ago Stacy and I took a week-long road trip to Reno, through San Francisco and then down to Los Angeles. I found out where this park is, and we took a little side trip out there. I figured all you people who grew up on the NES have seen this movie at least once, and would want a little report on my findings.
1. The Location
These huge dinosaur statues are located in Cabozon, California, which is a few miles west of Palm Springs. From Los Angeles, it’s about an hour’s drive. Cabozon’s main attraction is an outlet mall. This park is on the outskirts of the city (which apparently isn’t even a city anymore, read the Wikipedia entry) and is surrounded by a Burger King, a gas station, some kind of military convoy parking lot, and a couple restaurants. The day we were there it was 104 degrees and sunny. I imagine this is a typical summer day there.
2. The Dinosaurs’ History
The dinosaur statues were built by Claude Bell, who made sculptures for Knott’s Berry farm as a way to get people to come into the Wheel Inn Cafe (which serves a mad amount of homemade pie). The brontosaurus (named ‘Dinny’) houses a gift shop, and the T-Rex can be toured for $2 ($1 for kids). The gift shop was originally a museum featuring naturalist and evolutionary content…ironically it was purchased by a Christian family recently and it now promotes the ‘intelligent design theory’ of creationism. (Check out the Wikipedia Entry)
3. Finally, the fun movie stuff!
At one point in the movie Jimmy was hiding inside ‘Dinny’. When they find him he’s sitting there with his lunch box that he carries around all the time, and we finally get to see what was in the box. In the hiding spot in the gift shop, there now sits a lunch box with Jimmy Woods’ name on it. I don’t know if it’s an original, but I thought it was awesome to have that there for people like me who actually did look in the hiding spot Jimmy was found.
Across the street from the park, there’s Spanky’s BBQ Restaurant. If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll know that there is a trucker named Spanky that helps the kids get to California (and win some money at a casino). The restaurant looks pretty new so I don’t think the movie character got it’s name from here…but I wonder if the owners of the restaurant named it Spanky’s because of the movie? If not it’s an awesome coincidence.
The dinos also appeared in Pee-wee’s big adventure and in a Tears for Fears video.
Unfortunately I can’t find any clips on Youtube of a scene from The Wizard in this park, but for your viewing pleasure, here’s the best part of the movie: