Parks and Rex: The roadside dinosaur of St. Petersburg, Florida

 There's some nice patio work behind this fellow but now it's going to seed.

 Not sure what this hole is for, unless this guy was mechanical and needed some maintenance.

 Zoned C-2...that must mean large concrete dinosaur mascot allowed.

 We are family...I've got all my sisters with me.

There's friendly green roadside greeter along 66th Street in St. Petersburg, Florida, just waiting for someone to adopt him. We're a little uncertain how this coelurosaurian theropod wound up in this spot...perhaps he was a hold-over mascot from a mini golf course or other fun venue, but he appears to have last been employed by the Florida Brick and Paver Company, who apparently pave no more here, as the "For Lease" notice covering their sign would indicate. Could this happy green fellow be going, well, the way of the dinosaur? Let's hope not because he is a delight to behold, with his intricate scale work and cheerful toothless grin, not to mention the large, white cartoony bone he appears to be using as a jaunty walking cane. Perhaps if someone leases the property, the owners will thrown him in at no extra cost...wouldn't that be an enticement? Whatever business moves in would certainly get our patronage for keeping such a sight for 'saur eyes.

A 'saur standing there: Harold's, the dinosaur-shaped auto garage of Spring Hill, Florida

As if the real, live mermaids of Weeki Wachee (see previous post) weren't enough to coax you to the mid-Gulf coast of Florida, there's another fantasmagorical attraction to lure you in. Harold's Auto Center of Spring Hill is housed in a giant dinosaur named Dino. Back in 1964, a Sinclair gas station took their green reptilian logo to real extremes by erecting a 47-foot tall, 110-foot long apatosaurus. Though no longer a Sinclair station, Dino still stands today with googly eyes and a goofy smile to greet all motorists on busy Route 19 in need of tune-ups, batteries and brakes. Harold's has been in business since 1977 and boasts of all the latest technological automotive diagnostic advances ("although we are inside a dinosaur, we stay up to date with what your vehicle needs"). I know if I lived in the area, I would be raptored with joy every time I drove past such an outrageously eccentric establishment. So if you're in the area and having car trouble, bring your "car Rex" to Harold's -- they're a sight for 'saur eyes and tricera-tops in our book.