Who says that California Adventure only has imitations of things that California is known for?

There’s something at California Adventure that’s the “real deal.” It’s 100% genuine, and it’s up in the sky, shining brightly onto the park—the California sun.

It’s a good idea to protect your eyes from the intense sunshine. So head over to Dinosaur Jack’s Sunglass Shack. Look for the smiling, 33-foot-tall, pink Apatosaurus with the yellow spots. (If you’re a baby boomer, you probably know this type of dinosaur as a Brontosaurus.)

Although the exterior harkens back to the 1930s or 1940s, the interior is harder to classify. It combines old-fashioned wood paneling with a 21st century approach to the ceiling, lighting, and artwork.

Okay, maybe the interior doesn’t make you feel as if you’ve gone back to Route 66 in the era before Interstate highways. But consider buying some sunglasses anyway.

Your eyes will thank you.

Dinosaur Jack’s Sunglass Shack was one of the original shops at Disney’s California Adventure when the park opened in February 2001. The Sunglass Shack, Souvenir 66, Corn Dog Castle, and Mulholland Madness were the main features of the Route 66 section of Paradise Pier.

The Sunglass Shack didn’t look like a real Apatosaurus. That was on purpose. Unlike the dinosaur structures that sculptor Claude Bell created along Interstate-10 in Cabazon after retiring from Knott’s Berry Farm, the Sunglass Shack was not supposed to be proportioned and shaped like a real dinosaur. It was meant to evoke California’s “programmatic roadside vernacular architecture,” which gave California buildings shaped like a giant dog, frog, owl, doughnut, or other non-traditional building shapes, designed by people who weren’t trained architects.

Unfortunately, the Sunglass Shack didn’t come across as a nostalgic nod to the past. For that matter, the Route 66 corner of Paradise Pier didn’t look like a highway either.

In October 2006, the pink dinosaur became a green dinosaur, thanks to a fresh coat of paint. Along with the new color, the dinosaur’s spots changed from something that looked like a skin condition to something that looked like large freckles on his back.

In late May 2009, the bright green dinosaur was penned in behind a construction wall. Dinosaur Jack’s Sunglass Shack closed permanently. The shores of Paradise Bay were on their way to becoming a charming, Victorian style seaside amusement resort, and a garish roadside dinosaur didn’t belong there.

At another Disney theme park, another dinosaur-shaped building has been around since 1989. It’s the much more agreeable Dinosaur Gertie’s Ice Cream of Extinction at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Gertie is not only a tribute to California’s “programmatic roadside vernacular architecture,” but also to Winsor McCay’s 1914 animated Gertie the Dinosaur, a short subject that inspired Walt Disney and other artists of his generation to pursue film animation.

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© 2009-2012 Werner Weiss — Disclaimers, Copyright, and Trademarks

Updated July 10, 2012.

Photo of Sunglass Shack exterior, pink: 2002 by Allen Huffman.
Photo of Sunglass Shack interior: 2007 by Werner Weiss.
Photo of Sunglass Shack art: 2007 by Werner Weiss.
Photo of Sunglass Shack ceiling: 2007 by Werner Weiss.
Photo of Sunglass Shack fascia with vintage-look signs: 2007 by Werner Weiss.
Photo of Sunglass Shack sunglasses display: 2007 by Werner Weiss.
Photo of Sunglass Shack mirrors: 2007 by Werner Weiss.
Photo of Sunglass Shack face, green: 2007 by Werner Weiss.
Photo of Sunglass Shack sign: 2007 by Werner Weiss.
Photo of Sunglass Shack facing Mulholland Madness: 2009 by Allen Huffman.
Photo of Dinosaur Gertie’s Ice Cream of Extinction at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 2007 by Werner Weiss.