Some years ago Jose Gonzalez encountered a triceratops for sale at an auction. He thought it would look good in his backyard and bought it. Then he decided to move it in front of his store. Gonzalez is a real estate investor and builder but also acts as a liquidator of clothing lines which haven’t sold as enthusiastically as they were marketed.

When Steve Simonian took the city manager’s job in Bell Gardens, he drove past the triceratops regularly and wondered if there was a way to secure it for the Children’s Museum’s outdoor dinosaur garden exhibit. He thought it would look just perfect among the reeds and near the footprints. One day he told his assistant to call Mr. Gonzalez and asked him if he would sell it.

Gonzalez agreed to sell it for $2,500. Then he heard it was for the children of La Habra and the visitors to the Children’s Museum. He thought about all the family groups who had stopped at his store to have their photos taken with the dinosaur and the children who love to pose next to its head, and he donated it to the Museum.

“Mr. Simonian told me what he wanted to do and I told him I wouldn’t sell it, but I would give it to him. I didn’t expect it to look so nice. Then there’s my name in stone right by it,” Gonzalez said. Then he added, “Whenever I come across something I think the Museum can use, I’ll give you guys a call.”

Asked why, he simply says, “Because it would be for the kids— that’s what motivated me—it’s for the kids.”

Jose Gonzalez, members of his family, the La Habra City Council, Mayor Steve Simonian and the board of the Children’s Museum were all on hand for the dedication of the Triceratops which took place at its new home. Mr. Gonzalez was very impressed with how good she/he looked all freshly painted standing in the midst of Portola Park welcoming children to the museum.

The Children’s Museum plans to hold a Name-The-Dinosaur contest in the very near future, but Mayor Simonian has already voiced a preference for the name ‘Sarah’ as it is a tri-cera-tops dinosaur.