Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
Roxborough-Manayunk residents have ushered the latest tale into the Philadelphia canon with the proliferation of 3-foot-tall, 300-pound concrete Tyrannosaurus rexes on neighborhood lawns. Or \u201cTyrannosaurus Rox,\u201d as some say.<\/p>\n
People outside the neighborhood may have heard of the lawn ornaments after the toppling and decapitation of \u201cBridget the Dino,\u201d one of the community\u2019s favored dinosaur statues, last year (a new dinosaur<\/a>, Manny, soon took over Bridget\u2019s watch of the Manayunk Bridge Garden). <\/p>\n But questions remained about why the neighborhood is drawn to these toddler-sized lawn creatures, leading one Mount Airy resident, Liz Pride, to undertake an unofficial survey of dozens of dino statue owners<\/a> in Northwest Philadelphia.<\/p>\n \u201cGoing into this project, I was just really curious about the people who own the statues,\u201d Pride said. \u201cI think one of the things I was surprised by is that children were not a big factor in people deciding to get one.\u201d<\/p>\n Of the 40 dino statue owners who responded, 19 live in Roxborough<\/a> and six in Manayunk<\/a>, with a handful more from East Mount Airy<\/a>, East Falls<\/a>, Germantown<\/a>, and the Philly collar counties, giving Pride a geographical range. Her survey also got responses from Pittsburgh, New Jersey, and even as far as Massachusetts.<\/p>\n Pride soon found that the dino statues connect neighbors through an inside joke shared on morning commutes and afternoon walks as they pass painted and costumed dinosaurs, whether it\u2019s Hans and Roberta one day, or Steve and Sir Salvatore Rexington another (yes, those are real names of Roxborough dinos).<\/p>\n Dinosaur owners are committed to the bit, since each statue costs roughly $200, depending on the model.<\/p>\n \u201cThe statues seem to bring joy to everyone that comes across them to either snap a pic or make them a part of their daily walk. It\u2019s kids, their parents, adults, and dogs alike, all love them,\u201d said Melissa Hojnacki, who has a Roxborough-style dino at her Bridgeport home.<\/p>\n Just over half of respondents said they knew someone else with a dino statue, and at least a third said they were pressured into it by a friend or gifted the statue, Pride found, which she detailed in her newsletter blog \u201cUr Fictional Boyfriend<\/a>\u201d (a nod to her viral Tumblr post that garnered its own Wikipedia page<\/a> covering the joke).<\/p>\n Becca Didio, a Manayunk resident and parent to Roberta, a T. rex draped in a hula skirt, coconut bikini top, and flamingo sunglasses, said she got Roberta simply because she loves dinosaurs. In her kitchen sits a dinosaur cookie jar containing tea bags named \u201cTea-rex\u201d and a salt-and-pepper shaker set with bow tie-wearing T. rex.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just something fun and goofy,\u201d Didio said. \u201cIt\u2019s become a thing that Manayunk-Roborough is known for, so much so that it\u2019s a coveted thing now.\u201d<\/p>\n