The landmark Wheel Inn Restaurant is just a pile of broken timbers and rubble, having fallen victim to vandals and changing building codes and finally toppled by heavy equipment earlier this month, its future development plans not public yet.

Cabazon residents mourned the restaurant’s demise in Facebook posts as word spread about the fate of the eatery that closed to diners in 2013. They reminisced about working there and first dates, sharing wishes it could have been fixed up and reopened and remembering the food, like fried chicken and pie.

That year, the last in a series of owners said the costs of maintaining the more than half-century-old building were high, with a busy weekend crowd but slower weekdays and the Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa and nearby fast-food restaurants along I-10 eating into the bottom line.

The property, separately owned from the Cabazon Dinosaurs museum and prehistoric models, was put on the market to sell. The for-sale-or-lease banner was taken down in September 2015 because of ongoing damage to the building, including break-ins.

Sam Spinello, described as a managing member of Dinosaur Park LLC, sold the property to Imperial Consultants Inc. of Imperial, with the grant deed recorded Nov. 4, according to Riverside County property records.

A demolition permit was issued Nov. 28 to applicant Westmorland Date Shake of Brawley, and a box truck with that name was parked on the site last week. There are a date grove and a fast-food restaurant that serves the shakes in the town of Westmorland.

A man who identified himself only as Joe when he answered the phone number on the permit application declined to comment on development plans until they are drafted, possibly in January.

The vertical “EAT” sign remains standing, for now.

Claude Bell, who sculpted statues at Knott’s Berry Farm, built the Wheel Inn during the early 1960s and created the dinosaur sculptures as his life’s work.

With the restaurant building gone, the huge tyrannosaurus and apatosaurus sculptures, part of the Cabazon Dinosaurs gift shop and museum, are more visible from Seminole Drive and the freeway. The attraction remains open daily.

A gas station accessible to trucks and a fast-food restaurant remain in operation on either side of the demolition site.

Between the restaurant and the dinosaurs, the Seminole Drive location became a backdrop for music videos and films, including “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.”

October’s Desert Trip music festival, referred to as “Oldchella” because of the veteran performers, did include a dinosaur reference by Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger. “We’re looking forward to seeing the dinosaur park,” Jagger was quoted as saying in an Associated Press account.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9075 or gwesson@scng.com

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Landmark Wheel Inn serves its last slice of pie

Why the iconic Wheel Inn closed

Kitchy ‘dinosaur diner’ could face wrecking ball

Wheel Inn gets stay of demolition

Selfies with the Cabazon dinosaurs