RETAIL : Dinosaurs Lumber Into Crystal Court for Really Big Show
If you thought that the Crystal Court mall was headed toward extinction, check out the latest marketing ploy to try to revive it. It’s downright Mesozoic.
The mall, which has had loomed for years like a slothful brontosaurus compared to the Tyrannosaurus rex -like activity of neighboring South Coast Plaza, is being turned over to the dinosaurs.
Life-size, animated dinosaur models are on display through this weekend. Children can push a lever to move the giant reptiles’ heads, legs, eyes and mouths.
On Saturday, paleontologist Robert Bakker , author of “The Dinosaur Heresies,†will teach children how to draw the creatures. The mall will host a free musical salute to the long-gone creatures, which will be repeated on Sunday. It will be staged at 1 p.m., 2:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday and at 1 p.m. Sunday.
In putting on the dinosaur display, the mall is trying to make a break with its image as a snooty enclave of high-priced boutiques and to establish itself as more of a mainstream, family-oriented mall.
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