When 15-year old Jerry Gauss made two playful dinosaur sculptures as a gift for his parents in 1959, he probably never imagined how popular they would become. He called them “Glarfs,” which meant “dwarf dinosaurs.”
Now 66 years later, the Glarfs have become landmarks in Bonita. Homecoming queens and newlyweds have their photos taken next to the dinosaurs, which stand by the parking lot of Bonita Village Center shopping mall near 4076 Bonita Road.
Crowds are expected to gather on April 12 at the Bonita Museum and Cultural Center to celebrate the restoration of the popular artworks. The event marks the completion of a three-year effort to rebuild and relocate the statues where they could be seen by everyone.
The $40,000 project was funded by donations from the community and largely by grants from County Supervisor Nora Vargas, which paid for work by artist Kelly Tracy to repair and reinforce the statues.
The April 12 event will feature a one-hour musical narrative about the Glarfs’ “adventurous lives,” performed by the Bonita Vista High School Music Machine and Sound Unlimited and South Bay musical theater artists, including Ella Aldridge, who wrote Bonita’s hometown song, “Home in Bonita.”
It has become a tradition for the newly crowned Miss Bonita to have her picture taken with the Bonita Glarfs. The cartoon-like dinosaurs with their whimsical expressions have appeared in local ads and websites. They even ended up on a rock album cover and a Pokemon Go game. There is a musical about them, called “When Dinosaurs Roamed the Valley.”
The Glarfs have names. Rangui is 6 feet tall and blue with a short dinosaur tail and human-like face — she has a wide smile and green eyes. Her 5-foot-tall yellow companion, Rumbi, has his mouth open, showing sharp teeth — it looks like maybe he’s saying something. He has big black and white eyes.
The Glarfs were popular from the start, displayed at Valley Road and Sweetwater Road at the Gauss family’s home. Jerry died in an automobile accident at age 19, but Rumbi and Rangui remained.
In 1969, the dinosaurs disappeared from that spot because Jerry’s parents moved to Chula Vista, where they took the dinosaurs.
In 1999 Jerry’s sister, Nancy Gauss Williams, was helping their elderly mother move away from the area to Northern California and wanted the Glarfs to return to Bonita. She asked Chula Vista police officer Tom Everett, a Glarf fan and local history buff, to adopt Rumbi and Rangui and move them back to Bonita. Everett arranged to display them at Bonita Village Center shopping mall.
Everett and some friends rented equipment and a heavy flatbed truck to transport the statues. But Rangui fell and was damaged. So Everett hired an engineering firm to move Rumbi to a berm at Bonita Village Center shopping mall. The move drew attention from local TV and newspapers. The Glarfs have been spotlighted over the years in Ken Kramer’s “About San Diego” series and several other broadcasts.
Proceeds from a popular Bonitafest musical about Rangui and Rumbi, “When Dinosaurs Roamed the Valley,” were used to repair and rebuild Rangui in 2006 with the help of artist Kelly Tracy.
The Glarfs suffered accidental damage again in fall 2021.
There was a lot of concern in the community and people wanted to help restore the popular statues. The local Kiwanis club, which is full of Glarf fans, including former Supervisor Greg Cox, shoveled truckloads of dirt to reinstall the Glarfs on a berm.
“Legions of folks in the Sweetwater Valley and Chula Vista love the Glarfs because they are landmarks and one-of-a-kind local treasures. They are probably the most famous local landmark, eclipsing even the Sweetwater Dam (1888) and Bonita Store (1884),” said Glarf fan Max Branscomb, who has been part of the restoration efforts and who composed the musical.
Several songs from the musical will be performed at the free community celebration at 11 a.m. on April 12 at the Bonita Museum, 4355 Bonita Road.