The New, Improved Godzilla

It used to be, when you dropped by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County at Exposition Park for a look at the dinosaurs, you had to settle for mere bones.

Awesomely big bones, most of them recovered from the nearby La Brea tar pits. Impressively mounted bones, reconstructing the entire skeletons of the huge beasts. But still, mere bones.

Not any more.

Since December, the museum has been displaying 13 roaring, wriggling, eye-blinking, tail-wagging dinosaurs, guaranteed to make you forget all about those lizards that played starring roles in the old Japanese science fiction movies.

These dinosaurs are also Japanese--mechanized, full-scale, accurate models built by Kokoro Co. Ltd., of Tokyo. There’s a three-horned triceratops, an armor-plated stegosaurus, a lumbering apatosaurus and--most popular with the kiddies--the voracious, meat-eating Tyrannosaurus rex.

T. rex stands an imposing 23-feet, 3-inches tall; apatosaurus, formerly known as brontosaurus, stretches out a full 34 feet.

The display will continue at the museum through March 18. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for students and seniors and $1 for children.