AGUANGA, Calif. — Metal monsters have taken over a hillside above Highway 79 in the town of Aguanga due east of the Temecula Valley.
Dinosaurs, tigers and even aliens; the inspiration behind Ricardo Breceda’s Outdoor Art Gallery is endless. His rusty metal sculpture display is open to the public, but be prepared to do some walking because his work spans several acres.
“It’s in my head! 23 years of working on this, I can see one thing all around,” said Breceda. “I have over 1,000 pieces.”
You will often find Breceda and his team of welders working on their latest creations. Each piece is hand built out in the open so visitors can watch.
“Ooh, hours! Every day, Monday through Friday we build things,” said Breceda when asked how often he and his crew work on the statues.
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Before metal sculpting, Breceda was a cowboy boot salesman. After watching the movie Jurassic Park, his daughter asked for a dinosaur, so he traded a pair of boots for a welder.
“The first thing that my daughter wanted was a T-Rex dinosaur,” said Breceda.
Breceda ended up building a 20-foot-tall T-Rex and several other dinosaurs to go with it. Those sculptures caught the attention of landowner Dennis Avery who commissioned Breceda to build 130 sculptures for a desert gallery in Borrego Springs now known as Galleta Meadows.
“[It took] six, eight years to do it but a lot of people were impressed by Galleta Meadows,” said Breceda.
Today, Breceda makes custom sculptures for people all over the world and you can view the collection for free on your next road trip.
Another metal sculpture garden on the backroads: Two brothers make a crazy roadside scrap metal art installation.
