How did this dinosaur become one of Austin's most famous residents?

There’s a longhorn skull nestled within cacti. Not too out of place at Barton Springs Road and Lamar Boulevard, no. 

Nearby, you find a taco the size of a golden retriever. Still par for the course. Except … there’s a bug on top. And she's kind of sexy, in a Betty Boop way? She has a microphone, and she's wearing pumps.  

That’s not even mentioning the Goliath-sized clown head popping up out of the ground, or the polka-dotted dogs coated in kaleidoscope colors. You aren’t having a Timothy Leary moment. Strange things are afoot at Peter Pan Mini Golf, just like they’ve always been. Thank goodness. 

Barely a mile from the famous bats on Congress Avenue live 24 weird, whimsical sculptures, also part of this city’s menagerie of icons. Newcomers walking to Austin City Limits Music Festival or catching a scooter ride into downtown might wonder what’s up with the looming dinosaur on the property, or the ever-vigilant lost boy dressed in green. (Once noticing that giant, a person may suddenly recall the taste of green beans, even if they can’t quite place why. More on that later.)  

Perhaps even longtime residents never questioned where Peter Pan’s golf-goyles came from. They’ve been here just as long, or longer, than a lot of locals. 

More Austin's Secret Origins:What's the story behind the giant blue sunflowers at Mueller?

What's the story behind Peter Pan's sculptures? 

Before Teslas roamed the streets of Austin, a T. rex reigned over South Austin.

In some form, Peter Pan Mini Golf's charming course has welcomed Austinites of all ages since Harry Truman was president. For generations of residents, the place has simply always been there. With the city in the midst of yet another cycle of change and boom, which often feels like a nice word for institutions getting priced out of their longtime homes, that’s increasingly hard to come by.  

Margaret Dismukes Massad, whose father Glenn helped start the business, co-owns Peter Pan Mini Golf with three other family members these days. Her husband, Julio Massad, manages the operations. 

“A lot of people are shocked when they find out it’s been owned by the same family continuously since 1948,” Julio Massad tells the American-Statesman. 

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The golf course opened in 1948. Back then, it was called Varsity Links. Clifford Dismukes got things started; his brothers Jack and Glenn helped welcome amateur club-swingers shortly after. Sometime around the late 1950s or early ‘60s — “Before my time,” says Margaret Dismukes Massad — they renamed the course Peter Pan Mini Golf. 

“Dad just loved the whole fantasy aspect of Peter Pan,” Dismukes says. “I think he loved that you never grow up.” 

Originally, the family operated a single 18-hole course, designed by Glenn Dismukes. The course’s current layout has double the holes.

Glenn Dismukes created the original sculptures, too. It was a passion project, his daughter says: “He was artistic as a hobby.” The first statue on the course was the shoe. Glenn Dismukes created its original iteration in the ‘50s. Larger statues came to live on the course in the ‘60s and ‘70s. 

Inspiration came from everywhere. Glenn Dismukes visually modeled the namesake Peter Pan statue — 13 feet tall kneeling — after vegetable mascot the Jolly Green Giant, an obvious resemblance once you realize it. He created a small clay sculpture in his garage first, and then scaled it up. 

“A lot of them, he would go to the local little dime store and pick up little ceramic figurines or piggy banks,” Margaret Dismukes Massad says of her father's modeling process. The course’s pig and dog statues both originated that way. 

The course's 22-foot-tall dinosaur might be the most famous. Most celebrities have names, though.

“We just call him T. rex,” Margaret Dismukes Massad says.

Her father, fascinated by dinosaurs, would often attend exhibitions about the thunder lizards. (“I have a lot of old pictures from the ‘60s of him at these dinosaur shows,” she says.) Before the full-size T. rex terrorized/delighted South Austin, Glenn Dismukes created a smaller brontosaurus statue at home. 

“We were the only kids on the street with a dinosaur in the backyard,” Margaret Dismukes Massad says. 

Getting the dinosaur to Peter Pan Mini Golf was a huge project. It was so big that the family brought the statue over as a wide load in the middle of the night. The dinosaur’s tail had to be cut off, moved in separately and reattached.  

The statues are built over metal armatures, which are covered in poly foam and then cement. And, of course, painted in Technicolor hues.  

Local artist and native Austinite Cheryl Latimer helps maintain the statues, Margaret Dismukes Massad says. Around 2011, Latimer started restoring some of the original statues and sculpting original works now featured at the course, like a Texas-themed totem pole and a replica of the Pennybacker Bridge.  

And Peter Pan? He’s actually grown up just a little in almost 75 years. Latimer gave him an Adam’s apple a few years back. 

How did Peter Pan Mini Golf become an Austin landmark?

Those statues might be Austin’s most popular party guests. 

“It is the ultimate first date experience,” Margaret Dismukes Massad says. People have called the family to arrange proposals years after those first dates, with an engagement ring hidden in Neverland. One couple planned a big wedding for April 2020. When the pandemic stymied their big day, they instead got married at Zilker Park and held a small outdoor reception at Peter Pan. 

Along with Tex-Mex restaurant El Arroyo and the Paramount Theatre, Peter Pan has one of the city’s most famous signs, too. For decades, the mini golf course’s marquee, displayed prominently on Barton Springs, has been cherished real estate for a kid celebrating their big day. 

“It was there in the ‘60s in a different form,” Dismukes says, adding that the original marquee was on a sawhorse stand. She attributes the rotating birthday messages to her father’s imagination. 

The years changed very little at Peter Pan. The family made some renovations and added new coats of paint. Before the pandemic, the course accepted only cash. A couple of employees bemoaned the introduction of credit card and their touch-free ways in the past couple years. 

"That was part of the old-school vibe,” Margaret Dismukes Massad says.

People visit the course from all over the world, Julio Massad says, so Peter Pan now sells merchandise.  

“We’ve had generations of people take pictures in the exact same spot,” he says. “Like, here they were as a kid in the ‘80s, and then they take a picture in 2021. Here they are with their own kids. ... A lot of history and tradition and nostalgia.” 

Peter Pan missed out on spring break business in 2020; that’s usually the busiest time of the year. But things are going strong, Margaret Dismukes Massad says, and the course weathered the pandemic with an explosion of birthday parties and corporate events. “Our rebound has been incredible. People feel comfortable. It’s outside,” she says.  

She pegs the appeal of Peter Pan to a simple concept: It doesn’t change. Prices are low. The menu has soda, water and snow cones. It's B.Y.O.B, too. No new-fangled mechanical attractions or technological innovations. It’s just old-school mini golf, she says, and people love the continuity of coming back. 

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Continuity is in short supply in Austin. As new businesses spring up all around them and old hallmarks slip away, the family has no intention of Peter Pan going away. 

“We’re there as long as customers want us and love us,” Julio Massad says.  

“It’s really 'Keep Austin Weird' at its best,” Margaret Dismukes Massad says. 

About this story

Hey, what's that thing? Where did that come from? As Austin welcomes new neighbors (hello, y'all), and as us locals start to wonder about things we've taken for granted, Austin360's Eric Webb is on the case in a series of Austin's Secret Origins. Email ewebb@statesman.com with origin questions.

About Peter Pan Mini Golf

Where: 1207 Barton Springs Road.

Open: Winter hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday. Last tickets sold 45 minutes before closing.

Cost: From $6 to $12, depending on age and number of holes played. Group rates available.

Information: peterpanminigolf.com