ranchos
Rancho Los Cerritos is a
sprawling, shaded property tucked away in the exclusive Virginia Country
Club Estates situated on a golf course. Just a 10-minute exit from the San
Diego Freeway Long Beach Boulevard exit, visitors will be amazed at this
treasure that you hardly would know exists, if not for a few small signs on
the freeway and street leading to the rancho.
A 27,000 acre rancho was once part of an
18th Century Spanish land grant to soldier Manuel Nieto. The Monterey-style
adobe was constructed in 1844 and served the Temple and Bixby families as
headquarters for large-scale cattle and sheep ranching operations in the
19th Century. In the 1880's the land was subdivided for farming and city
development.
Rancho Los Cerritos Historic Site is a
public museum today but was built in 1844 as the adobe home and grounds for
Spanish, Mexican and American families who helped transform Southern
California from its ranching beginnings to a modern, urban society. The
ranch includes a two-story Monterey-style adobe dating to the 1860s. Inside
the museum is a gift store, archival library and rancho house open for
tours. Outside on the Rancho grounds are
lovely gardens and trees
offering not only shade, but a glimpse into an earlier way of life.
Listed as a National, State and Long Beach Historic Landmark, Rancho Los
Cerritos is owned by the City of Long Beach and operated through the
Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine. Trained volunteers provide tours
and donate time to promote programs at Rancho Los Cerritos. In the
summer months visitors can take specially-themed days such as the
summer garden tours.
When you visit this
rancho, you'll learn about and view collections with more than 1,000
clothing and textiles artifacts from the 1830s to 1930s. The museum rancho
facility also includes over 1,100 historic photographs of the rancho and its
occupants, maps, letters, deeds and documents relating to the site.
Decorated with Bixby family heirloom furniture and antiques, items on
display include an 1866 deed transferring ownership of Rancho Los
Cerritos to Flint, Bixby & Co. An 1870s velocipede (child's horse tricycle),
1872 Howe treadle sewing machine, 1882 California-style stock saddle and
countless irreplaceable treasures.
One of two ranchos
tourists can visit in Long Beach (the other is Rancho Los Alamitos), Rancho
Los Cerritos is registered as a state archaeologically-significant site. The
grounds under and surrounding the adobe are rich in historical
archaeological materials with trash pits from the 1840s-50s and cogged
stones dating 5,000 to 7,000 years in age.
The Rancho includes California History Research Library, a 3,000+ book
collection on California history cataloged through the Long Beach Public
Library. The research library is available during public hours or by
appointment. Archives contain original documents, maps, blueprints,
photographs and sound and image recordings directly associated with the
Rancho and its owners, occupants and workers. Highlights include the Sarah
Bixby Smith Manuscript Collection, Llewellyn Bixby, Jr. Manuscript
collection, a series of 1872 stereograph cards of Rancho Los Cerritos by
William Godfrey of Los Angeles, photographs of the site from 1872 through
the 1940s, and architectural blueprints of the adobe during the 1930
remodel.
