Rancho Los Cerritos (RLC), known for its well-preserved adobe, turned 175 in 2019, and the year is filled with a slate of special events to celebrate the anniversary, according to organizers with the rancho.
Throughout 2019, rotating exhibits in RLC’s library will reflect on the history of Long Beach and the rancho. And a series of special anniversary-related events will culminate on Sept. 28 with a festival, complete with activities, art, music and more.
“During the last 175 years, Rancho Los Cerritos has borne witness to the creation of Long Beach as we know it,” said Alison Bruesehoff, RLC executive director. “And the rancho reflects the diverse history of all the people who lived in and around Long Beach from the mid-19th century through the 1930s.”
After marrying a relative of the Nieto family– the original recipients of the land grant in 1784– John Temple constructed the Monterey-style adobe home. The 27,000-acre ranch reached from present-day Paramount to the Pacific Ocean and was a working cattle ranch, according to rancho officials. Temple, who became a Mexican citizen– at least on paper– to buy the land, actually lived in the pueblo of Los Angeles. Rancho Los Cerritos was occupied primarily by the ranch’s foreman, unless Temple and his family were visiting on ranch business.
Temple later sold the property to Flint, Bixby and Company. The Bixby family lived on the rancho and raised sheep there until 1881. It was remodeled in 1930, and a new generation of Bixby family members lived in the house until 1955, when it was donated to the city.
Present day, the museum is operated by the Rancho Los Cerritos Foundation, a nonprofit organization, in partnership with the City of Long Beach.
2019 also marks the beginning of an environmental project, funded in large part with a $1-million Port of Long Beach grant. The project, which will take four years to complete, will allow RLC to retain up to 95 percent of rainfall on-site, reducing runoff and pollution, officials said.
“We recognize our place as stewards of history,” Bruesehoff said, “and [we] want to make the rancho sustainable and relevant for another 175 years.”
