Rancho Los Cerritos Historic Site (Tour)

Entries on This Tour

1. Rancho Los Cerritos - Self-Paced Tour Routes

Welcome! Rancho Los Cerritos provides both an enduring sense of serenity and a variety of seasonal surprises. The gardens feature both native and exotic plants, and they sustain native and migratory birds, butterflies, and other critters. The adobe house, which is more than 175 years old, is embedded with many layers of history. There are two walking routes. First, the accessible tour, which includes a brick walkway and packed-dirt pathways. There is an ADA lift and gently sloped pathways to access the historic adobe; please ask for assistance. Second, the standard (not fully accessible) tour, which includes ascending a staircase from the native garden, several steps in the courtyard of the historic adobe, and a loose-dirt pathway through the orchard. Standard Tour: After you check in at the Visitor Center, your tour will begin at the entrance to the California native garden. Upon emerging from the one-way looping path via the staircase, you can visit the historic adobe and then traverse the one-way orchard path to the backyard. Please circle the backyard in a clockwise direction, before ending your tour in the forecourt. Passing the administrative building, you can head back to your vehicle. Or, time permitting, feel free to walk the route again. Accessible Tour: After parking your vehicle in the forecourt and checking in at the Visitor Center, you can enter the backyard through the green gates to start your tour in the alcove of the veranda. Depending on your personal circumstances, you can either follow the full backyard tour (heading next to the wisteria arbor) or cross from the central brick pathway that splits the lawns (heading next to the country club gate). When you would like to see the historic adobe, please ask for assistance to utilize the ADA lift and pathways inside the structure.

2. RLC Native Garden - An Introduction

At the entrance to the Rancho's California native garden is an Aleppo Pine, a Mediterranean native well adapted to hot dry climates. The marker at the base of this tree commemorates the site’s status as California Registered Historical Landmark #978 (1989). This portion of the 27,000-acre Rancho Los Cerritos was originally a sloping grade, falling away from the hilltop where the adobe was built. It was most likely filled with grasses and coastal sage scrub until landscape architect Ralph Cornell installed an estate garden for Llewellyn Bixby Sr. in the early 1930s. In Cornell's plan, this space was designed as a "buffer zone" - providing privacy for the Bixby family - between their property, the Virginia Country Club, and the growing Long Beach community. Cornell integrated both native and exotic plants into this area, although today it is planted primarily with California native plants. Much of this buffer zone has been changed over time to accommodate subsequent construction, including the museum’s first parking lot (1950s) and the site's Visitor Center (2012).The Rancho’s Master Plan (1992) recommended establishing a California native garden. Funded by the Port of Long Beach (2014), that installation preserved historic trees - both native and exotic - as part of the Port's pollution abatement program and also included a dry stream bed that absorbs rain runoff and protects the site’s down-slope neighbors. CAUTION: This pathway is narrow, so it is to be navigated in a one-way direction during the current pandemic. If you continue past the pine tree, you will need to ascend a stairway to exit the California native garden.

3. RLC Native Garden - Oregon Grape & Catalina Ironwood

As you stroll into the California native garden, you will notice two brightly colored panels explaining how the dry stream bed serves the site and its neighbors. Near the first panel is an Oregon grape. Oregon grape leaves range in color from dark green to bright red. Its small yellow flowers in the spring become beautiful blue berries in the summer and fall. These plants were used by the Tongva for medicine, food, and dye. Between the panels is a Catalina Ironwood. The ironwood gets its name from its very dense wood. The Tongva used the Ironwood’s trunk and branches for tools, arrows, harpoons and canoe paddles. Despite its density, the wood floats - an important consideration for coastal and island communities.

4. RLC Native Garden - Sycamores & Ceanothus

Native sycamores, planted here by landscape architect Ralph Cornell in 1930s, are the keystone plant of this space. Their shady canopy provides a welcoming respite on a warm day. Cornell wrote at length about their “picturesque branching habit,” but he considered the bark to be their “most striking characteristic." While strolling along this path, you will also notice tall shrubs with small dark green leaves and small clusters of purple-blue flowers. These are a hybrid Ceanothus (California Lilac) named Concha. The Tongva used the branches as digging sticks and their spring flowers as soap or shampoo.

5. RLC Native Garden - Coast Live Oak

At the end of the loop, the Coast Live Oak provides more shade. Acorns were the primary staple of the Tongva as well as developing civilizations around the world. This is because oaks and humans thrive in the same kinds of environments. After the fall harvest, the Tongva dried the acorns, leached them with water to eliminate the high tannin content, and ground them into flour. Once processed in this way, the acorns are safe to eat and can be cooked into mush or formed into flat cakes. DIRECTIONS: Please ascend the stairway to exit the California native garden.

6. RLC Native Garden - Elderberry

At the top of the stairway is an Elderberry tree. The Tongva called this the “Tree of Music” because its branches and stems could be made into clapper sticks, flutes, and even whistles. In addition, its fruit added flavor to the Tongva diet and its flowers had medicinal properties. DIRECTIONS: From the top of the stairs, the road leads in several directions: to the left is the picnic area; to the right are the historic adobe, the orchard path to the backyard, the Visitor Center and Outdoor Market, and the parking lots.

7. RLC Adobe (1844) - An Introduction

Constructed by Indigenous laborers as the headquarters for John Temple’s cattle ranch in 1844, Rancho Los Cerritos’ adobe is one of the few remaining examples of Monterey Colonial style architecture in Southern California. Renovated in 1930-31, the adobe also incorporates key elements of Mission Revival style architecture. Built at the top of a hill so that water would run away from the structure, Temple’s adobe features a grand two-story main house with a sweeping veranda, an indoor staircase, glass windows, and wooden floors. The adjacent work wings originally had dirt floors, barred windows, and exterior passageways between rooms. The structure’s thick adobe walls – about 2’ wide in the wings and closer to 3’ wide on the lower level of the main house – provided natural air conditioning. The structure’s flat wooden roof was sealed with brea (tar) to prevent leaks. The adobe was modernized by Llewellyn Bixby Sr.'s architect Kenneth Wing (1930-31), who replaced the roof with red clay tiles, created covered passageways, and coated the adobe walls with stucco. Plumbing, electricity, heating, seismic retrofitting, landscaping, and the sunporch were added at that time too. The renovation did not hide or obscure the adobe’s hand-crafted nature, nor even remove the bars from the sunporch windows (now interior space). DIRECTIONS: As you proceed into to the courtyard, be sure to watch your step on the brick walkways, which date to the 1930s. Navigate this area in a counter-clockwise direction. If you require assistance, please ask for more accessible alternatives that do not require stairs.

8. RLC Adobe - The Courtyard

John Temple's Monterey Colonial style adobe (1844), which drew inspiration from Thomas Larkin's home (1830s), was constructed around this interior courtyard. The work wings (to the left and right of the courtyard gates) included a foreman’s room, a bunk room, and dining room for the ranch workers, plus a Blacksmith's shop and storage rooms for wood, food, extra furniture, and tools. The main house (opposite the gates) had a parlor and dining room downstairs and several bedrooms upstairs, accessible by an indoor staircase. The gates could be locked at night to provide security. This space was a work area during the nineteenth century; it was not landscaped until the 1930s. DIRECTIONS: Please proceed to your right and continue in a counter-clockwise direction as you explore the exhibit rooms on the ground floor. For virtual access to the rooms on the second level see link below.

9. RLC Adobe - The Foreman's Room

Since his permanent residence was located in downtown Los Angeles (about 16 miles from RLC, or a half-day’s journey by wagon), John Temple employed a foreman – in Spanish, a mayordomo – to manage day-to-day operations at his cattle ranch. Charged with keeping the books and supervising the workers, the foreman was a literate man who could do basic math and accounting. The foreman was the only worker to have his own private bedroom, which doubled as an office. Furnishings include a wooden bed frame with ropes to support the straw mattress, trunks for clothing and other personal belongings, a wooden table, and several chairs. The tools of the foreman's trade are also visible, including a California-style saddle, several branding irons, and the ledger in which the Rancho’s business records were kept. Since there was no plumbing or electricity when the adobe was built, the foreman’s room also has a chamber pot under the bed, a wash bowl and basin in the window, and candle chandelier.

10. RLC Adobe - The Laundry Room

When Flint, Bixby & Co. bought the property in 1866, Jotham & Margaret Bixby moved into the Temple adobe. By 1870, the Federal Census lists two Chinese domestic workers, Ah Ying and Ah Fan, at Rancho Los Cerritos. Their work was labor intensive, even though the factory-produced goods of the second industrial revolution were making some of the tasks easier than ever before. To do laundry, Ying and Fan first had to pump water from the well in the backyard, then heat it on a wood-burning stove before commencing with actual washing. They would certainly have appreciated this labor-sparing wringing apparatus that squeezed the soap out before the laundry was rinsed and then pressed out excess water before hanging the laundry to dry. The following day, the men ironed all the dried clothes, bed sheets, and table linens. Along the back wall is a small stove for heating irons. Sarah Bixby-Smith shares in Adobe Days (1925) how impressed she was with “steam ironing,” when one of the men would spray a mouthful of water on the cotton and woolen garments to make the job easier.

11. RLC Adobe - The Storerooms

The people who lived at Ranch Los Cerritos had to be self-sufficient, since their closest neighbors (Rancho Dominguez, Rancho Los Alamitos) were 5-8 miles away. The Los Angeles pueblo was 16 miles away, or several hours by carriage. Thus, the work wing originally had five storerooms – with barred windows and locked doors – to store what they needed, like extra furniture and food staples. The two storerooms are now connected by an inside hallway, and each has a closet and a bathroom. These features were added in the 1930s renovation, when the rooms served as guest suites. The covered walkways, also added during the renovation, certainly made getting to the main house on a rainy day much less unpleasant for 1930s guests.

12. RLC Adobe - The Blacksmith Shop

John Temple’s adobe included this large indoor workspace for Blacksmithing and woodworking. The double-size door could accommodate a wagon in need of wheel repair, and a hitching post for horses was located right outside. Cone-shaped vents funneled out the inevitable heat and smoke of Blacksmithing, when the large door was thrown open. In addition to metal items, ranch workers could build furniture, resole boots, and repair wooden items here. This workshop also speaks to the need for self-sufficiency, and it was originally twice as big as it is today. When the ranch house was remodeled in the 20th Century, this room became a sitting room for the adjoining bedroom. What appears to be a working forge today is really an exhibit piece. In the 1930s, that space was a fireplace flanked by built-in bookshelves. The upright wood boards obscure the doorway to the adjacent room.

13. RLC Adobe - The Bedroom

In the 1930s, this space was part of a suite for Llewellyn Bixby Sr.’s adult son, who visited regularly. The built-in cabinets are made of oak, and the bathroom includes a shower, sink, and toilet. Electricity, also added in the 1930s renovation, is easy to spot. The cone-shaped windows in both the bathroom and bedroom areas, as well as the door on the right, demonstrate that this space was part of the building’s nineteenth-century Blacksmith shop.

14. RLC Adobe - The Library

The Rancho’s library dates to the building’s renovation in the 1930s. By combining a storage room, office, and bedroom, Llewellyn Bixby Sr. created large library where he and wife Avis spent their time reading, listening to the wireless, and doing crossword puzzles. Above the card catalog hangs a portrait of Jotham Bixby, often called the "Father of Long Beach" for his role in civic development. Above the hearth hangs a portrait of Jotham Bixby’s father-in-law, the Reverend George W. Hathaway, who was a progressive Congregational minister and Union chaplain before retiring to live with his daughters in California. Rev. Hathaway was Llewellyn Bixby Sr.’s grandfather.

15. RLC Adobe - The Parlor

A gathering space for family and guests, the parlor was usually the most lavishly decorated room in a nineteenth-century American home and was typically used for entertaining guests. Whether one likes to play cards, read books, listen to music, do needlework, or look at photographs, there is space for doing so here. Oil lamps were needed, so that these types of recreational activities could be carried on after the day's work was done, and the Franklin stove provided the only source of heat in the adobe until the house was modernized in the 1930s.

16. RLC Adobe - The Dining Room

When this was a working ranch, family members gathered in the dining room for meals, while ranch hands ate in the men's dining room in the north wing. In the 1870s, two Chinese cooks -- Ah Ying and Ah Fan -- prepared an early-morning breakfast, noon-time dinner, and evening supper for both the family and the ranch workers. The kitchen, which had a wood-burning stove, doubled as the cooks' living quarters (a bunkbed). It was in the space behind the gold curtain. During the 1930s renovation, when electricity and plumbing were added to the adobe, a modern kitchen was installed in the north wing (where the men's dining room had been) and the space adjacent to this dining room (where the former kitchen and cooks' quarters had been) became a butler's pantry.

17. RLC Adobe - The Sunporch

Offering a lovely view of the landscaped courtyard, the glass-enclosed sunporch dates to the 1930s renovation. When Llewellyn Bixby Sr. and his wife Avis lived here, the room was casually furnished with rattan furniture, rugs, and the Native basketry they collected; the grandchildren fondly recount that there wooden toys too. Functionally, this space connected the 1930s library to the main house (in the south wing) and provided access to the kitchen and butler's pantry (in the north wing). During the nineteenth century, the main entrance to the house was through the central doorway (directly from the courtyard) and the French doors on each side of the central doorway were windows. The exposed roof beams that you can still see on the north and south wings and the wrought-iron bars covering the exterior windows on the west wing also date to the building's pre-renovation days.

18. RLC Adobe - The Lily Pond

This pond is a self-filtering ecosystem that was created by Ralph Cornell in 1930. It is one of many features that he added when the adobe home was turned into a private residence for the Llewellyn Bixby Sr. family. In addition to the lily pads, the pond contains mosquito fish - which, fortunately, feed upon mosquito larvae! The pond also attracts a pair of mallard ducks each spring, who never seem to mind the hustle and bustle of this space. As you exit the courtyard through the double green gates, continue to your left to find the orchard pathway. It is just past the ox cart (caretta), which was created for Rancho Los Cerritos as a volunteer project, using old-fashioned woodworking tools, by wood-shop students at Compton High School.

19. RLC Orchard

John Temple’s 1840s garden relied heavily on the fruit trees he could acquire locally, and was enhanced by the seeds he imported. In the 1930s, landscape architect Ralph Cornell honored that history and, in keeping with the golden age of gardening, added two orchards for the Bixby family. By locating the primary orchard on the south side of the adobe, Cornell ensured that the shady orchard trees would cool the hottest part of the house in warm months, while the sun would help warm and protect these trees during the cooler months.

20. RLC Backyard - Introduction

If only these plants could talk! Several of the trees in this area were planted when John Temple built the adobe, more than 175 years ago. Some of them were planted when Jotham Bixby owned the property in the 1880s. The majority of the garden is based upon the 1930s landscape installed by Ralph Cornell, or later. In the 1840s, Temple added a formal two-acre garden behind his adobe with raised beds and cultivated plants, which are rare in arid Alta California, and he enclosed the space with a tall redwood fence to keep his livestock out. In the 1930s, Cornell Changed the shape of the garden, added a forecourt for guest parking, and installed a doorbell outside the gate, which ensured that visitors entered the landscaped garden before the home. For generations this space has served as a place for respite and recreation and continues to do so today.

21. RLC Backyard - Wisteria Arbor

In Temple’s time there were two peaked arbors, one on either side of the veranda, that supported grape vines. While these were only a memory by the 1930s renovation, Cornell designed a single new wisteria arbor for the estate garden. When the wisteria vines bloom in the spring, fragrant clusters of purple flowers draw many visitors - and, of course, are reminiscent of those long-ago purple grapes. DIRECTIONS: After exiting the wisteria arbor, head into the cutting garden, which is located to the northeast of the wisteria arbor and distinguished by raised planting beds.

22. RLC Backyard - Black Locust

Starting at the southern end of the veranda (where there is a small alcove), your first stop in the backyard features a Black Locust tree. This type of tree, which was grown from seeds that Temple imported in the 1840s, once lined the perimeter of the two-acre garden. With their fragrant springtime flowers, the trees were equally popular with the Bixbys of both the 1860s/1870s and the 1930s. The Black Locust here, adjacent to the house in the alcove, is an off-shoot of one of Temple’s trees. During the 1930s renovation, the Bixbys chose to save the tree - by shaving the corner of the 1844 adobe - to accommodate its roots. It continues to bloom every spring. DIRECTIONS: From the Black Locust, you can stroll north along the veranda (covered porch) to explore the backyard in a clockwise direction, heading next to the Wisteria arbor at the north end of the veranda. Or, if you prefer to follow the more accessible route, please take the brick pathway that starts half-way down the veranda and divides the lawns. You'll be heading toward the Country Club gate. NOTE: The 1844 adobe house is temporarily closed, due to Covid-19 restrictions, but please come back soon to see the inside.

23. RLC Backyard - Cutting Garden

Typical among estate gardens of the 1930s, Avis Bixby's cutting garden provided fresh seasonal flowers. When originally designed, this was a sunny space. As the Moreton Bay Fig in the central backyard grew, however, it changed this area from sun to shade. The plants here are now shade-tolerant perennials appropriate to the period, including sweet violets - one of Avis’s favorites. Further along the pathway, camellias have replaced most of Avis's roses. Not only does the Moreton Bay Fig now shade this area, but the Bixbys also added a Ginkgo tree after Cornell had installed the landscaping. While the camellias certainly add winter color, the real show is in December when the Ginkgo itself changes color. An unusual species, Charles Darwin called it a “living fossil” because it has survived since the Carboniferous Period (about 300 million years ago)! DIRECTIONS: From the Ginkgo tree, continue along the eastern perimeter pathway (which runs parallel to the Virginia Country Club), for a stunning view of the central backyard.

24. RLC Backyard - Country Club Gate

Standing by the green gate to the Virginia Country Club, you'll have a sweeping view of the central backyard and 1844 adobe house. This gate served as Llewellyn Bixby Sr.’s personal entrance to the Virginia Country Club (est. 1922), where he was an avid golfer and active board member. On your right is one of three remaining Italian cypress trees from Temple’s 1840s garden. This specimen has been designated an “Exceptional Tree of Los Angeles County” for its age and beauty. The tree that practically overwhelms the garden – and the adobe house – is a Moreton Bay Fig, which was planted in the early 1880s. Note: The fig tree’s buttressing root system is not a safe area to climb, play, or take photos. Please stay off its roots. DIRECTIONS: Please continue along the eastern perimeter pathway, toward the southeastern corner of the garden to see Temple's try pot.

25. RLC Backyard - Temple's Try Pot

Under the Spanish & Mexican flags, Alta California’s economy was based primarily on the hide & tallow trade and cowhides were known as “California banknotes." The hides were shipped around the horn of South America to England and New England, where they were made into saddles, boots, luggage, and other leather goods. The cow fat, or tallow, was rendered in iron cauldrons (or try pots), and the process was called "trying." Tallow was used domestically in the manufacture of candles and soap. Incorporating the site’s history into his landscape design, Cornell placed Temple’s try pot (which was unearthed during the renovation) in Avis Bixby’s cutting garden as a unique sculptural element. This storied focal point is a tempting photo opportunity (as it was when Llewellyn Bixby’s grandchildren visited in the 1930s), but the iron try pot is in fragile condition, so please do not let anyone climb inside. The City moved Temple’s try pot to its current location several decades ago.

26. RLC Backyard - Herb Garden

Especially for Families! Planned and planted by volunteers from the Junior League of Long Beach in the 1980s, the herb garden supports our award-winning school tour program. It is divided into four sections – culinary, medicinal, dye, and potpourri – to show how the herbs are useful in different ways. The four quadrants surround a central sundial, which was dedicated to Jotham Bixby in the 1920s. Can you guess which bed is which? Bonus Question: Can you tell what time it is? (Check the "Backstory" for hints!)

27. RLC Backyard - Water Tower & Horno

Water and food are central to daily life. When Temple’s workers lived in the adobe, they pumped water from the nearby river utilizing a water ram. This was effective until the 1860s, when a severe drought caused the river level to drop, so they dug a well in the garden and used a well sweep to pump water into the cistern. When Jotham Bixby and his family moved into the adobe in 1866, they dug a new well and built this raised water tower. They also added a windmill to the water tower, to help pump the water from the well up into the tank. In the 1930s, Rancho Los Cerritos was finally connected to the City's water system and electric grid, but Cornell incorporated the old water tower as another garden element. The Spanish word for oven is "horno." The horno you see here (whitewashed, beehive-shaped structure) was built of adobe bricks by volunteers in 1988, to resemble the one that was once located near the ranch’s kitchen in John Temple’s time. Temple’s horno was used for baking by the Bixby’s Chinese cook, Ying, in the 1870s, although he also had a wood-burning stove in the house. This horno is used for special occasions, and it must be re-plastered with mud and then whitewashed annually. In the 1930s, Rancho Los Cerritos was finally connected to the City's water system and electric grid. DIRECTIONS: Follow the pathway to the north (toward your right), as you approach the horno, which will take you back toward the historic adobe building.

28. RLC Backyard - Pomegranates

Pomegranates were popular in Alta California's mission gardens, and that is likely the source for Temple’s trees. Three pomegranate trees remain from the 1840s, two in the backyard and one in the forecourt. As one the these aged, it reclined (see photo). Where its trunk touched the earth, new roots have formed. John Temple's garden dates to the same decade as Queen Victoria's reign; she ascended to the thrown in 1841. Interestingly, the people of that era - whom we today refer to as "Victorians" - had a language represented by flowers; the pomegranate’s flower was said to represent "mature beauty." How appropriate for this reclining beauty! DIRECTIONS: Exit the garden through the forecourt gates (on your left as you approach the adobe’s veranda once again).

29. RLC Forecourt

Just outside the gates is a plaque that shows the dividing lines between two portions of the original Spanish land grant to Manuel Nieto (1784) known as Rancho Los Nietos grant: Rancho Los Cerritos & Rancho Los Alamitos. The tallest tree in the forecourt is an Osage orange, which dates to Temple’s 1840s garden. The Osage orange is native to Louisiana and Eastern Texas where the Osage people harvested its roots, bark, and fruit to dye textiles and provide wood for tools and weapons. Popular in the Midwest as a hedge to mark property boundaries since the 1800s, the Osage is unusual in Southern California. In midsummer to early autumn, the falling fruit creates astonishment for Rancho visitors who say it looks suspiciously like a “green brain.”

30. Thank you for visiting!

In addition to self-paced and docent-led tours, Rancho Los Cerritos offers engaging, inclusive, and historically-informed experiences throughout the year. Check the "Backstory" for more about the programs and opportunities typically offered.

This Tour is a Virtual Museum or Site Tour.

Rancho Los Cerritos Historic Site

Created by Meighan Maguire on May 17th 2014, 2:37:00 am.

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Description

Rancho Los Cerritos is a National, State, and Local Historic Landmark. The site is open to the public Wednesdays through Sundays, 1-5 PM, with extended hours on Saturdays. Admission, tours, and parking are free. Donations help support education and preservation programs. The site's 1844 adobe includes 10 furnished rooms, plus several ‘sneak-peek’ rooms currently under restoration. The grounds include historic trees planted in the mid-nineteenth century, native plants and orchard trees that date to the early twentieth century, and fragrant blooms that have just emerged this week. Part of the Long Beach public library system, the non-circulating reference library and archival holdings emphasize California and local history. The site's Visitor Center houses exhibits, a short orientation film, and the museum shop's array of unique products. *Visitors are encouraged to reserve timed tickets in advance, but can register when they arrive at the site. Visitors must comply with the site’s current Covid-19 protocols, which are based on City & State orders. Service animals are welcome to accompany their owner; sorry, pets are not allowed on site. People showing any signs of illness are not permitted to enter the site.

Entries on This Tour

Rancho Los Cerritos Historic Site

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