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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. 

RLC Native Garden - Elderberry

Self-paced stroll through the native garden, historic adobe, orchard, & backyard

Self-Paced Site Tour

The site of present-day Rancho Los Cerritos is located on land that was once populated by the Gabrielino/Tongva people. The adobe sits near an ancient Indigenous village known as Tevaaxa’nga. The Gabrielino/Tongva have lived throughout the greater Los Angeles basin for thousands of years. Often called "the first Angelinos," prior to colonialization, the Gabrielino/Tongva people were primarily hunter-gatherers, but they also engaged in intra- and inter-tribal trade. Juan Cabrillo was the first European known to have made contact with them (1542), and Mission San Gabriel was the first Spanish settlement built in their region (1771).Spanish soldier Manuel Nieto received a large land grant from Alta California Governor Pedro Fages (1784), which included 300,000 acres of land in today’s southwest Los Angeles and northwest Orange counties. Nieto's heirs sold 27,000 acres of that land (which had become known as Rancho Los Cerritos, or "ranch of the little hills") to Massachusetts-born John Temple (1843), a Long Angeles merchant. Indigenous workers built the site’s two-story, Monterey-style adobe (1844), which served as the headquarters for Temple's cattle ranch. A mayordomo (ranch foreman) was employed to oversee Rancho Los Cerritos' hide &amp; tallow business, since Temple's primary residence was in the pueblo of Los Angeles.Following a two-year drought that parched the entire state of California in the early 1860s, Temple sold Rancho Los Cerritos to Flint, Bixby &amp; Co. (1866), which raised sheep on the property and employed dozens of Indigenous, Mexican, European, and Chinese workers, broadening the cultural profile of the region. The City of Long Beach was eventually founded on this land (1884), as were the cities of Bellflower, Paramount, Signal Hill, and Lakewood.When Llewellyn Bixby Sr., who was the son of Lewellyn Bixby of Flint, Bixby &amp;Co., purchased the property from the family holdings (1929), he hired architects to renovate the original adobe structure and landscape the remaining grounds (1930-31). His widow, Avis Bixby, deeded the 4.7-acre property to the City of Long Beach as a history museum, research library, and public garden (1955).Today, visitors to Rancho Los Cerritos can see how diverse cultures and many peoples have contributed to the making of modern Long Beach. The site is maintained and operated by the Rancho Los Cerritos Foundation, in public-private partnership.

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 exhibitions and the Museum Shop's array of unique products. Service animals are welcome to accompany their owner around the site; sorry, pets are not allowed.

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.

RLC Native Garden - An Introduction

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.

RLC Native Garden - Oregon Grape & Catalina Ironwood

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.


RLC Native Garden - Sycamores & Ceanothus

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.

RLC Native Garden - Coast Live Oak

The Los Angeles basin, including the area that is now known as Long Beach, was originally inhabited by the Tongva, indigenous hunter-gatherers who lived in numerous villages throughout this region for thousands of years prior to Spanish arrival. Tongva territory extended about thirty miles in every direction from modern-day Long Beach: along the coast from Malibu to Dana Point, inland to Puente Hills, and across the ocean to the Channel Islands. Known for their basket-weaving and canoe-making skills, the Tongva made use of the abundant flora and fauna that are native to this region. They also traded with neighboring villages and tribes for useful items like soapstone and obsidian. When the Spanish began settling Alta California in 1769, they established religious communities (missions), military forts (presidios), and small towns (pueblos) along the coast. Of course, the land they “settled” was not empty. The Spanish enticed or coerced the coastal Natives to serve as laborers in the Mission economy, which was primarily based on cattle ranching and agriculture. To survive, the “neophytes” (Natives living at the Spanish missions) had to develop new skills, while also learning a new language and having new religious practices, customs, and foodways imposed upon them. Starting in the 1780s, the Spanish began granting large tracts of land to private citizens who pledged to become cattle ranchers, including a soldier named Manuel Nieto (1784) who received 300,000 acres in modern-day Los Angeles and Orange counties. Nieto’s land abutted that of the Mission San Gabriel, so his grant was reduced to about 167,000 acres. His descendants eventually sold 27,000 acres of that land, known as Rancho Los Cerritos, to John Temple (1843) for $3,000. Temple continued the cattle ranching tradition and hired Native workers to build an adobe home. The men who built Temple’s adobe were most likely Tongva (or, as the Spanish called them, Gabrielinos), who had learned to build with adobe and work as vaqueros at Mission San Gabriel. The whereabouts of Temple’s personal and business records is not known, so how much Temple paid his employees (or the conditions of their employment) at RLC is not known. To construct this building, Native laborers made more than 20,000 mud bricks by combining adobe soil with water, sand, and straw. The bricks were left to cure in the sun for several weeks before they were transported up the hill, mortared and plastered into place with still more adobe mud. Finally, the walls were sealed with whitewash to prevent rain damage. It took the workers at least two dry seasons to construct this 10,000-square-foot adobe.  Upon retirement, Temple sold the large adobe house and 27,000 acres of land to Flint, Bixby &amp; Co (1866), a sheep ranching operation, for $20,000 in gold. The new owners had come to California from Maine during the Gold Rush, but they transitioned to sheep ranching a few years later. Their first sheep ranch was located near the modern-day town of Hollister; their second ranch was located here at Rancho Los Cerritos. Initially tapped as ranch manager, Jotham Bixby soon purchased a half interest in RLC (1869). With the influx of people to Southern California in the 1880s, the Bixbys shifted from ranching to land development. This adobe was rented to a succession of tenants, and the Bixbys sold or leased most of their ranch land. Their sheep ranching operations moved further inland, to Arizona. Sarah Bixby-Smith was a frequent visitor to Rancho Los Cerritos as a young girl in the 1870s, when her uncle Jotham Bixby’s family lived in this adobe. As an adult, she became a professional writer. Her memoire and poems vividly recount myriad details about daily life in this area when tens of thousands of sheep roamed the pasture lands and today’s urban environment was still decades away. Bixby-Smith’s writings also include personal anecdotes gleaned from her parents and extended family, as well as diaries, letters, and other sources, about how her father’s generation brought sheep to California and how her pioneering family flourished in the Golden State during the latter half of the nineteenth century. Shortly after the Virginia Country Club relocated next door (1921) and Sarah Bixby-Smith’s Adobe Days was published (1925), Temple’s crumbling adobe house was renovated by Llewellyn Bixby Sr. (1930-31) – an active member of the country club and the younger brother of Bixby-Smith. Bixby Sr. hired architect Kenneth Wing to install plumbing, heating, electricity, and seismic retrofitting in the house, to add a stucco coat over the adobe and new roof atop the building, and to reset the upper veranda. He also hired landscape architect Ralph Cornell to landscape the remaining 4.7 acres, including the adobe’s inner courtyard. Shortly after Bixby Sr. died (1942), his widow moved to downtown Long Beach. About a decade later (1954-55), she leased and then sold Rancho Los Cerritos to the City of Long Beach for half its market value, so that it would serve as a reminder of the region’s ranching history.

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.

RLC Adobe (1844) - An Introduction

A typical adobe home in Spanish/Mexican Alta California was a two-room, single-story structure built on a packed earth foundation (looking something like the RLC Visitor Center). Such an adobe had one room for sleeping and another for dining and recreational activities. Each room had a door for access and a window for light, but the rooms were not commonly connected through interior passageways and the windows were not often enclosed with glass. Thick adobe walls provided stability as well as natural air conditioning, and the structure had to be maintained with whitewash to prevent water damage. Additions could be made over time as a family’s needs and resources grew.  Temple's adobe, in contrast, included at least twenty rooms! Monterey Colonial style architecture was popularized during California’s Mexican period (1820s-1840s) by prominent immigrants who sought to combine Spanish Colonial building methods with New England style architectural features. A Monterey Colonial style adobe typically features a second story, a wrap-around porch on each level, and a low-pitch wood roof. Mission Revival style architecture became fashionable at the turn of the twentieth century (1890s-1920s) as architects drew inspiration from California’s romanticized colonial past – and especially its chain of 21 Spanish missions. While examples vary in perspective and materials, Mission Revival buildings are characterized by unadorned white adobe-like walls, red tile roofs, courtyards, and covered walkways.

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.

RLC Adobe - The Courtyard

Sr. Rocco – an immigrant from Spain – was listed as the manager of Rancho Los Cerritos on the 1850 Census probably lived in the room nearest the entry gates – a room that would have served as both his bedroom and office. At Rancho Los Cerritos, Temple’s workers raised about 15,000 cattle, producing valuable cowhides for export (leather boots, saddles) and tallow (cow fat) rendered locally for use as candles and soap. Temple ventured into the Hide and Tallow trade in the mid-1840s when a single cowhide was worth about $2 and the fat from one cow about the same. As thousands and thousands of gold miners arrived, beef became a marketable commodity. By 1853, an estimated 300,000 people had emigrated to California from all around the world, spurring the first cattle drives in American history – from ranchos like John Temple’s in Southern California to the gold fields in the high Sierras and to large towns like Sacramento and Stockton. The value of each cow (if slaughtered near a prosperous mining town) quickly jumped to about $80/head. The market soon settled down to about $20/head, but what a difference a decade made for Temple’s fortunes!

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. 

RLC Adobe - The Foreman's Room

More than 20,000 Chinese immigrants came to California to strike it rich “on gold mountain,” but faced discrimination in the mines and were prejudicially subject to the Foreign Minors Tax (1852). As easier-to-find gold dwindled, many Chinese immigrants opted for domestic labor that otherwise went unfilled, while others chose the back-breaking, dangerous labor of building the western portion of the Transcontinental Railroad (1863-1869). Over 10,000 Chinese laborers worked 12-hour days, 6 days a week, for $1/day to complete the 1,912-mile stretch to Utah. In the 1870s California, laws legally limited Chinese occupational choices.

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. 



RLC Adobe - The Laundry Room

The Furniture Storeroom has extra chairs and straw mattresses for visiting relatives who might stay for a few weeks at a time, as well as trunks for travelling and extra dressers and bed frames as needed. This room also displays horse tack and sheep ranching items, since the ranch’s outbuildings have been lost to time.  The Food Storeroom has dry goods in large containers, including beans, coffee, tea, chocolate, and molasses. Such items were commonly purchased in bulk to minimize trips to Harris Newmark’s mercantile in Los Angeles (half a day's journey). Perishable fruit, like apples, oranges, figs, and grapes, were harvested from the orchard and could be dried or canned for future use. Other perishables are stored here too, including meat, which could be salted or smoked for longer shelf-life, eggs that came from the ranch chickens, and cheese and cream that were provided by Marcellus Bixby’s dairy cows. Marcellus was the older brother of Jotham and Lewellyn Bixby; he lived about a mile from the RLC adobe – and he apparently had little interest in sheep ranching, preferring dairying instead.

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. 


RLC Adobe - The Storerooms

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. 

RLC Adobe - The Blacksmith Shop

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. 

RLC Adobe - The Bedroom

Now part of the Long Beach Public Library system, the reference books on display here are part of a specialized collection of California history materials that are available for on-site use. Although some researchers choose to peruse the card catalog system, which is still maintained and continually updated to reflect new acquisitions, Rancho Los Cerritos’ reference collection is also cataloged through the City’s library database, http://longbeach.gov/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 this large library where he and his 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 fireplace hands portraits of John &amp; Rafaela Temple, for whom the adobe was built in 1844.The current exhibition on display at the library, John Temple: Overcoming the Challenges of the California Land Act of 1851, compares how Temple and Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton, two landowners from different backgrounds, had very different experiences during their land appeal process. Temple's original land claim appeal is part of the exhibition.

RLC Adobe - The Library

Originally from northern Maine, the Bixby and Hathaway families were staunch abolitionists and loyal Unionists. They purchased the adobe in 1866, just a year after President Lincoln was assassinated and the Civil War ended, so perhaps that is why they hung a photograph of Lincoln reading to his son Tad in their parlor. The lithographs on the wall, which show Thomas Cole's Voyage of Life series, also hung in the parlor when they owned the house.  The doll in the corner once belonged to Sarah Bixby Smith, whose father Lewellyn Bixby (older brother of Jotham) was a part-owner of the sheep ranch. Her family moved from northern California to Los Angeles in 1878, when Sarah was about 7 years old. She came here often to visit her cousin Harry, who was just a year older. The leather-covered table and chair also belonged to Bixby family members, as did many of the books on display in this room. The book case itself was made on site in the Blacksmith shop in the early 1870s by Jotham Bixby's cousin John. John Bixby also made two china cabinets that are displayed at Rancho Los Alamitos (also in Long Beach), which he purchased in the late 1870s.

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.

RLC Adobe - The Parlor

The table is set with dishes and silverware similar to items that have been excavated on site. The cruet set in the center of the table is filled with mustard powder, salt, pepper, oil, and vinegar to flavor the food. Candles and oil lamps were used during the evening meal, along with the white table cloth that helped reflect that light. Extra chairs -- and an extension added to the table -- allowed the family to welcome additional guests. Demonstrating Victorian-era technological ingenuity, the high-chair can become a stroller by shifting the lever on the back. Throughout the nineteenth century, perishables like meat (mostly beef and mutton), fruit (including oranges, figs, pomegranates, and grapes from Temple's orchards), and dairy products (milk, butter, and cheese) were produced on the ranch. But getting them to the table for a meal began with butchering the livestock, harvesting the fruit, and milking the dairy cows. Rather than growing row crops at RLC, vegetables were purchased from a peddler, who made a circuit among the ranchos, and dry goods (like legumes, grains, coffee, tea, and spices) were purchased in bulk in Los Angeles.

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.

RLC Adobe - The Dining Room

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. 

RLC Adobe - The Sunporch

Benjamin Wilson, who spent time here during the Mexican-American war, said: “…through the large gate in the wall that closed the patio, there was always much going and coming here, for the ranch business involved the use of saddle horses and carriages. It was a sunny, friendly, busy place, much loved and frequented by the many cats and dogs.” When the Bixbys lived at Rancho Los Cerritos, they used this courtyard’s barren space for work as well as family gatherings to celebrate special occasions, like the Fourth of July (when children stayed up late to watch fireworks). When Ralph Cornell was commissioned to landscape the inner courtyard in the 1930s for Llewellyn Bixby Sr., he sought to create an intimate family garden within the home that simultaneously encouraged the “new” concept of outdoor living to take advantage of Southern California’s mild climate. Cornell’s plan included installing the lawns, lily pond, and brick terrace, and planting annuals for color and native sycamores to buffer the view of nearby neighbors. Despite changes that time has wrought, the courtyard today still offers echoes of the past thanks to the deft hand of Cornell.

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.


RLC Adobe - The Lily Pond

Standing sentry to the orchard path’s entrance are several tropical guava trees, and the hedge boundary is formed of sub-tropical guavas. Just inside the hedge are a trio of loquat varieties, which are native to Japan and were imported to California by the 1870s.Three varietals of oranges were planted in the orchard, along with lemon, lime, tangerine, and avocado. It is interesting to note that Cornell propagated avocados while attending Pomona College to finance his education at Harvard in Landscape Architecture.There are two macadamia trees in the orchard. These Australian natives did especially well in Hawaii and their popularity spiked during World War II, when service personnel passing through the islands acquired a taste for the rich nuts.When the cherimoya was introduced to California from South America, it was discovered that the native pollinator could not survive in this climate. To produce a larger quantity of fruit, each flower would have to be hand pollinated (which is sometimes done by commercial orchards, but not at RLC).The sapote, which is native to central Mexico, has a pudding-like texture when ripe. Oddly enough, sapote and citrus belong to the same family.

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.

RLC Orchard 

John Temple's workers constructed a grand two-story adobe as the headquarters for his cattle ranch (1844), but the adobe never became his primary residence. He continued to live above his mercantile in the pueblo of Los Angeles. Yet here he installed a colonial-style garden reflecting his New England roots that quickly became quite the showplace. Temple requested seeds from Massachusetts, but the majority of plant material was sourced locally – all of it exotic to the Yankee – including Mission grapes, figs, pomegranates, and oranges. When Flint, Bixby &amp; Co. purchased Temple’s 27,000-acre rancho (1866) for $20,000, their deed included the 10,000 square-foot adobe, the brand, and the remains of Temple’s two-acre garden. Southern California had suffered a devastating flood and two-year drought earlier in that decade, which would certainly have impacted Temple’s garden. Unlike Temple, Jotham Bixby made the adobe his family home. He introduced two Moreton Bay Fig trees (1880 ca.) into the landscape, shortly before moving to town and leasing the property to tenants. Those fig trees eventually grew together, into one spectacular specimen that is now considered the showpiece of the backyard. The tenant period (1880s-1920s) saw a dramatic change in the backyard. Since the tenants needed to provide food for their families, row crops replaced any remaining ornamentals. There were also pigs apparent in some of the old photos, and a chicken coop was referenced in at least one oral history of the period. Llewellyn Bixby Sr. purchased the remaining 4.7-acre parcel from the family holdings (1929) and hired landscape architect Ralph Cornell to design an estate garden. Bixby had no doubt heard family stories about his uncle's garden, and Cornell embraced the concept of preserving mature trees and honoring the family legacy in his landscape design. Today, the Rancho Los Cerritos backyard is a serene, historic setting that entices visitors to stroll, to explore, and to return time and again. It is also a popular venue for weddings, celebrations, and public events.

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.


RLC Backyard - Introduction

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. 


RLC Backyard - Wisteria Arbor

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.


RLC Backyard - Black Locust

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.

RLC Backyard - Cutting Garden 

The Italian Cypress on your immediate right has fared better than the others that were planted in the 1840s, most likely due to moisture from Temple's cistern that was once nearby. Temple built the adobe at the top of a hill, in a landscape of native scrub brush, so the five tall, dark cypress trees served as a landmark for travelers. A second surviving cypress is tucked away on your right, between the featured cypress and the fig tree. A third is just beyond the perimeter of the central lawn, to the left of the historic adobe. Sarah Bixby Smith (Llewellyn Bixby Sr.'s older sister), who often visited Rancho Los Cerritos in the 1870s, remembers her oldest cousin George Bixby scaring her with the cones from the cypress trees. In Adobe Days (1925), she shares his story of these “bats’ eggs,” which left her terrified. The Moreton Bay Fig was originally two trees, which eventually grew together. In the photo of the cypress and the figs (circa 1930), you'll notice that the fig trees (left) were still much smaller than the Italian cypress (right). Cornell’s landscaping plan called for installing and irrigating the central lawn, which provided the fig tree(s) with a steady supply of water. As a result, the Bixbys' 1880s fig now dwarfs the Temples' 1840s cypress – and the rest of the garden too! Native to Australia, the Moreton Bay Fig produces a prodigious number of figs every summer. They are seedy and not considered palatable today, but the indigenous peoples of Australia used them much as local Tongva from this region used acorns – mashing them into a meal.

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.


RLC Backyard - Country Club Gate

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.

RLC Backyard - Temple's Try Pot

Hints for identifying herb garden beds: Aloe is used for burns, and rosemary for rinsing wounds (medicinal).Bay leaves and fennel help flavor meats and sauces (culinary).Indigo can color cotton blue, while tansy can color wood green to protect it from termites (dye).Lavender repels wool moths, even if humans find it soothing (potpourri). Hints for bonus question:If the sun is shining, look closely at the sundial. Note: depending on the season, you may need to add/subtract an hour for daylight savings time.

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!)

RLC Backyard - Herb Garden 

Rainwater is never a given in this region! When another drought gripped Southern California in 1894, RLC owner Jotham Bixby was desperate to quench the thirst of his grounds and livestock so he hired a “rainmaker” for $100 ($3K in today’s dollars). Payment was contingent on the production of two inches of rain. Unfortunately, the rain did not fall. The re-created water tower (minus its windmill) resides in its original location near the capped well.  When Rancho Los Cerritos was connected to the City’s water supply in 1931, Cornell’s newly installed gardens could be easily irrigated with a sprinkler system. Nonetheless, Cornell incorporated the old water tower as another remnant of the historic tapestry of the estate’s unusual garden. Cornell also sited a secondary orchard around it, mixing in some ornamentals as well. With more avocados, persimmons, pineapple guava, and jujubes, it seems there is a subtle reminder that California’s agricultural concerns are only possible when water is nearby. Only a few of the secondary orchard's trees remain in this area.

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.


RLC Backyard - Water Tower & Horno

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).


RLC Backyard - Pomegranates

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.”


RLC Forecourt 

Exhibitions: Curated cultural exhibitions celebrate the diversity of the people who have called Long Beach home for over 5,000 years. The current exhibit, Tevaaxa’nga (Te-vaah-ha-nga) to Today: Stories of the Tongva People, explores the history and culture of the Tongva (Gabrielino). It is now virtually on display on our website due to Covid-19. Specialty Programming: Rancho Los Cerritos connects the community to its local and regional history through a wide array of programs designed to engage people from all walks of life. Creation Station, Bird Walks, Summer Concerts, Mud Mania, Home for the Holidays, and Storytime, provide a community space for visitors to enjoy. Adobe Days Revisited: The site’s award-winning field trip program serves nearly 6,000 fourth-grade students each year. Costumed docents use immersive theater techniques to demonstrate and teach what Rancho life was like, circa 1878. Long Ago Long Beach: The site’s award-winning outreach program features highly interactive workshops that bring the Rancho experience to more than 1,000 LBUSD second- and third-grade students annually. Long Ago Long Beach Online is now accessible on the website, including two downloadable activity booklets and instructional videos. Volunteering: Volunteers are the life-blood of most museums, and Rancho Los Cerritos is no exception! Volunteers greet visitors, lead tours, assist with collections care, help maintain the gardens, staff public programs and events, conduct research, and more. College interns work on special projects, under the direction of the site’s historical curator, education director, horticulturist, publicist, and/or fundraising director. The site also offers volunteering opportunities specifically for high school students, who can earn valuable community service hours while developing career/college readiness skills, whether during the school year or in the summer. Get involved! California Research Library: Containing more than 3,000 books on California history, both rare volumes and current publications, the research library is a non-circulating reference center for scholars and students alike. In addition to finding aids available on site, the books are cataloged through the Long Beach Public Library. Appointment required. Private Rentals: Rancho Los Cerritos has lovely spaces available for a wide array of events, including weddings, baby showers, anniversary parties, corporate retreats, book club meetings, and more. Pricing varies by date, time, and size of meeting.

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.

Thank you for visiting! 

After building the adobe house (1844), John Temple's workers planted the site’s first formal garden. This colonial-style garden reflected his East Coast sensibility – and his adopted West Coast environs too. Temple ordered Black locust, apple, plum, and peach trees to be shipped around Cape Horn for his new garden. He also planted five Italian cypress trees and fruit trees that were common in Mexican California, including pomegranates, oranges, lemons, figs, grapes, and olives.  Flint, Bixby &amp; Co purchased the property (1866) and installed Jotham Bixby as ranch manager. He and his family moved into the Rancho Los Cerritos adobe. Ranch workers dug a well and built a water tower with a windmill near the house to provide the family with better access to water. These improvements enabled the garden to prosper as well. The Bixbys spent many hours in the garden, as fondly recounted by Sarah Bixby Smith in her memoire, Adobe Days (1925). After the Bixbys moved out of the adobe house (1881), they leased the property to a succession of tenants, farmers, and dairymen. Row crops replaced many of the ornamental plants in the garden and pigs and chickens had the run of the backyard. During this same period, the Bixbys also sold off most of their land for farms and towns. The Virginia Country Club bought the adjacent acreage (1919) and opened the golf course. Jotham Bixby’s nephew, Llewellyn Bixby Sr., purchased the remaining five acres (1929) and embarked upon extensive renovations of both the house and gardens. Architect Kenneth Wing was hired to modernize the crumbling adobe, and landscape architect Ralph D. Cornell was commissioned to design and install an estate garden. Cornell was an early proponent of the use of native plants. Rather than depend on annuals, he favored trees that would provide structure and seasonal color. He also incorporated John Temple’s try pot (a pot for rendering cow fat) and Jotham Bixby’s water tower into his design. The City of Long Beach purchased the property (1955) and has continued to maintain the site, including its historic gardens, for public recreation, education, and research.

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.

Rancho Los Cerritos Historic Site

RLC Native Garden - Elderberry

Introduction

Images

Additional Information