Rancho Los Cerritos

I am a Bixby descendent and I love visiting Rancho Los Cerritos! It is full of history and is a stunning place to visit

if you havent been here your missing out on some good long beach history. we came our
t for the mud mania place is great and you will get dirty

This place was amazing. Just wonderful. First off we had a docent led your by someone that was dressed up like it was 150 years ago. The house itself was extraordinary. They have done a great job preserving it. They even allow pictures to be taken! The front yard to the property was very nice. A lot of room to roam around. There’s plenty of nice plants and trees to see. A lot of shaded areas too. They have two Moreton Bay Figs there. I enjoyed walking on the roots. I had such a nice time there I didn’t want to leave. The best part is that even though it’s located in Long Beach, it feels very secluded. Tucked within a country club the only sounds of civilization were airplanes and the Metro Blue Line every 10 minutes or so. Quite a wonderful day spent here. Highly recommend this place.

Note: I have NOT explored the house of grounds. I went for a neighborhood jazz concert.
Interestingly, I didn’t know this park was in the neighborhood. I guess that’s why they hosted the jazz concert in the clearing, to bring awareness to this little haven. Behind the golf course, it’s well-​nestled. It’s actually too small to host popular concerts in the park like they do. However, it brings awareness to the adobe.

My tour guide was really nice considering that she wasn’t getting paid at all. I was really pleased at how informative she was. It was quite relaxing. I came on a blazing hot day in 90 degree weather too. Overall, it was a nice experience. Make sure to check into the, «Welcome Center,» to go on a tour. They generally last about 40 – 45 minutes so make sure to wear comfy shoes and go to the restroom beforehand!

Visited the Annual Mud Mania Event and it was GREAT!
Kids loved getting dirty, making crafts and activities! The day was very entertaining not to mention educational!
We all had a blast and would visit again!

Had our wedding last summer at Rancho Los Cerritos and absolutely loved it! The only downside is that your wedding has to start late (5:30) because of the tours, and be done by 10:30, but it was still PERFECT! :)
The courtyard was the perfect place for the ceremony & we stood up on the patio with our wedding party which made it easy for everyone to see! We had 260 guests and everyone fit comfortably in the courtyard (I had been worried about this).
We had such a fun reception in the backyard & it was a beautiful space that didn’t even need much for decorations or flowers because of the natural beauty. There was plenty of space for everything in the backyard & was lit up beautifully with strands of lights.
We used Primal Alchemy catering as our food vendor (the sight has 4 vendors to choose from) and they did a wonderful job as well.
Overall, awesome & unique place for a wedding! Highly recommend it!

Great bit of history (tour and museum) in my own backyard. Exciting to look more into the events coming up and Ms. Carol was an amazing tour guide, sneaking us in at the last moment. We will be back.

This is a wonderful part of history! The buildings are very well kept and renovated last year. The walk ways are made of gravel and there are red ants all over so I would not recommend wearing sandals. The visitor’s center is quaint and only so informative. I recently moved to long beach and I could tell many young students get assignments to do here, which is the way the information is presented. I highly recommend taking a tour, you will wander around awkwardly if its your first time. Tours of the adobe house are done every 45 minutes and garden tours are done on the weekend at 2:30. The video everyone watches before a tour is cute but informative, and it makes you think if this place is haunted by the way they use a ghost in the film.
After our tour, we went around the side to the garden to check out the herbs, and just as we were turning the corner to where the house is shaved for the tree roots, we felt a very real presence and heard heavy climbing. We then saw tree bark being thrown toward us. We were perplexed and at the same time felt we had to get away. There was no animal, no human, no one climbing, just my husband and myself. We really wanted to ask a volunteer if they believed it to be haunted, but decided to research it later and we found out about the angry evil foreman. I didn’t believe in ghosts before today, but if two people witnessed the same eerie occurrence, what else could that have been?
Pros: very sweet woman guide for our garden tour, many types of trees, wonderful preservation of antiques from the ranch and family, great place to spend a couple of hours on the weekend. Really a hidden gem in long beach.
Cons: the garden really needs tending, wear pants.

Rancho Los Cerritos is a really cool mission that is tucked away in the Bixby Knolls neighborhood of Long Beach. I actually live here and I have seen a few signs but it took me a few years to go and actually check it out.
This is a great spot to take out of towners or anybody that is interested in how Long Beach used to be back in the day.
The tours are free and are somewhat guided. You start off in the visitors center and a volunteer will give you a brief history and you get a chance to look at some displays and get a feel for the place before you actually check it out.
After your done with the inside, you head out to the actual Rancho and you will walk around and look at a bunch of old school rooms, the main house and the grounds which have all sorts of cool landscaping.
When you walk away you will learn something new about Long Beach and about California. There is plenty of parking and it is rarely crowded so you don’t have to get there early or anything like that.

A great place to learn about the history of Bixby Knolls and Long Beach. They provide free tours, parking, and special events year-​round. The staff are friendly and are very knowledgeable of the history. So if you’re looking to do something in Long Beach, I’d recommend dropping by and immerse yourself in history!

If you are a history geek, I HIGHLY recommend coming during one of their Living History Tours.
We were taken around by an older lady posing as Mrs. Bixby, and she was really absorbed in the role, answering questions in character and giving thorough responses. She was great, walking around the house, talking about it like it was really hers.
She went on about being envious of the ladies at Rancho Los Alamitos for having flushing toilets while she still had to use the chamber pot, as represented in one of the bedrooms.
They also do free tours, no costumes or characters, daily.
Seems like the ranchos are primarily of interest to random locals who want to visit and students looking to earn some extra credit visiting a museum/​historic place. Los Cerritos is definitely much more interesting when the tours come alive, but it’s still well worth visiting any other day.

My 6 year old and I happened upon Rancho Los Cerritos when we were taking a random drive a week ago and decided to check it out. The staff was super friendly and helpful. The visitor center is new and the bathrooms super clean. There was a 15 minute video that gave you some history on the site and I strongly recommend watching it. The tour was free (we gave a donation) but an amazing story and neat little piece of history in our backyard practically.
Very neat to see all the different rooms and artifacts and learn about one of Long Beach/​Los Alamitos’s founding families. They let us know about different event held there including a holiday program for kids. We will be back.

[INSERT HISTORY PAPER HERE]
Visiting the Rancho Los Cerritos Historic Site, in Long Beach was an interesting, exciting, mind-​stimulating, FREE activity I’ve done in a while-​and it’s so close to home! Since I am originally Minnesota bred and a California transplant, it gave me a better understanding of one aspect of California. My first impression of the place was small and quaint but to my amazement there was much more history; a grandeur story that was hidden and veiled unless you visited this place.
The tour was so helpful, and they had compartmentalized rooms where the guides explained to you the significance. My tour guide Sherrie was so knowledgeable. If you’re interested, they even have a garden with fresh fruit trees and lush plants/​trees. I tried to take some fruit but they told me there’s pesticides on them =(
Fun, FREE activity, or if you have to go for a hw assignment.

I went here several months back. It was a very nice step back into history. I definitely recommend the tour with the docent that played Don Juan Temple. He really breathed life into the part. There was also a floral/​plant tour in addition to the historical one. The grounds are well kept and clean. It wasn’t terribly crowded either. There wasn’t a lot of parking but it’s a small area tucked into the middle of the country club. I would also advice using bathrooms elsewhere. They only had some port o potties there when I went.
Edit: Apparently there’s new bathrooms there now that weren’t there when I last visited.
Over all though, a very nice place to visit and learn some local history.

Rancho Los Alamitos is closed right now and this is definitely a hidden gem!
It is open fairly infrequently throughout the week, but it is free and I believe run on donations — even with all this the experience is great!
There is so much history here, of Long Beach and of the surrounding areas. I also loved the displays and the house. Not an extremely huge museum but they do a GREAT job with what is left of this once big and famous ranch.

I revisited Rancho Los Cerritos today because I wanted to photograph some Old themed rooms and relics for a Photo Contest. I enjoyed my time of taking many photographs of this beautiful historic venue and adobe home.
I first visited this historic site in the year 2000 with my Mother and Aunt, and we enjoyed touring the adobe home venue and especially the gardens! This historic site is a wonderful place to visit and learn more about the history of Long Beach and the Bixby Family’s great influence to Long Beach’s history.
This Rancho adobe home and its gardens have all been very well-​maintained. Their Staff are very friendly and helpful, and they make you feel welcomed. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit today, and felt like I was taken back into another era and world, when life was much simpler.

Rancho Los Cerritos, the hidden gem of Long Beach history. Somewhat hidden behind the Virginia Country Club, this historical ranch house was built in 1844 and lived in until 1950.
Open Wednesday — Sunday 1pm — 5pm with guided tours on Saturday and Sunday. Free admission and parking. They have lots of special events which are free or low cost and always kids and family friendly.
The house is beautiful inside and out and don’t forget to check out the garden in the back. It’s bigger than it looks with a lot of historic and interesting trees and plants.
Be sure to visit on Living History Sundays where «visitors from the past» take you through the house with a first person tour! Learn what it was like to live in Long Beach in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.

I liked our tour of Rancho Los Cerritos. Their grounds and gardens are beautiful. A must see in the spring time.
They have an interesting two story adobe. Although the adobe has been reconstructed in parts, it is still a testament to the rancho period of the past. :)

Under our noses here in the LBC.
This historical adobe ranch compound is awesome. They do free site tours on Sunday. Go! You’ll be so happy that you did. This isn’t some house of some old rich dewd from 1920. Rather the place dates back to the 1700s. No kidding!
This is great for visiting relatives, history dorks (like me), mission-​style architecture buffs, kids and anybody that wants to learn what LA used to be like. So interesting.
Don’t half step. They make organic jam and marmalade from the «ancient» trees on the property, so bring cash ($ 4) and get happy.