Rancho Los Cerritos
Massachusetts-born John Temple bought the land on which Rancho Los Cerritos was built from the heirs of the original Spanish land grantee, Manuel Nieto. He constructed the two-story Monterey-style adobe in 1844 for his cattle operation headquarters. He sold the ranch to Thomas and Benjamin Flint and their cousin Lewellyn Bixby in 1866. Lewellyn’s brother, Jotham, managed the ranch and lived with his family in the adobe from 1866 to 1881. The Bixby family eventually sold the house to the City of Long Beach which opened it as a public museum in 1955. It is on the National Register of Historic Places and a U.S. National Historic Landmark, Long Beach Historic Landmark and California Historical Landmark.
Long Beach, Los Angeles County
Images by Andrew Schmidt