Posts by:

Curatorial Intern


RLC decorated for July 4th

Imagine you are at Rancho Los Cerritos in 1876 celebrating the 100th birthday of the United States with the Bixby family. As the evening approaches you are sitting with Sarah Bixby Smith waiting for the sky to be enveloped in a glorious display of “sky-rockets.” The Fourth of July is one of the most important[…]

Read More

View of a Crowd in the Long Beach Pike Area c.1932

The period of the 1930s in America was a tumultuous one. The nationwide economic crisis that resulted from the stock market crash in 1929 was affecting families across the country. After being elected in 1932, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) began implementing his New Deal programs to benefit the country, with varying results. The Great[…]

Read More

Tea through Time at Rancho Los Cerritos is the latest Rancho Los Cerritos exhibit, curated by Arts Council for Long Beach intern Anthony Smyers. For the first time in Rancho history, this exhibit will have its opening online. Find the exhibit here: https://www.rancholoscerritos.org/tea-through-time-exhibit/. Since 1844, many different people have passed through the doors of Rancho Los[…]

Read More

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, a variety of objects were used to compliment the activities of reading and writing. The Art Nouveau movement of the late 19th century influenced the use of elegant feminine designs on certain implements. These essentials were richly ornamented and beautifully made with creative craftsmanship and unique designs. The[…]

Read More

Completed courtyard October 1931

The Bixby family owned and operated Rancho Los Cerritos as a sheep ranch, starting in 1866. Sheep raising continued until at least 1886, but as the ranch business was evolving additional portions of the land were gradually sold off. Llewellyn Bixby, Sr. purchased the then deteriorating Rancho Los Cerritos adobe and surrounding 4.74 acres from[…]

Read More

hair art

It was very popular during the Victorian Era to make and wear jewelry out of a loved one’s hair. In Europe and the U.S., a lot of women made elaborate wreaths, necklaces, bracelets and all sorts of pieces out of hair and wire, often with floral designs. Wreaths made from the hair of one deceased[…]

Read More

The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft spans thirty-nine volumes and details four hundred years of history in the western hemisphere, from Alaska to Panama. The volumes in the Rancho’s collection range in date from 1883 to 1890. These nineteenth century books are bound in sheepskin and imprinted with the name J. Bixby at the bottom[…]

Read More

When guests visit Rancho Los Cerritos in Long Beach today, they often hear docents talk about Sarah Bixby Smith. She was one of the nieces of Jotham Bixby. She would often spend summers at the Rancho. Her popularity now is due to her work, Adobe Days, which gave a plethora of information about the Bixby’s[…]

Read More