Rancho Los Alamitos

Rancho Los Alamitos Historic Ranch & Gardens is a place for all time and for everyone. The seven-and-a-half-acre historic site is a City of Long Beach landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The site includes an adobe ranch house, four acres of nationally significant gardens, and a barnyard full of farm animals. Our primary purpose is to serve the community and region through meaningful cultural experiences and programs.

Rancho Los Alamitos is a cultural treasure that attracts 30,000 visitors each year. It serves more than 4,000 third- and fourth-grade students annually through award-winning school programs. Through the generosity of donors like you and our team of dedicated volunteers, the Rancho offers school programs at no cost to the students, including bus transportation for under-resourced schools. Owned by the City of Long Beach, the Rancho is operated by the Rancho Los Alamitos Foundation in a cooperative public/private partnership. Admission is free-of-charge.

The Rancho is one of the few remaining Southern California sites with a known 1500-year history of continuous occupancy. The land the Rancho occupies is the ancestral home of the Tongva/Gabrielino people. It is one of the most significant Native American sites in Southern California and was known as Povuu'ngna. The historic ranch and gardens showcase our region's history and development from the first native peoples through conquest and colonization, agriculture, and urbanization, right up to the present day. The Rancho is a place for exploring our shared past and reflection on the people and events that shaped the community we inhabit today. It is a place for questions and curiosity. It is a place for shared adventures with friends and family, a place to experience the past and create new memories. The Rancho is a place of welcome, of hospitality. As the native ancestors recognized so many generations ago, it is "the gathering place" - a place for all time.

Our historically preserved structures, nationally regarded gardens, and interpretative programs provide windows through which visitors can glimpse the region's history and enjoy its rich culture. Our pastoral landscape and farm animals (rarities in an urban environment) offer a peaceful, natural refuge from city living demands. We hope you will join us in preserving and sharing this rare island in a sea of change.

Testimonials

Rancho Los Alamitos "...was one of our favorite virtual field trips this year! All of the staff involved in our field trip did an amazing job presenting information and making it engaging for the kids! You are all so organized, and it went so smoothly! I was very impressed!" - Ocean View School District Teacher.

"This really helps students with distance learning and makes learning about California history more fun. You made history come to life for my students." - LBUSD Teacher.