About the Museum

Rancho Los Alamitos is a historic rancho and adobe residence located in present-day Long Beach, California. The name derives from an 1834 Mexican partition of the earlier Rancho Los Nietos (1784), one of the first Spanish land grants in Alta California. Covering over 28,000 acres (110 km2), it once extended across large portions of present-day Long Beach, Los Alamitos, Rossmoor, and parts of Seal Beach, Cypress, Stanton, and Garden Grove. The rancho's name translates to “The Little Cottonwoods,” in reference to the native Populus fremontii trees that grew in the area. Today, the restored adobe house, gardens, and barns function as a public museum interpreting centuries of regional history.