{"nrhp_refnum":"81000153","name":"Rancho Los Alamitos","other_names":["Bixby Ranch"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"6400 Bixby Hill Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Long Beach","county":"Los Angeles County","state":"CA","lat":33.777145579000035,"lon":-118.10617021899998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1981-07-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Prehistoric","Landscape Architecture","Agriculture","Exploration/Settlement","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 7.387-acre ranch complex on Bixby Hill in Long Beach, California, with an adobe-based ranch house that grew over about 175 years, seven outbuildings, gardens and a tennis court. The adobe core dates to the early 1800s.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the site represents the growth of Southern California from its Native and rancho beginnings to a major agricultural and livestock region. The ranch house shows a Mexican adobe transformed into an Eastern-style dwelling for a working ranch. The 1920s-30s gardens were designed by prominent landscape architects, and the site includes a Gabrielino village area with a kitchen midden.","narrative":"Rancho Los Alamitos occupies 7.387 acres atop Bixby Hill in Long Beach. Its ranch house began as a four-room adobe in the early 1800s and grew through additions, including a c. 1850 service wing, wood-frame wings from 1878 to 1925, and a 1925 second story, to eighteen rooms. Seven outbuildings, built between 1910 and 1948, include a foreman's house, barns, a blacksmith shop and a chuckwagon. Six were moved nearby when housing development threatened them. Formal gardens laid out in the 1920s and 1930s were designed in part by noted landscape architects. The site also holds a kitchen midden associated with the Gabrielino village of Pubuna. Owners over time included Abel Stearns, Michael Reese and the Bixby family, who held the ranch for ninety years. The nomination values the property as a rare surviving example of a Mexican structure becoming a working ranch home with formal gardens. Since 1968 the City of Long Beach has owned it as a living historical site and museum.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Adobe core with later wood-frame additions; the 1925 second-story porch gives a Monterey style flavor","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in good condition; owned by the City of Long Beach and used as a museum and park. The ranch house is on its original site, but six outbuildings were moved onto the property.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:32.046557-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/81000153.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/81000153/d3523fa6fd-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/81000153/d3523fa6fd-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0 us","author":"Monacat","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rancholosalamitos.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Monacat</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0 us</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rancholosalamitos.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123859445","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rancho_Los_Alamitos","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7291079"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/los-angeles-county/rancho-los-alamitos-81000153/"}