In honor of St. Valentine’s Day, Rancho Los Cerritos will offer “after-hours” candlelit tours on Saturday, February 13, 2016.
Visitors will tour the adobe home with a costumed guide and witness a Century of Romance through historical vignettes reenacted by living history characters. Meet Juan & Rafaela Temple, builders of the adobe home in 1844, as they explain how they first met, describe their Mexican-era wedding, and share what life was like on a cattle ranch in the mid-19th century. Guests will also encounter Jotham & Margaret Bixby, second owners of the Rancho, as they reminisce about their courtship during the Civil War and move to Southern California; and John & Susan Bixby, who married in the Rancho’s parlor after a secret courtship that took place in the early 1870s.
Stepping into the twentieth century, guests will be introduced to Manuel & Concepcion Liera, boarders who met and married at the Rancho in the 1920s. The real-life Lieras celebrated their wedding at the Rancho in 1924 – and their 70th wedding anniversary at the site in 1994! Tours will end in the library with Llewellyn & Avis Bixby, who renovated the Rancho in 1930 and lived here during the Great Depression.
The magical evening will conclude with a reception of our own: a sumptuous dessert and live romantic music in the gardens! Tours begin every fifteen minutes between 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 13, 2016.
Advance reservations for this unique living history program are required. Tickets are on sale now, just $15 per person. To make reservations, please call (562) 206-2040.
Rancho Los Cerritos is located at 4600 Virginia Road in Long Beach. Built in 1844, the adobe home and grounds echo with the rich history of Spanish, Mexican, and American California and with the families who helped transform Southern California from its ranching beginnings to a modern, urban society.
The two-story Monterey-style adobe is primarily furnished to reflect occupants and lifestyles from the 1860s-1880s. The site, a National, State and Long Beach Historic Landmark, also includes historic gardens and a research library and archives. The Rancho is operated by the Rancho Los Cerritos Foundation in private-public partnership with the City of Long Beach. For more information please call (562) 206-2040, or visit the website at www.rancholoscerritos.org and like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/rancholosc
Credit: Rancho Los Cerritos Foundation.
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