Long Beach : Historic Rancho Gets Grant to Help Build Visitor Center

A $225,000 federal grant has been awarded to Rancho Los Alamitos in Long Beach for construction of a 3,000-square-foot visitor center on its grounds. The grant, from the National Endowment for Humanities, must be matched by $675,000 to be raised over the next three years from personal, corporate and foundation sources.

“We really have no area in which we can introduce the public to the site’s significance in Southern California history without invading the historic buildings themselves,� said Patricia Young, director of development for the Rancho Los Alamitos Foundation. In the planned building, she said, visitors will be able to view a series of exhibits, as well as films and slides, which will give them an overview of the 7.5-acre site. “We want the site to really be a total . . . experience for the visitor,� she said.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated by the city as a historic landmark, the rancho was once part of a Spanish land grant that served as a cattle ranch in the 1800s.

Assuming that matching funds can be raised, Young said, the site is expected to be closed for nine months in 1992 to facilitate construction of the building. In addition to paying for the visitor center, she said, the grant and fund-raising campaign will help enhance the rancho’s educational program, as well as facilitate required restoration work.