Iris H.W. Engstrand Rancho Los Cerritos: A Southern California Legacy Preserved, Southern California Quarterly Spring 2000, 82, no. 1, pp. 1-42.
Introduction: . . . lying within the city limits of Long Beach, its 4.7 acres . . . in an otherwise closed residential area.
Rancho Los Cerritos . . . possesses outstanding potential for interpretation of historical themes beginning with the period of Native American occupation and continuing through the romanticized Spanish Colonial Revival period of the 1920s and 1930s. The story of Native American occupation, Manuel Nieto's great land holdings, John Temple's initial efforts at cattle ranching, and the Bixby family's sheep-ranching enterprises coupled with other business ventures parallels the development of southern California into the economic center it is today. It clearly illustrates how "the pastoral ranch system of Hispanic culture retreated before large scale crop production, small farm subdivision, and urbanization brought about by Anglo-American settlers after California became a state . . .
[p. 4] At the time of Spanish contact, the culture of Southern California included the Hokan-speaking Chumash of Santa Barbara and Kumeyaay of San Diego who lived north and south of the Uto-Aztekan (Shoshone) linguistic groups later designated by such mission names as Gabrielino, Fernandino, Juaneno, and Luiseno, and occupying the coastal plain of southern California. The Gabrielino (or Tongva) were those living in the area of Rancho Los Cerritos . . .
[p. 6] The Rancho Period: Nieto and Cota Families 1790-1843
Although California was visited by Spaniards in 1542 (Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo) and 1602 (Sebastian Vizcaino) it was not until late in 1767 the reports of Russian advancement to the north of California caused the Spanish king Carlos III sufficient unrest to advise the viceroy of New Spain to investigate the matter. Because the occupation of the northern country in 1769 was to be spiritual as well as for defense, with the founding of missions and conversion of Indians equally as important as establishment of presidios and pueblos, the expedition to California was led by Military Governor Gaspar de Portola with the assistance of Franciscan Father Junipero Serra. With regard to the Indians, the expedition members were always to "exercise the greatest care not to exasperate or alienate" them. [13] [13. Jose de Galvez. Instructions for the expedition to San Diego and Monterey, Ms., Bancroft Library University of California, Berkeley.] Father Serra oversaw the founding of seven missions by 1776, the year of American independence from England.
Although missions and presides were the primary institutions founded during California's Spanish period, three civilian pueblos are also founded: San Jose on the Guadalupe River (1777), Los Angeles on the Porciuncula (Los Angeles) River (1781) and Villa de Branciforte (1797) near present day Santa Cruz.
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