Tour the historic Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum

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Join us for a guided tour of the Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum, the original seat of Rancho San Pedro, which is both a California Historical Landmark (#152) and on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Rancho was the first Spanish land grant in California, granted in 1784 by King Carlos III to Juan Jose Dominguez, a retired Spanish soldier who came twice to California: first with The Portolá Expedition and later with Father Junípero Serra. The Rancho encompassed 75,000 acres and included what would become the Los Angeles harbor. In 1826, Juan Jose’s heir Manuel Dominguez constructed the Dominguez Rancho Adobe as it is seen today.

The reconstructed environments throughout the adobe focus on what life was like in Los Angeles’ poorly understood Rancho era, which lasted roughly from the 1833 secularization of Mission lands through California’s Statehood (1850) and ending with the disastrous droughts and floods of the 1860s. Out of the failure of this fascinating agrarian culture and the subsequent rise of industrialization, the agricultural economy which carried the region into the 20th Century was born.

The museum also has an extensive collection on the Dominguez Hills Air Meet and its role in early Los Angeles aviation history and industry, including a miniature table-top model of dirigibles and planes featured at the 1910 Air Meet that was constructed by Paramount Studios artisans.

PARKING: Upon entering the grounds there is a large concrete pad on your left. Please park there and walk the short distance around the bend to the museum.