Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum

Experience a day at the Rancho learning  how to make adobe bricks, pan for gold and how to make a branding iron, furniture and other items that were used from a blacksmith.

Learn about making gold bricks and how to pan for gold on May 4th at the Rancho.  The Dominguez homestead adobe and many other homes in the early California years were made from adobe bricks and the soil used for these homes was on the Rancho San Pedro.  Learn about adobe and how it was used while you make your own adobe brick.

Gold was an important element in California’s history and while you are making your adobe brick, take a break to learn to gold pan.  What is gold panning and how was it done?  This is your day to learn and maybe you will discover something magical while you pan for gold.

Did you know that the term “blacksmith” comes from the activity of “smiting” iron or the “Black” metal – so named due to the color of the metal after being heated (a key part of the blacksmithing process). Learn more about the blacksmithing procses and walk away with your own branding iron.

This is a fun day full of activity at the Rancho and we hope to see you there!

Come along on a guided tour of the beautiful gardens on the Rancho San Pedro.  Explore hidden grottos, orchards and more.  Take a peaceful stroll through the Rose Garden and Cactus Garden on the tour.  Enjoy seeing and learning about the various flower plants, succulents and trees thriving all over the Rancho.

This tour is every 4th Saturday and each time there is something new to learn each time.  The tour starts at 11am.

Summer Weekend Docent Training starts on June 1st for those interested in sharing the Dominguez family history with the public.

The Museum is looking for docents for the following days:

• Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday afternoons
• Tuesday through Friday mornings for our school tours

Classes will be held from 10am to 12pm on the following days:

Wednesday, June 1st

Wednesday, June 15th

Wednesday, June 29th

Wednesday, July 13th

Please call or email the Museum for more information and to sign up.  We hope you will join our docent family!

Learn about all of the fantastic volunteer opportunities at the museum at this Volunteer Open House.  There will be activities for all ages, light refreshments and an overview about all the ways volunteers help the museum.

We are looking for volunteers of all ages families helping on projects together-high school students looking for credit hours-college students looking for credit hours or internships-individuals of all ages.

We need people to help with giving tours, helping in the gardens, working with the objects in the collections, assisting with special events, managing the office and more.

Come on out on June 8th at 11am for this fun volunteer event!

Join us for this talk on the history of Banning, which will be given by author Tom Sitton. Southern California pioneer Phineas Banning’s historical role in the development of the South Bay and beyond will be discussed.  Sitton will talk about how Banning and his decedents helped to shape Southern California “through the blood-and-guts work of building the region’s mercantile and transportation infrastructure” and by “envisioning its future” as a tourist destination.  These developments were made possible by the first large-scale sale of Rancho San Pedro land to a party outside the family that was made to a company headed by Banning in 1854.

Light refreshments will be served after the talk and Mr. Sitton will also be available to sign copies of his book, which will be for sale in the museum’s gift shop.

The suggested donation for this talk is $4.  We hope you join us for this educational and entertaining talk about the history of the people of the South Bay.

Our featured speaker, Tom Sitton, is the Curator Emeritus of the Natural history Museum of Los Angeles County and he wrote the book “Grand Ventures: The Banning Family and the Shaping of Southern California.”