When the Bixby family first moved to Rancho Los Alamitos, Fred Bixby wanted a tree as full as the ones his family had back East. The adobe ceilings were too low for that. Every year he brought home a tall, wide tree and cut off the top so it would fit, spreading the branches along the ceiling. Katherine Bixby Hotchkis remembered what was lost, in a passage the Rancho reprinted in its December 2024 newsletter:
"The natural point of the tree and the Christmas star always had to be sacrificed for a thick beautiful denseness... Every year Mother sighed for the lost star."
The house with the topless tree still stands at 6400 E. Bixby Hill Road. This year its holiday season looks different from a typical afternoon visit. The biggest night adds something new, and most of the season's programs fall outside the hours the gates are normally open.
Two Calendars on One Hill
On an ordinary week, Rancho Los Alamitos is open Wednesday through Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. Entrance gates close at 4:30, and admission is free. It is closed Mondays, Tuesdays and federal holidays. Reservations are recommended for individuals and small groups but not required. That free afternoon visit is what most nearby households know.
The holiday programs run on a separate schedule. Here is the Rancho's own lineup from now through the end of the year, set against its regular hours:
| Date | Program | Time | Normally open then? | How to get in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sat., Nov. 14 | Weaving Workshop for Kids | 10–11:15 a.m. | No, before opening | Ticketed |
| Tue., Nov. 17 | Storytime on the Barn's Lawn | 10–11 a.m. | No, Tuesday | Waitlist only |
| Fri.–Sat., Dec. 4–5 | Rancho Voices: Holiday Program | 4–8 p.m. | No, site closed to regular visits | Ticketed |
| Tue., Dec. 15 | Storytime on the Barn's Lawn | 10–11 a.m. | No, Tuesday | Free with RSVP |
| Sat., Dec. 19 | Holiday Wreath Workshop | 10 a.m.–noon | No, before opening | Ticketed |
Each of the five is scheduled for a morning, a Tuesday, or one of the two evenings the Rancho closes to regular visitors. That makes the holiday season something you sign up for, and three sign-up windows have already opened.
Rancho Voices Adds a Market
Rancho Voices is the annual holiday program. The Ranch House is dressed for a holiday party, live performances are staged around the grounds, and there is an activity table with a holiday craft and a treat. New for 2026, the Rancho is adding a holiday market with more than 25 vendors, and the evening ends with time to browse the booths and the decorated Museum Store.
The program has drawn crowds before the market existed. After the 2024 edition, the Rancho's newsletter reported that 720 guests came over two nights for "stories and songs from the viewpoint of those who worked and lived here." It thanked the Long Beach Playhouse along with volunteers, actors and performers. A market with more than 25 vendors gives people one more reason to buy a ticket for the same two nights.
Members had a three-day presale on October 26, 27 and 28, and tickets went on sale to the general public on Thursday, October 29. The program page links to membership for anyone who wants priority access to future programs.
Both nights also appear on the Rancho's closed dates list. That's the clearest example of the two calendars. On Friday, December 4, and Saturday, December 5, there is no regular 1-to-5 visit. The only way onto the grounds is with a Rancho Voices ticket.
The Sign-Up Order, Already in Motion
By the first week of November, three of the Rancho's holiday windows are already open. If you're planning a family December around the hill, take them in this order:
- Rancho Voices, December 4–5. Public tickets have been on sale since October 29. The 2024 program drew 720 people over two nights, and that was before the market.
- Holiday Wreath Workshop, December 19. Tickets went on sale Sunday, November 1. Participants tour the gardens for ideas, then build a wreath from a mix of plants, and all materials are provided.
- Storytime on the Barn's Lawn, December 15. Reservations opened Wednesday, November 4. The program is free with RSVP, including admission and on-site parking. It is recommended for children ages 2 to 5 and their caregivers, who bring a blanket for stories inspired by the Rancho's animals, history and nature, then visit the livestock. The November 17 session is already full and waitlist-only.
- Weaving Workshop for Kids, November 14. It's $20 for a child and guardian, $15 for members, and $10 for each additional child. It's recommended for ages 7 to 14 and held indoors. Each child weaves a coaster on their own loom. Looms to take home are sold only in advance through the ticket site, not on the day.
The December storytime shows how quickly these fill. The November session was full before October ended. December's opened the day before this post went up.
Counting the Free Afternoons
The ticketed programs are only half of it. The other half is how few regular afternoons are left in 2026.
The Rancho closes Wednesday, November 11, for Veterans Day, then Thursday and Friday, November 26 and 27, for Thanksgiving. It closes again December 4 and 5 for Rancho Voices. From Wednesday, December 23, through Sunday, January 10, it shuts for its annual maintenance closure.
Laid over the Wednesday-through-Sunday schedule, those closures leave 16 open afternoons from Thursday, November 5, through the end of November, and 13 in December. The last regular visit of the year is Sunday, December 20. Monday the 21st and Tuesday the 22nd are standard closed days, and the maintenance closure starts the next morning. Anyone hoping to walk relatives through the gardens during the week between Christmas and New Year's will find the gates closed until January 10's closure ends.
Those afternoons have plenty to fill them. The Rancho's FAQ lists the Rose Garden, Cactus Garden, Native Garden, Secret Garden, and the Geranium, Jacaranda and Oleander walks. On the working side of the property are a blacksmith shop, a feed shed and a dairy barn. The livestock page lists horses, goats, sheep, mules, donkeys, rabbits, ducks and chickens.
Getting in works the same on any of those days. Drive to the Bixby Hill security gate at East Anaheim Road and Palo Verde Avenue and tell the attendant you're visiting the Rancho. Then continue uphill to the visitor lot and check in. Parking on site is free, subject to space, and accessible spaces are near the Rancho Center. Guests who haven't been before need to know the gate step. The Rancho sits inside a gated neighborhood, and the address alone won't get you there.
Pairing the Hill With Campus
Cal State Long Beach is close by, and its calendar lines up neatly with the Rancho's.
- Saturday, November 14. After the 10 a.m. weaving workshop, the Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum holds its Second Saturday Community Day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. It includes exhibition and Art Park tours plus drop-in art activities. It's free, and no RSVP is required.
- Through December 10. The museum's fall exhibitions are Carol Anne McChrystal: Export Quality, Jacqueline Valenzuela: In Practice of Return, and Peter Carr: This Is How We Will All Be Saved. Admission is free.
- November 6–22. Musical Theatre West, the Carpenter Center's resident company, stages Little Women.
- Friday, December 4. On the first night of Rancho Voices, the Carpenter Center presents Pacífico Dance Company: Mujeres de Mexico: Stories in Motion at 8 p.m., right as the Rancho's 4-to-8 program ends.
- December 6, 11 and 12. The Carpenter Center's season listing shows Forever Tango, Nella and David Benoit.
- Wednesday and Thursday, December 9 and 10. Christmas Dreaming with Stella Cole brings a program of holiday classics at 7 p.m. both nights.
Put together, a Park Estates family could build December around Rancho Voices on the 4th, a weekday afternoon in the gardens before the 20th, Stella Cole on the 9th or 10th, and wreath-making on the 19th, as long as the tickets were bought in early November.
Cynthia Voss and Nathan Walter have worked in this corner of east Long Beach through many holiday seasons on Bixby Hill. If the new year has you wondering what your Park Estates home is worth, Cynthia Voss and Nathan are glad to help. Request a Free Home Valuation, and we'll talk it through over coffee before the Rancho's gates close on December 23.
