San Juan Bautista Historical Society

06/01/2026

Bonus event going on at our next Salinas City Heritage Park Open House on Saturday, June 6th. Plenty of free parking. Come check it out!

05/30/2026

Mission San Juan Bautista -- sitting atop the San Andreas Fault -- makes the list of "10 Historic Missions In California That Feel Like They’re Frozen In Time."

Explore California's most beautiful historic treasures

05/27/2026

The JUNE issue of Mission Village Voice is in circulation🤠🐴🐮 Then and Now features 411 The Alameda, historically known as the Avilla House.

05/27/2026

Well, this definitely feels historic!

May 25, 2026 Akira Boch comes home to show documentary at El Teatro Campesino Film follows Grammy-winning band Quetzal through East Los Angeles, international journey FEATURES | By George B. Sánchez-Tello More than 30 years ago, Hollister High graduate Akira Boch began filming a burgeoning art scen...

05/27/2026

This seems historic...in little San Juan Bautista.

May 25, 2026 Akira Boch comes home to show documentary at El Teatro Campesino Film follows Grammy-winning band Quetzal through East Los Angeles, international journey FEATURES | By George B. Sánchez-Tello More than 30 years ago, Hollister High graduate Akira Boch began filming a burgeoning art scen...

05/26/2026

UPDATE: Longtime San Juaners have identified this man as former SJB Volunteer Fire Department Chief Dick Joseph (Alvin Richard Joseph 1904-1955). Thanks, All.

05/18/2026

A free one-hour lunchtime webinar series Preservation in Print, featuring "Rancho Guadalasca: Last Ranch of California’s Central Coast."

Tomorrow! Join us for our free lunchtime webinar series Preservation in Print, featuring "Rancho Guadalasca: Last Ranch of California’s Central Coast" by Colleen M. Delaney

Tuesday, May 19th, 12 PM - 1 PM, Online - FREE

A Mexican land grant awarded in 1836, Rancho Guadalasca lay at the western end of the Santa Monica Mountains along the eastern Oxnard Plain.

Indigenous Chumash, Californio ranchers, Anglo-American farmers, Japanese fishermen, and Basque sheepherders all left their marks on the land, along with local institutions like Camarillo State Hospital and CSU Channel Islands.

Join CPF along with archaeologist and anthropology professor Colleen M. Delaney as she traces the 5,000 years of community and lifeways that shaped Ventura County.

Learn more and register at: https://californiapreservation.org/events/pip-rancho-guadalasca/

PHOTO CREDIT
1. Book cover: (top image) Lewis ranch workers in the canvas "doghouse": Courtesy of Terrance Tally; (bottom image) Mugu Lagoon, photo by Philip A. Mastinick
2. Camarillo State Hospital first section under construction. Attribution: California State Archives F3253_90(32N)

05/18/2026

IN SEARCH OF: small remnant of landscaping cloth and a bucket of mulch/compost to use around a unique heritage rose at the cemetery. TIA. Reply by message. 🌹

Send a message to learn more

05/17/2026

Looks like an interesting excursion!

05/14/2026

Following up on yesterday's post, today we visited RANCHO LOS ALAMITOS -- " a place for all time" -- just 8.4 miles from RANCHO LOS CERRITOS. The heirs of Florence and Fred BIXBY gifted Rancho Los Alamitos to the people of Long Beach in 1968, and the site opened to the public in 1970. Beginning in 1986, the Rancho Los Alamitos Foundation assumed management of the historic site, partnering with the City of Long Beach to preserve and share its rich resources.

The Rancho is located on Tongva-Gabrielino land known as Povuun’gna. The Foundation recognizes the profound significance of Povuun’gna as the sacred place of origin of the Indigenous people who stewarded this land for thousands of years before the disruption of Spanish colonization. Beginning with these Indigenous people, the land has nurtured a great diversity of people and cultures over its long history, from the Spanish and Mexican colonists to successive waves of settlers and entrepreneurs from all over the world. Today, the Rancho is a 7.5 acre historic site within the City of Long Beach, one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the United States. A VERY well-curated, authentic rancho -- highly recommend!

Visit Rancho Los Alamitos in Long Beach — a 7.5-acre historic site featuring a 1790s adobe ranch house, lush gardens, and free guided tours. Plan your visit today.