Restoration of the Back Hall
During the spring and summer of 2013, Rancho Los Alamitos restored the back hall of the ranch house. This hallway is where family and friends entered the ranch house on the west side of the building. It was the informal entrance to the home, and the one visitors use today. The hallway was added to the adobe ranch house around 1890 under the direction of Susan Hathaway Bixby. Also included in the hallway restoration project is the second floor landing (added to the adobe in 1926), and an adjacent ground floor hallway leading to the children’s bedroom wing.
As with the restoration of the “Girls’ Bedroom,” one of the highlights of the back hall restoration is the accurate reproduction and installation of earlier wallpaper found beneath the top layer of 1960s wallpaper. And like the bedroom project, the hallway project restores the back hall and adjacent areas to a period consistent with the rest of the historic ranch house. The back hall restoration project was funded by the Long Beach Navy Memorial Heritage Association and the Rancho Los Alamitos Foundation.
As with the restoration of the “Girls’ Bedroom,” one of the highlights of the back hall restoration is the accurate reproduction and installation of earlier wallpaper found beneath the top layer of 1960s wallpaper. And like the bedroom project, the hallway project restores the back hall and adjacent areas to a period consistent with the rest of the historic ranch house. The back hall restoration project was funded by the Long Beach Navy Memorial Heritage Association and the Rancho Los Alamitos Foundation.