Cerritos, CA

Inside the city-operated Cerritos Library, a 40-foot replica of a Tyrannosaurus rex fossil stands among children's collections offered in several languages. A 15,000-gallon saltwater aquarium is visible nearby. The city describes it as the world's first “Experience Library,” with collections and study rooms organized around elaborate themes; it is also a Smithsonian Affiliate. Exhibitions, classes, storytimes, art activities, and teen programs keep the building active within the Civic Center. City Hall and the Cerritos Sculpture Garden occupy the same grounds. That concentration makes the Civic Center a distinctive year-round local gathering place near the Los Angeles–Orange county line. This public landscape arose from a rapid change in land use. Cerritos incorporated on April 24, 1956, as Dairy Valley, then home to over 400 dairies and 29 cows for every resident.

ATTRCerritosDisaster ( talk ) / Public domain

Voters made it a charter city on February 17, 1959. As rising land values made dairying harder to sustain, feedlots, strawberry fields, and chicken farms began yielding to subdivisions. Residents selected Cerritos as the new name on January 10, 1967, even though the namesake Rancho Los Cerritos had never extended into the city. By April 1968, 31 housing tracts were complete or underway, accounting for over 2,000 new homes. The 1971 General Plan then separated residential neighborhoods from major commercial and industrial areas. Former agricultural land also became the basis for municipal business and cultural projects. Beside Studebaker Road, the city assembled Cerritos Auto Square, officially dedicated on August 23, 1980.

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As of July 2026, it covered 104 acres and had 26 dealer points. A clock gazebo, decorative street fixtures, and cobblestone intersections distinguished its original design. The city developed Cerritos Towne Center along the 91 Freeway and an industrial park farther north. As of July 2026, it owned the income-producing land at Towne Center and Lincoln Station, plus commercial and industrial properties in Auto Square and the industrial park; their ground leases provided municipal revenue. Towne Center also contains the city-owned Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, opened on January 13, 1993. Movable seating, stage, and towers create six auditorium arrangements, from a roughly 900-seat recital setting to a nearly 1,800-seat arena. Music, dance, theater, school performances, and rentals bring audiences to that adaptable hall.

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Every Saturday morning, the Cerritos Certified Farmers Market sets up in its parking lot with produce, fish, bread, honey, and flowers. The April Spring Fling marks the city's incorporation anniversary with local performers and cultural groups, and the Civic Center hosts annual Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Veterans Day observances. Another yearly gathering has a different purpose: each August 31, the city holds the Cerritos Air Disaster Remembrance at the memorial in the Cerritos Sculpture Garden for those affected by the 1986 midair collision. Library programs, public art, holiday ceremonies, and the August remembrance all use the Civic Center grounds. Across town, Saturday market stalls return to former Dairy Valley fields beside the theater.