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4 great cultural destinations in cerritos, ca

We love everything about California, but especially the never-ending and ever-expanding list of exciting things to do and interesting places to visit within the state’s borders. Southern California is bursting with cultural experiences and destinations, and some of them are located right here in Cerritos, California. If you’re looking for an activity in Cerritos that is as educational as it is enjoyable, try visiting one of these cultural spots.

Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts

Address: 18000 Park Plaza Drive, Cerritos, CA 90703 

When you talk about culture, art is invariably a part of the conversation. The City of Cerritos owns and operates the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, a multi-functional building that serves as the city’s premier venue for the performing arts. After taking inspiration from some of SoCal’s iconic venues, like the Orange County Performing Arts Center and the Los Angeles Music Center, the city spent $60 million to build this 154,000-square-foot venue in 1987. Among its many features is the theater’s ability to rearrange into six different settings to accommodate each unique event, including a recital hall and arena seating.

The Cerritos Center hosts hundreds of theatrical performances and concerts each year, so there’s bound to be an event that appeals to you. 

Native Visions 

Address: 11327 183rd St., Cerritos, CA 90703 

At Native Visions, you can admire the beautiful jewelry of prominent contemporary Native American artists from throughout the American Southwest, including the Santo Domingo, Zuni, Hop, Navajo, and Cherokee tribes. This family-owned gallery has been open and celebrating indigenous artwork since 1993. The jewelry gallery also serves as a store, allowing you to purchase and enjoy the amazing artwork for years to come. When visiting, you can expect to find a wide array of women’s and men’s collections of jewelry available for sale.

Their focus is on semi-precious stone jewelry, specifically pieces made with coral or turquoise, but you can also find precious stones, palm stones, and crystals at the gallery. Though the physical store is definitely worth a visit, you can also shop from their collection online.

You can visit the gallery Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Cerritos Library 

cerritos-library
Image via Flickr by sergei.gussev

Address: 18025 Bloomfield Ave., Cerritos, CA 90703

If you’re looking for a cultural experience, what better way than at a library, where your world expands with every flip of a page? Originally developed in the 1970s, the Cerritos Library serves as a new municipal library that operates separately from the County of Los Angeles Public Library system. Since its conception roughly 50 years ago, the Cerritos Library was rededicated as the Cerritos Millennium Library in 2002. It’s at that time that the library dedicated itself to being the first Experience Library in the world. With over 300,000 books and computer workstations, it is an experience indeed.

The library has grown to 88,500 square feet and has received a number of awards over the years, including being recognized by “Reader’s Digest” as the Best Public Library in 2004. When you step through the doors, it’s easy to see why. Among its many themed reading rooms, the library features:

  • The World Traditions Room that offers works in various international languages. 
  • The Old World Reading Room that holds historic first editions and rare, leather-bound books.
  • A children’s reading museum that has a model space shuttle, an arts and crafts room, a theater, and a small aquarium.

You can visit the Cerritos Library for free Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m..

Cerritos Sculpture Garden 

Address: 18125 Bloomfield Ave., Cerritos, CA 90703

You can enjoy the beautiful Southern California weather as well as art and culture when you visit the Cerritos Sculpture Garden. The City of Cerritos dedicated this expansive garden as a 50th anniversary present for the community and its people in 2006. The space showcases an ever-expanding collection of public artwork intermingled with public seating areas, courtyard walls, and lush greenery. 

With a limited capacity of up to 20 sculptures at a time, the Cerritos Sculpture Garden rotates the works every couple of years. Some of the statues are:

  • The Cerritos Air Disaster Memorial was designed by artist Kathleen Caricof as a way to pay tribute to those that were lost on Aug. 31, 1986, during an air tragedy in Cerritos. The piece is made from three different materials: black granite, gray marble, and white marble, to symbolize the three groups of victims on that day. 
  • Statue of Freedom is a bronze piece that was sculpted by Michael Maiden as a replica of a piece created by Thomas Crawford in 1855. The original sculpture sits on top of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.
  • The Elements consists of four different art pieces by artist Jane DeDecker. Each piece is a female figure that represents one of nature’s elements: earth, wind, fire, and water. Though created from bronze, the collection is reminiscent of Roman and Greek sculptures.
  • Mirage was created by artist Ted Schaal as a site-specific sculpture for the garden. Made of bronze, this contemporary piece stands almost 8 feet tall and 15 feet wide. 
  • Infinity is a site-specific piece by artist Cliff Garten that is meant to entice visitors from the Civic Center to the garden. This piece is made of stainless steel and takes on different formations depending on the angle you’re viewing it from. Vivid colors are projected on the sculpture at night.
  • Dancer is a contemporary, highly polished bronze sculpture by Lyle London that stands 10 feet high and 5 feet wide.
  • Join the Parade was created by Jane Rankin and is made up of eight bronze sculptures showing kids using pots, pans, and kitchen utensils in an impromptu marching band.

There’s no fee to visit the Cerritos Sculpture Garden, and it’s open 24/7.

At Lem Garcia Law, we love this area and everything that it has to offer. There are so many things to do that celebrate art, culture, and diversity right here in Southern California. If we missed one of your favorite cultural destinations, let us know and we’ll add it to the list!

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