Jensen Alvarado Historic Ranch and Museum — Attraction in Jurupa Valley

We dropped by today and found the ranch empty. We felt like we were trespassing because there was no one at the gate. There was one guy working in the field, and a donkey in a pen. We wandered around, looking at the ranch, trees, and citrus grove.

The museum and house were closed, but we found an employee who said the facilities are used mostly for field trips during the week. There wasn't much happening, but the donkey was very sweet and seemed to like us.

Apparently, there are all kinds of events here and things for the field trip kids to do, like making ice cream and tortillas, but we were told those activities are not part of the tour. Oh well.

*Update: We returned on Saturday and got to talk to one of the employees, who told us the donkey's name is Rosie. We got to pet her again... She is so sweet, and the main reason we went back.

We saw the employee we spoke to earlier in the week named Tighe, who is very knowledgeable and kind. He told us many interesting facts about the house and museum. He seems to really love his job and history. It's really cool to stand where people stood 150 years ago and learn how all of it relates to our community today.

The Google hours differ from the actual hours. I suggest calling ahead to find out if they are open. Otherwise, entry to the park was free the two times we went, and you can walk around for free.

I highly recommend this place for a picnic. There are sheep and a horse, as well as beautiful cottonwood trees, an olive tree, and orange groves (you can't take any oranges, though, since they are under quarantine.)

Be sure to enter on Briggs, and don't be discouraged that it is right in the middle of a residential street. It is there, just tucked away...

This museum/ranch is very unassuming as it is nestled in a small housing neighborhood. Once you enter the grounds, it still appears as a typical California ranch property, aside from an open parking lot to allow for public traffic. Not a typical museum as it is very hands-on, from farm/ranch life, animals, home, barn, kitchen tours . A unique experience for kids to understand life on a ranch in California back in the 1860's. My son's school took a recent field trip here and I got to accompany their class. Admission came to $15/person: got to feed the farm animals, make tortillas, make ice cream, do laundry as they had, and receive a full detailed tour of the grounds and the home/museum. The tortillas were made in their outdoor kitchen. The kids experienced how apples were cored and sliced in an old-fashioned way with tools used during this time period. Each student even experienced ranch life from coffee grinding to doing laundry; all that was entailed on a day-to-day basis on a ranch. Our tour guide was dressed in period clothing and she was so detailed in the stories and history of the Jensen family, a family of ten. Kids learned a lot and shared a lot from what they already knew of California history: gold rush, railroad, settlements. We had just enough time to eat a picnic lunch before we had to head back to our campus. Really great experience for kids and adults alike. Definitely recommend this as a school field trip, or an outing for kids/you groups in general. Staff here is knowledgeable and worked well with our kids. Thank you for a memorable field trip, Jensen -...

This is only based off of my experience. Great for kids under 10. I learned a lot and for the most part, enjoyed the field trip. Our tour guide was young, nice and professional. Highly recommended. Here are all the problems. After reading other reviews and comparing ours, we did not get a hay ride. Or a walk through the fruit trees. The clothes washing is a shared experience and is to be shared at 2 people max. So you might not get to wash but only rinse. Or like my daughter only watched because she was paired up in 3's and was not able to participate. I made sure she did just her and I after all the kids left. Here is the worst part. After washing hands in a common bucket to share you get a peice of dough to flatten on a table where you will turn it in to be cooked. However the tortilla will be placed in a basket and handed out to your kid or yourself without being the one you flatten. Super gross and unsanitary. I have seen parents use that hand sanitizer on their kid and then touch the dough. That too is gross. This is a city ran company and I would suggest that if you flatten your dough then that's the same dough you get back cooked. Also, I do not recommend the older lady who is a guide. She argued with our groups leader who is a Christian on how she divided our group. This place has huge potential and hopefully they can fix...