Gaviota Rest Stop is located on Interstate Highway 101 near Gaviota State Beach just at the south end of the Gaviota Pass. Its history is lost to those who converse on their cell phones at the rest stop, never taking time to read the road markers that describe the Gaviota timeline from pre-history onward.

Reading among the roadside displays, it says that Gaviota is Spanish for seagull. The first known Spanish expedition to come up the California coast in 1769 with Gaspar de Portola was written about in the journal of Spanish padre, Fr. Crespi. He said one of the soldiers shot and killed a gull while the expedition was camped nearby, thus the name "Gaviota".

The expedition by Gaspar de Portola was in search of Monterey Bay. Some traveled by ship, but the land expedition was in charge of finding suitable places to establish missions to take control of the land. They chose Gaviota near the beach rather than head through the narrow, rocky Gaviota pass so close by. The troops were near exhaustion when they headed south again in the winter 1770 and chose the beach route once again (now Gaviota State Beach.)

Four years later in 1774 Juan Bautista de Anza went from Gaviota to San Francisco and marched back with his troops in 14 days. De Anza came back on a colonizing expedition in 1776 and opted for the beach route again. As Spanish settlements did take hold, travelers began wander through the rocky gorge instead of taking the lower beach path.

These mountains in the history of California played an important military roles as noted by another highway marker:

Here, on Christmas Day, 1846 natives  and soldiers from the Presidio of Santa Barbara lay in ambush for Lt.  Col. John C. Fremont, U.S.A. and his battalion. Advised of the plot,  Fremont was guided over the San Marcos pass by Benjamin Foxen and his  son William, and captured Santa Barbara without bloodshed.  Historical references offer  several versions of Fremont's effort to take Santa Barabara.  Benjamin Foxen (Christened William Domingo) was born in England in 1798.  He died in Foxen Canyon on Feb 19 1874. He married Elmaria Osuna on May  26, 1831 at Santa Barbara Mission. The little town of Goleta was named after his ship Goleta (means little schooner) by which he came to CA. On  Dec 24 1846 he guided John C. Fremont over the San Marcos Pass. Three  weeks later January 13, 1847 California was ceded to the US."

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