An overpass stands over the circle, allowing through traffic on Golden State Avenue to bypass it.

The traffic circle honors Spanish Franciscan friar Francisco Garcés, who served as a missionary and explorer in the colonial Viceroyalty of New Spain.

A California Historical Landmark, it was approximately on this site where Garcés visited an Indian rancheria on May 7, 1776.

A large 1939 sculpture of Father Francisco Garcés by John Palo-Kangas rests inside the circle.

At 280 feet (85 m) of inner diameter, the Garces Memorial Traffic Circle is a smaller sibling of the similar 360-foot (110 m) inner-diameter 1930 Long Beach Traffic Circle located in Long Beach.