[6] On the mountain side of the freeway is the Gaviota Oil Heating Facility, also known as the "Gaviota Gas Plant", built by Chevron Corp. and currently owned by Plains Exploration & Production Company (PXP); this facility is being reconfigured and partially abandoned.

The former purpose of the facility was to heat and process the heavy crude oil produced offshore so that it could flow through the All American Pipeline to refineries in the Bakersfield area.

[13][14] The first European land exploration of Alta California, the Spanish Portolá expedition, camped at Gaviota Creek on August 24, 1769 (on its way north).

Franciscan missionary Juan Crespi noted in his diary, "I called this place San Luis Rey, and the soldiers know it as La Gaviota, because they killed a seagull there.

[16] Owing to its location on the Pacific Ocean, Gaviota has a mild, coastal Mediterranean climate, with consistent temperatures year-round.