[4] In the 19th century, Las Cruces "was an overnight stop-over for farmers delivering grain and other crops from the Santa Ynez Valley to the Gaviota Wharf.

[7] According to the 1941 American Guide to Santa Barbara, the settlement, "shaded by immense old sycamores, [was] a cluster of homes about an inn, a wayside store, and a garage.

The spot was once a gathering place for early-California cattlemen who took their cattle through the pass and down to the old Gaviota Landing for shipment.

In still earlier times, the region was a battleground during the tenacious wars between the coastal tribes and the Tulare Indians from the San Joaquín Valley.

[9][8] Las Cruces was fairly busy during World War II, when it attracted visitors from Camp Cooke, now Vandenberg Space Force Base.