Little River (formerly known as Littleriver, Bell's Harbor, and Kent's Landing)[5] is a small census-designated place[6] in Mendocino County, California, United States.

[2] It lies at an elevation of 66 feet (20 m),[2] 3 miles (5 km) south of the town of Mendocino and running along the Pacific Ocean coast on State Route 1.

The town center sits on a scenic bluff overlooking the mouth of the Little River and hosts a grocery store, two gas pumps, a post office, and a restaurant within a single structure.

Little River is home to several boutique inns and bed & breakfasts, making it a popular tourist stop along the Pacific Coast.

The Bealls joined the Moore Brothers who had preempted land and erected dwellings a short distance from the ocean north of the bay.

Ruel Stickney, Silas Coombs, and Tapping Reeves built a mill here, which provided the stimulus for the formation of the town of Little River.

The town grew with the success of the mill so that eventually a schoolhouse, post house, shipyard, hotels, stores and blacksmith shops all established themselves here.

The loss of the mill shrunk the town, and since that time it has served mainly as a tourist destination due to its beaches and Van Damme State Park, which the Little River runs through.

[15] The Heritage House Inn, a bed and breakfast between Little River and Albion, was the location for the film Same Time, Next Year (1978), starring Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn.