Loleta (Wiyot: Guduwalhat)[4] is a unincorporated community in Humboldt County, California, United States.

For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined Loleta as a census-designated place (CDP).

There are two separate Native American reservations on the rural outskirts of Table Bluff, California.

Potato farming was the biggest agricultural use of land until the 1870s, when depleted soil and declining prices caused a turn to dairying.

The name was reported to mean "pleasant place at the end of the tide water" in the language of the original Wiyot native inhabitants,[8] although this is apparently contradicted linguistically[8] as well as by a hearsay account from the 1950s,[9] made notorious by a National Geographic blog post.

In the early years of the 20th century, fish buyers from San Francisco congregated in Loleta every autumn to bid on the salmon catch, which averaged $50,000.

[14] The Aleutian Cackling Goose (Branta hutchinsii leucopareia) has in recent years extended its spring staging area to Loleta.

[18] Although agriculture and dairy have been salient factors in Loleta's economy, most residents work outside the community in neighboring cities.

Loleta and Eureka were locations for filming the 1982 horror movie, Halloween III: Season of the Witch; scenes inside "the Silver Shamrock Novelties factory" were filmed in a former milk bottling plant for Familiar Foods on Loleta Drive at Railroad Avenue.

One story is that its derived name, lalōekā, is the Wiyot name for the trail on the top of Table Bluff, or possibly "The pleasant place by the water" In the state legislature, Loleta is in the 2nd Senate District, represented by Democrat Mike McGuire,[25] and the 2nd Assembly District, represented by Democrat Chris Rogers.