This narrow coastal area north of the city of Ventura and south of the Santa Barbara County line is commonly referred to as The Rincon.

Stagecoaches along the coast were delayed by high tides, storms, mud or rock slides before an alternate route was established in 1878,[citation needed] over the inland Casitas Pass that was accessed by traveling through the narrow Ventura River Valley towards Ojai.

[2][4] As the automobile age began, motorists had to follow the Ventura River Valley towards Nordhoff to the road over Casitas Pass.

[5]: 45  Ventura resident E. P. Foster was a leader in this effort together with Franklin E. Kellogg, secretary of the Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce.

[1] In 1960,[citation needed] a freeway bypass was completed from Emma Wood State Beach north to the Mobil Pier Undercrossing near Sea Cliff.

US 101 was then re-routed onto this freeway bypass, while the original two-lane alignment of this portion of the Rincon Sea Level Road was re-signed as part of State Route 1.