Faria, also known as Faria Beach, is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

Ventura County, California Ventura County () is a County (United States), county located in Southern California, the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, Ca ...

, United States. Faria runs along the ocean side of

California State Route 1 State Route 1 (SR 1) is a major north–south state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either Route number, ...

, northwest of Ventura between Ventura and Carpinteria. It is within the Ventura Unified School District and has a Ventura ZIP Code.

Geography

Faria is located on Pitas Point, a popular surf spot also known as "Whistles." The rocky point faces south, with stretches of sandy beach running northeast and northwest from the point. Pitas Point and nearby Punta Gorda were created by large uplift events. During an ancient earthquake, this area of the Rincon suddenly grew between 16 feet to 26 feet out of the surf zone as mechanically interlinked faults ruptured simultaneously. Scientists have made observations of old sections of shoreline along the coastal terrace and found that exceptionally large earthquakes had occurred on the Ventura-Pitas Point faults due to the simultaneous rupturing of the interlinked faults. They also reached the conclusion that much larger earthquakes could occur than had previously been predicted.

History

In 1769, the Spanish

Portola expedition Portola may refer to: * Portola (album), ''Portola'' (album), a 1998 album by Rose Melberg * Portola, California * Portola, San Francisco, California * Portola Music Festival People with the surname * Gaspar de Portolá (ca. 1717-aft.1784), Spanish ...

came northwest along the beach from the previous night's encampment on the Ventura River. The explorers found a small native village near a watering place at what is now called "Padre Juan Canyon" (which reaches the sea at Pitas Point) and camped nearby on August 15. "Padre Juan" refers to Fray Juan Crespi, a Franciscan missionary travelling with the expedition, who noted that the natives "kept us awake playing all night on some doleful pipes or whistles". Thus the point was named "los pitos" - Spanish for "whistles". Later American coast survey mapping misspelled the name as "Las Pitas", which was the Spanish name for the

Agave americana ''Agave americana'', commonly known as the century plant, maguey, or American aloe, is a flowering plant species belonging to the family Asparagaceae. It is native to Mexico and the United States, specifically Texas. This plant is widely cultiv ...

(century plant).

Supreme Court case

Beach access at one of the beachfront homes was the subject of the 1987

US Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

case '' Nollan v. California Coastal Commission.''

References

{{authority control Populated coastal places in California Unincorporated communities in Ventura County, California Unincorporated communities in California Beaches of Ventura County, California