Rincon Parkway

The Rincon Parkway is a portion of California State Route 1 along the north coast of Ventura County, California. 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. The automobile route along this portion of coastline opened up in 1913 as the Rincon Causeway or the Rincon Sea Level Road as the first driveable coastal route for motorists traveling between San Francisco and Los Angeles, California. Stagecoaches were delayed by high tides, storms, mud or rock slides before an alternate route was established in 1878 over the inland Casitas Pass that was accessed by traveling through the narrow Ventura River Valley towards Ojai. The access road alongside the railroad bed, that cut through the area in 1886, provided the basis for building the Rincon Sea Level Road.
As the automobile age began, motorists had to follow the Ventura River Valley towards Nordhoff to the road over Casitas Pass. Civic boosters were eager to open the more direct coastal route. The moment came with the construction of the Southern Pacific Railroad's Coast Line. The construction of the railroad had provided an unimproved road flanked by rip-rap but it was often flooded in several sections from the ocean waves. Rock outcroppings have always made travel difficult along this dramatic meeting of the Santa Ynez Mountains with the Pacific Ocean.

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