Punta, California

La Conchita is a small unincorporated community in western Ventura County, California, on U.S. Route 101 just southeast of the Santa Barbara county line. The ZIP Code is 93001, and the community is inside area code 805.On January 10, 2005, a major landslide occurred in the town of La Conchita, California. The 2005 landslide killed 10 people, and destroyed or damaged dozens of houses. The landslide recurred on part of a previous landslide in 1995.History"La Conchita", Spanish for little conch shell, was first used as the name of a spur on the Southern Pacific railroad line in the 1880s and it was a name generally used to describe a broader area than the present day village. During this time until 1923, the small beach settlement was named "Punta" and the street names still carried today (San Fernando, Ojai, Bakersfield, Carpinteria, etc.) commemorated the home town areas of the railroad workers who settled in the town while building the Southern Pacific line. The name change and designated area then known as La Conchita are crucially important to any understanding of the region today and its geologic history. Up through the 1930s as historically documented, the area from Bates Road down to Mussel Shoals (then known as Mussel Rock) was referred to as La Conchita.