La Patera, California

La Patera (Spanish for "The Place of Ducks") was a historical locale in what is now the area of Goleta, California.

Prior to European settlement, the area was inhabited by the Chumash, who had a settlement in the area named Saspilil. The Portolá expedition reached the area in August 1769 and gave it the name Laguna, but this was later changed to La Patera owing to the abundant ducks inhabiting the area's wetlands.

According to Yda Addis Storke's Memorial and Biographical History of the Counties of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura, California (1891), the name La Patera referred to the district comprising the Goleta valley west of Santa Barbara and east of the Rancho Cañada del Corral. Three land grants lay in this area: the Calera or Los Positas, 3,281 acres granted in 1843; Rancho Goleta, 4,440 acres; and Dos Pueblos, 15,535 acres.