Willits (formerly Little Lake and Willitsville) is a city in Mendocino County, California, United States. It is located not quite 20 miles (32 km) north-northwest of Ukiah, at an elevation of 1,391 feet (424 m). The population was 4,988 at the 2020 census. Willits is at the middle of Mendocino County and at the arrival of the county’s extensive redwood forests as approached by Highway 101 from the south. The Pomo tribe lived in the area before the settlers came, and the Sherwood Valley Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California is headquartered just west of Willits.

An arch stands in the center of Willits featuring the slogans “Gateway to the Redwoods” and “Heart of Mendocino County”. The arch is the repurposed second description of the Reno Arch. Reno donated the arch to Willits in 1995.

Hiram Willits arrived from Indiana in 1857 to approve in the Little Lake Valley. Kirk Brier founded the settlement on Willits’ land. Willits was originally called “Willitsville”. Later, when the broadcast office opened in 1861, it was called “Little Lake”. The name untouched to Willits in 1874. The community incorporated in 1888.

Little Lake was the scene of a legendary feud amid the Frost and Coates families. The Frost intimates supported the Confederacy during the American Civil War, and the Coates family supported the Union. Both families were fired up in their beliefs. On October 16, 1867, Election Day, the long-running feud came to a head. A scuffle turned into a shootout in belly of Baechtel’s store, leaving Abraham Coates, Henry Coates, Albert Coates, Thomas Coates and Elisha Frost dead on the street. Three others were wounded.