Buttonwillow I-5 Rest Area

I will admit, I only wanted to stop at this rest area because I don’t know how to read and thought it said Buttwillow instead of Buttonwillow (I’m so mature I know)
When we stopped there was a man playing guitar, one on a drum, and another guy playing the harmonica with a cat on his shoulder. This is true story and made stopping here completely worth it.
The next time I drive back down to LA I will most likely stop here again. Parking is plentiful, the rest area is clean, and this is a great place stretch or rest if you need to.

Always a welcomed sight! Clean restrooms and grounds. Service personnel were there maintaining the grounds with a smile on their faces. Good attitude goes a long way, regardless of the job! And after driving several hours it felt so good to stretch our legs in a pleasant environment. Thank you for making this rest spot available!

I was driving and I needed to stop and pee. Great place to pee or poop. They have toilets and after you take care of your business, they have vending machines to fill that stomach or bladder right up so you can pee or poop at the next rest stop.

These places are always creepy. The bathrooms all marked up with secret scratchings like feral animals leaving their scent as a mark of dominance. This place would be a good model for a shoot-​em-​up video game — zombies and such would fit right in with this rest stop. Sometimes I need to stop to stretch or rest — but there is always this voice in my head that says, «Danger! Get moving!». I usually do.
Some reviews claim the bathrooms are clean. Yeah. Think of using a fire hose to clean your bathroom. That’s what kind of clean it is.
If ever I’m in the area again, I’ll do a check-​in. My heart pines to become the duke of the Buttonwillow I-​5 Rest Area; but only if I can do my check-​in at 85 MPH as I drive by. (If you ever read about « Unilocaler dies in fiery crash as he checks in at Buttonwillow I-​5 Rest Area», it was me.)

Every now and then, people from Northern California want to drive to Southern California and vice versa. I-​5 is one of the main freeways to travel on, and was our chosen route heading for San Diego for a family vacation. And when it comes to driving a long distance that often turns monotonous and tiring, said drivers will often turn to coffee or tea to keep them on an alert path. But the downside of consuming caffeine type drinks is, that stopping for bathroom breaks are inevitable!
Lucky for us, Buttonwillow Rest Area was a welcome site as it loomed upon the horizon! We couldn’t wait to «rest» as we found a parking place among the numerous spaces available. Although it was a bit of a trek to get to the rest rooms, I had no complaints! The general area is spacious and offers the typical rest area amenities. There is a picnic section, a dog friendly area and a scenic orchard nearby. The bathrooms appeared clean with automatic flush toilets. The hand dryers only lasted a few seconds, but at least paper towels were not getting wasted, and the transference of germs are minimized here.
The whole site in general had little shade and most of the property seemed dry and a bit dusty. I’m pretty certain that this rest stop was once well groomed and had lots of green grass and trees. Unfortunately, due to the drought we have to conserve water whenever we can. But despite California’s woes, I have to give a big thank you to the town of Buttonwillow for providing a nice place for weary travelers!

Without this Rest Stop, I dont know what I would’ve done. I won’t be as rested to take a lil nap to recharge my body to continue driving… And the convenience of food available near by aka «The Vending Machines», they’re not healthy by any chance, asides the nuts & sun chips, buts thats about it.
Parking is plentiful. They even have payphone nearby… Its 2015, and payphone (s) still exist. Im thrilled. I haven’t seen them for so long, since the last decade and the advent of smart phone.
Bathrooms are exceptionally clean. Thank god its well ventilated and well kept. And bathroom tissues are well stocked. Thanks!

I always stop @ the Buttonwillow Rest Stop (both directions) going between Northern & Southern California. It’s well maintained. There’s plenty of TP & seat covers. They even have soap. The toilets, sinks & hand dryers are all touch less ones. There is a large area to let your dogs do their business in, as well.

Kyle: «Really babe? You’re really checking into a random rest stop in the middle of nowhere?»
Me: «Yeah! Of course I am! I mean, how else would I know how many times I’ve been here and keep track of our stops? And look-​there are Unilocal reviews!»
Kyle: *Rolls eyes* «Ok, whatever makes you happy.»
Me: *Gasp* *OMG! I’m a REGULAR!” *Shoves phone in boyfriend’s face*
Kyle: «wat.»
On the way home from Coachella, we needed to switch drivers so we pulled into the first rest stop we saw. I checked in to see where we were and it ended up being the exact rest stop we stopped at on the way there! What a coincidence! No wonder it seemed familiar.
This rest stop is pretty large. Plenty of truck and auto parking spots (but I’ve seen it filled up overnight from truckers taking a nap so be careful navigating around them).
There are 2 restrooms for both men & women. One has more handicapped accessible stalls.
Plenty of vending machines, including a coffee machine that spits out the most foul tasting coffee I’ve ever tasted. But it was hot and kept me up-​and that was what mattered. The inventory of the machines can be hit or miss.
There’s a pet area to walk your dog and let them do their business. There are a few picnic tables and water fountains.
It’s always been clean when I’ve been there and fully stocked with soap and toilet paper.
Perfect pit stop for a long road trip. But sorry Buttonwillow, I may be a regular, I’m not staying for long!

Restrooms were not stocked up with toilet paper, but there were plenty of seat covers! Best part was the Ice Cream vending machine! Great open grassy areas for dogs and children to run! Also, has a shaded tables to picnic or plan your alternate route!

Very Nicely Maintained Rest Stop
SITREP
This rest area has got some pretty immaculate landscaping around it! Quite impressive and nice if you are a dog who wants to take a quick run and rub up against some trees!
THE SETUP
Clean rest rooms with ample facilities considering the number of travelers that are stopping in.
INFORMATION
Lots of signage to report drunk drivers.
Lots of glassed billboards with an amazing array of community information, traffic advisories and just the usual local cautions to watch out for Tooley Fog.
Some pretty flowery displays about local community support services.
VENDING
There is an actual separate building just dedicated to banks of vending machines, so I am impressed with the service-​requirement of those individuals that must keep this facility — and the other rest stops I hit along the way — all full of vending goods.
THE LOWDOWN
A great stop along I-​5.

if you gotta poop you gotta poop. maybe u gotta stretch out your legs or let your dog pee. this rest stop has parking, bathrooms, and some vending machines. theres places to sit, but it could use more covered areas. nature calls. answer it here, maybe. ;)

A solid mid-​way point on the trip, without the trappings of the c-​stores and gas stations about two miles south at the Buttonwillow exit. For a quick off and on of I-​5 to take care of the bio needs, it more than suits the need.
It’s not nearly as snazzy as the fully renovated rest stops a few hours’ north, but given time, it may make the upgrade list.

Clean but smelly bathrooms – fairly well stocked as well.
Great place if you have a dog that needs a jog break.

This rest stop is almost exactly the halfway point for my drive from San Diego to the Bay Area. I’ve been making this drive for years and I guess they recently have done some landscaping. While no luxury lined stop by any means this place provides a necessary resting place for road trips — for both me and the four legged members of the party! Restrooms are exactly how you pictured them, not pristine, but ok for public restrooms. Let’s all do our part to keep our rest areas clean!

It does the job. There is no AC inside the restrooms so it’s quite warm but at least the women’s stalls were clean. Get in and get out quickly and it’s a-​ok.

Review for southbound rest stop. I can only review the bathrooms and they were clean and well stocked. I’d pee here again!

I like this rest stop because its fairly clean and open and has vending machines. But it has its downsides.
–1 star for having broken vending machines with purposely incorrect pricing (illegal and/​or lazy)
–2 stars for its tap water tasting like butt. Im guessing buttonwillow contaminated their water supply with over fertilization or southern california water just usually literally tastes and smells like butt. Seriously, just coming back from a trip to mexico, and Im more concerned about my stomach after leaving this place :(

This place is shady. But it gets a three from me because it’s a free place to pee.
This is a review of the southbound side. Both the northbound and southbound rest areas are probably identical. There are dual restrooms here — two for men and two for women. One of the men’s restrooms was closed for cleaning, and the other one looked like it could use some cleaning as well!
The buildings here are old and dingy. Vending machines are neglected. An ice cream vending machine with no ice cream (
)? Lakers 2010 NBA Champions (
)? Yup. I was half-​expecting to find expired snacks in the vending machines as well, but at least those were ok. It’d probably be illegal to sell them otherwise.
There’s ample parking, a designated pet area, lots of grassy space to run around, and two covered sitting areas providing shade. See? Told you this place was shady.
So the next time you’re cruising down I-​5 and need to tinkle, stop by this shady place and take care of your business! What else can you do here? Well that’s your business, not mine!

Rest areas on the 5 are still very useful, but they don’t seem as useful as they used to. That’s mainly because many of the rinky-​dink stops along the 5 are no long rinky-​dink; there are more places to eat, more places to get gas, and more dirty bathrooms to use at your own risk. The rest areas can feel scary, especially at night, but if you’re trying to get from L.A. to SF or vice versa in a hurry, there’s a distinct advantage to not tarrying at the latest Del Taco. You’ll spend less money, gain less weight, and waste less time waiting for someone to come out of the ARCO bathroom with a key attached to a hubcap.
The Buttonwillow Northbound Rest Area has the distinct advantage of being too close to Buttonwillow. Why is this an advantage? Because most of the other lemmings will have stopped, fed, and micturated at the least rinky-​dink stop on the 5. That means more parking and a cleaner bathroom for you. The men’s bathroom is almost always clean here, although it was gross once a few years back. There’s plenty of grass for dogs and kids. There are shaded picnic tables, but I’ve only seen people using them twice. My main problem with the place is that it’s too easy to end up accidentally in the big-​rig parking area. That’s not a huge problem in the grand scheme of things, but if you do want to park in a normal-​sized spot, you’ll have to be very careful and go the wrong way on a one-​way street.