Banta is a small unincorporated community in San Joaquin County, California. Historically, it was a major interchange point between the Central Pacific and Southern Pacific railroads. It was located on the route of the transcontinental railroad from Sacramento to the San Francisco Bay Area by way of the Altamont Pass and Niles Canyon before the Central Pacific bought the route of the California Pacific which ran north of the Carquinez Strait to Vallejo. The Central Pacific diverted the California Pacific line to Benicia, California and established a railroad ferry between Benicia and Port Costa across the Carquinez Strait. Steve Perry, former lead singer of the band Journey, once called Banta his home. His Alien Project rock group formed here in the mid-1970s.