San Pablo, Contra Costa County
San Pablo is one of the oldest settlements in the East Bay, dating to the Castro family rancho of the 1820s. Juan Bautista Alvarado, a former governor of Mexican California, lived out his later years here, and a replica of his adobe stands at the civic center. The city incorporated in 1948 and is almost entirely surrounded by Richmond. Contra Costa College has its campus on the north side.