Editing San Pablo, California (section)

==History==
[[File:Don_Víctor_Castro.jpg|thumb|left|upright|San Pablo traces its history to [[Rancho San Pablo]], a Mexican-era [[ranchos of California|rancho]] granted to [[Francisco María Castro]] in 1823 and reconfirmed to his son Don [[Víctor Castro (landowner)|Víctor Castro]], a noted [[Californio]] ranchero and politician (pictured), in 1834.]]
{{More citations needed section|date=December 2019}}
The city of San Pablo is on land once occupied by the Cuchiyun band of the [[Ohlone]] indigenous people. This Ohlone territory was claimed for the king of [[Spain]] in the late 18th century. and was granted for grazing purposes to the [[Mission Dolores]] located in today's [[San Francisco, California|San Francisco]], but these church properties were secularized (or made separate from the Catholic church) when Mexico became independent from Spain in 1821.

In 1823, Mexican governor [[Luís Antonio Argüello]] granted the Ohlone territory to [[Francisco María Castro]], an ex-soldier stationed at the [[San Francisco Presidio]]. The grant was given the name [[Rancho San Pablo]]. This is the origin of the city's name, as well as the name of one the East Bay's oldest principal roads: [[San Pablo Avenue]] (formerly known, during the Spanish colonial era, as ''El Camino Real de la Contra Costa,'' which means "The Royal Way of the Opposite Coast," referring to the coastal/bayshore region opposite San Francisco). San Pablo Avenue, originating in San Pablo, runs through the entire East Bay.
[[File:Alvarado Adobe Front.jpg|alt=Alvarado Adobe at the intersection of San Pablo Avenue and Church Lane|thumb|Alvarado Adobe]]
San Pablo's [[Alvarado Adobe]] has been designated a California State Landmark (No.512), as a historic reproduction of the city's Mexican era. The home was originally constructed in 1842 by Jesús Maria Castro, one of Francisco Castro's sons, for his mother, [[María Gabriela Berreyesa Castro|Gabriéla Berryessa de Castro]]. Upon Gabriéla's death in 1851, it was inherited by her daughter, Martina Castro de Alvarado, wife of [[Juan Bautista Alvarado]], who was Governor of California from 1836 to 1842. The Alvarado Adobe was demolished in the mid-20th century to make way for a motel. A reproduction was built later in the century, and is now located in San Pablo Civic Center, on the northwest corner of San Pablo Avenue and Church Lane. A single beam from the original structure is incorporated into the roof of the replacement structure, at the rear of the adobe facing the interior courtyard.

The first post office was established in 1854.<ref name=CGN>{{California's Geographic Names|697}}</ref> The city [[municipal corporation|incorporated]] in 1948.<ref name=CGN />

Since the middle of the 20th century, [[College Center at El Portal]] has been the backbone of the community's retail economy.