Nine communities, one home base.
Real history and character for each community — and the practical basics (population, city hall, how to reach them) for the ones that don’t yet have their own full page.
Richmond Annex
Richmond Neighborhood · Not a Separate City
A quiet, mostly residential Richmond neighborhood along Carlson Boulevard, subdivided in the 1920s and annexed to the city in 1926 — hence the name. Sits between San Pablo Avenue and the Bay, bordering El Cerrito and Albany. Homes are mostly single-family, built 1940–1969, with a notable Japanese-speaking community and the Pacific East Mall nearby.
San Pablo
Contra Costa County
Named for the Apostle Paul on land granted in 1823 as Rancho San Pablo, incorporated in 1948. Contra Costa County’s second-largest city, with a diverse population — over 40% foreign-born — and easy access to Berkeley and Oakland.
Pinole
Contra Costa County
Named for a Nahuatl word for ground seed flour, settled from an 1823 Mexican land grant and incorporated in 1903. Growth followed the Southern Pacific Railroad and later I-80; today it’s a residential commuter town with a historic Old Town core.
Hercules
Contra Costa County
Founded in 1881 as a company town for the Hercules Powder Company, once the nation’s largest TNT producer. After explosives manufacturing ended in the 1960s–70s, Hercules redeveloped as a bedroom community along I-80, with Bio-Rad now its largest employer.
El Sobrante
Unincorporated Contra Costa County
Spanish for “the surplus” — named for leftover land from the 1841 Rancho El Sobrante grant. Unincorporated and semi-rural by choice (residents rejected incorporation in the 1960s), with hillside terrain and oak woodlands along San Pablo Creek.
El Cerrito
Contra Costa County
Founded by refugees from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, incorporated in 1917. Largely residential, with the Ohlone Greenway trail running the length of the city along a former rail line — popular with walkers, runners and cyclists.
Albany
Alameda County
Incorporated in 1908 as “Ocean View” after residents protested Berkeley’s garbage dumping, later renamed for Albany, NY. Known for Solano Avenue, a walkable “Main Street” of small independent shops and some of the Bay Area’s best restaurants.
Berkeley
Alameda County
Settled in 1853, home to UC Berkeley since 1868. A center of 1960s–70s counterculture whose influence persists today, and the birthplace of the “Slow Food” movement through Chef Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse.