About Atascadero

Atascadero is a city in San Luis Obispo County, California, about equidistant from San Francisco and Los Angeles on U.S. Route 101. Atascadero is farther inland than most other cities in the county, and as a result, usually experiences warmer, drier summers and cooler winters than other nearby cities such as San Luis Obispo and Pismo Beach. Nearby State Routes 41 and 46 provide easy access to the Pacific Coast and the California Central Valley.

The population was 28,310 at the 2010 census. The brainchild of mega-entrepreneur E.G. Lewis, Atascadero is the result of nearly a century of organic community evolution. It is an amalgamation of rolling hills studded with oaks; historic buildings; quaint lake park and zoo; enclaves of artists, musicians and writers; all surrounded by visitor vistas and wineries.

Edward Gardner Lewis, a successful magazine publisher from the East, founded the community of Atascadero in 1913 as a utopian, planned colony. He had previously created such a community, at University City, Missouri. After purchasing the Atascadero Ranch in 1912, Lewis put together a group of investors from across the country, paid J.H. Henry $37.50 per acre ($93/ha), and celebrated acquisition of the ranch on July 4, 1913. As investors came to homestead the land that they had bought with their down payments, the area was transformed into a "tent city" with tents situated on land now occupied by Century Plaza and Bank of America. Lewis employed the services of experts in agriculture, engineering and city planning to develop his dream colony for the anticipated 30,000 residents. In 1914 the land was surveyed and subdivided. Thousands of acres of orchards were planted, a water system was installed, and construction began on an 18 mi (29 km) road (now Highway 41 west) through the rugged Santa Lucia Mountains to the ocean (Morro Bay), where Lewis built cottages and a beachfront hotel called the Cloisters.

Founded in 1913 by Edward Gardner Lewis and incorporated in 1979, the Atascadero Colony as it was known at the time was originally envisioned as a model community. Little evidence of Atascadero's original architecture and urban design remain, as historic buildings and homes have been torn down to make way for more modern developments and the Sunken Gardens bisected by U.S. Route 101. One of the few surviving examples of original urban design can be found, however, in the Rotunda Building located near the Junior High School on Palma Avenue in the Sunken Gardens public park. Designed by Walter D. Bliss of San Francisco, construction was completed in 1918 at a cost of $180,000. It was the headquarters for the Atascadero Colony, built of reinforced concrete and locally produced brick, it had also served as a private school for boys, a veteran's memorial building, and county offices. Location: 6500 Palma Ave, Atascadero. This building was purchased by San Luis Obispo County in the 1950s as a Memorial Building. The building housed the county library, Atascadero Historical Social Museum and then the city offices following incorporation in 1979. The historic City Hall is adorned with a 40 ft (12 m) dome atop the third story, originally intended to house the library. The building was designated a California Historical Landmark. The City Hall was damaged by the magnitude 6.5 San Simeon Earthquake on the morning of December 22, 2003.