Adobe Liquors, 13800 San Pablo Avenue

Adobe Liquors was established in 1963 by Portuguese immigrants. 

It is owned and operated by the Almeida family

and has been in business at the same location for over 60 years!

Jack Moitoza's Union Saloon, then the Country Inn, and later the location of Adobe Liquors.

Photo courtesy Contra Costa County Historical Society 

Fast forward to the 1970s.

The Northeast corner of San Pablo Avenue at Church Lane where the Union Saloon was located (including Adobe Liquor later) has seen many changes throughout the decades. In the early days, when San Pablo was a small village and part of the vast Rancho San Pablo, Moitoza built the Union Saloon which stood on this corner. In the year 1855, two other residents, Peck & Dohrmann conducted a hotel known as the San Pablo Hotel, which stood next door to the Union saloon.

Sometime around the 1910s, the Union Saloon became the Country Inn (also listed as "Kountry") and had several different owners and managers. The following is a brief timeline of owner/managers.

● "Buck" Moitoza, owner of The Country Inn 1920

● J. P. Nutting, prop. and Helen Hart, waitress of The Country Inn 1921

● Paul Nutting transfers ownership of The Country Inn to John Jarrett of Oakland 1922

● Frank G. Moitoza and C. A. Gray, owners of the Country Inn San Pablo 1923.

● John Petric and Robert Powers operators of the 'Kountry' Inn [Oakland Tribune 1941]

● John Petric [1901- 1961], owner of the 'Kountry' Inn [Oakland Tribune 1961]

Trivia: San Pablo's oldest flag flew from a flagpole at the site of the former Kountry Inn [The Knave - Oakland Tribune 1945]

Then, in the mid 1970s, this area was rebuilt.

[Source: History of Contra Costa County, California, W. A. Slocum & Co., Publishers 1882; Ancestry; Oakland Tribune Newspaper articles; Contra Costa County Historical Society]

Some history on the Northeast corner of San Pablo Avenue at Church Lane.