Located on the Salinas River about 30 mi (48 km) north of San Luis Obispo, the city is known for its hot springs, abundance of wineries, production of olive oil, almond orchards, and playing host to the California Mid-State Fair.

During this period, Paso Robles began to attract the settlers who established cattle ranches, apple and almond orchards, dairy farms, and vineyards.

In 1864, the first El Paso de Robles Hotel was constructed and featured a hot mineral springs bath house.

In 1886, after the coming of the Southern Pacific Railroad (SPR), work began on laying out a town site, with the resort as the nucleus.

The local agent for the SPR when it arrived in Paso Robles was R. M. "Dick" Shackelford, a Kentucky native who had come to California in 1853 to dig for gold.

Shackelford had a varied career, going from gold mining to hauling freight by ox team, to lumbering, which took him to Nevada, where he served one term as a delegate in the state's first legislature for Washoe County.

[18] By 1886, Shackelford had returned to California and was living in Paso Robles, where he began buying up extensive property, building warehouses, and starting lumber yards along the railroad's route.

A year after the hotel's construction began, in 1890 the five-story Granary Building (still standing into the 2020s, albeit renovated) was built in order to store grain.

[citation needed] After three weeks of treatments at the hotel's mineral hot springs for his arthritis, he resumed his concert tour.

[citation needed] During the next 30 years, the hotel was visited by other notables: Boxing champion Jack Dempsey, President Theodore Roosevelt, Adela Rogers St. Johns, Phoebe Apperson Hearst (the mother of William Randolph Hearst), and actors Douglas Fairbanks, Boris Karloff, Bob Hope, and Clark Gable all stayed at the El Paso de Robles Hotel.

When Major League baseball teams used Paso Robles as a spring-training home, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago White Sox stayed at the hotel and soaked in the mineral hot springs to soothe tired muscles.

On these ranches were cattle and horses, grain crops (primarily wheat and barley), garden produce, and fruit and nut orchards.

To show their appreciation to the ranchers, in October 1931, the businesspeople established Pioneer Day,[23] which is still an annual event, celebrated on the second Saturday in October.In December 1940, a fire completely destroyed the El Paso de Robles Hotel.

[24][25][26] In 1955, scores of national media[27][28] came to Paso Robles after pop-culture icon and actor James Dean was pronounced dead in town following his tragic car accident just east of the city.

In 1995, a new library building, combined with city hall, was completed; acclaimed novelist Ray Bradbury spoke at the dedication to a crowd of about 600 in attendance.

In 1864, a correspondent to the San Francisco Bulletin wrote every prospect existed of the Paso Robles hot springs becoming the watering place of the state.

[32] In 1882, Drury James and the Blackburn brothers issued a pamphlet advertising "El Paso de Robles Hot and Cold Sulphur Springs and the Only Natural Mud Baths in the World".

By then, the inn had first-class accommodations - a reading room, barber shop, and telegraph office; a general store, a top-of-the-line livery stable, and comfortably furnished cottages for families who preferred privacy to quarters in the hotel.

Visitors could stay in touch with the rest of the world, as two daily mail deliveries were available, as was a Western Union telegraph office and a Wells Fargo agency with special rates for guests.

Spanish explorer Francisco Cortez envisioned an abundant wine-producing operation and encouraged settlers from Mexico and other parts of California to cultivate the land.

Following Andrew York's early success in the wine business, Gerd and Ilsabe Klintworth planted a vineyard in the Geneseo/Linne area around 1886.

They were licensed to sell jugs of Zinfandel, port, and muscatel, as well as some of the area's first white wine made from Burger grapes.

Two deaths occurred when the roof slid off the clock tower building, a popular landmark in downtown Paso Robles.

The dormant underground springs that had once been used for the spa were brought back to life, causing flooding and a large sinkhole in the parking lot of the city hall and library.

The topography of the area consists of gentle rolling hills on the eastern half of the city, and foothill peaks, which rise in elevation to the Santa Lucia Coastal Range on the west, which are all blanketed in the Californian chaparral environment, which is mainly dry grassland and oak woodland.

The city is located at the southern end of the fertile Salinas River Valley, which is centered in between the Temblor Range (including the San Andreas Fault), which lie about 28 mi (45 km) to the east, and the Santa Lucia Coastal Range, which lies directly west, rising up from the city's western border.

Paso Robles enjoys long-lasting, mild autumns and occasional early springs, giving the region a unique climate suitable for growing a variety of crops (ranging from primarily grapes, to olives, almonds, and other tree nuts).

Due to the somewhat close proximity to the Pacific Ocean, the marine layer occasionally makes it over the coast range and into Paso Robles, creating fog.

With over 100 artists over three art-filled days, the festival is intended to honor and preserve the natural environment and character of the region through the arts.

The Paso Robles Airport hosts the Northern California Regional Aerobatic Contest, which is held annually in mid-June.