City Seal

The current City of Pinole seal is an image of a Native American man with arms crossed against a natural background containing water, mountains, birds, sun, and sky with a floral border frame and text: City of Pinole California 1903.

The original inhabitants of what we now know as Pinole were members of the Lisjan (Ohlone) nation, and the area was referred to as Huchiun and Carquin territories. Historical documents from City records report that within the geographical area of Pinole, most of the Ohlone population disappeared by the early 1800’s due to foreign (European) disease and coercive displacement efforts by European settlers.

In 1963, the Pinole Chamber of Commerce held a contest to select a new City seal (there are no records regarding the prior City seal). Twelve entries were submitted between July 19 – October 12, 1963. On November 14, 1963, former City Engineer Lloyd Roberts, won the contest for his design featuring a Spanish conquistador facing a stone bowl of pinolli, or pinole (pee-noh-lay). The design was criticized by Mrs. Don Arbuckle, wife of a former Sachem, or chief, for the inaccurate depiction of pinolli.

Albeit winning the contest, Roberts’ seal design was not adopted as the official City seal. The Pinole Chamber of Commerce went ahead and published the program (brochure) for the Fiesta del Pinole with a different seal design by an unknown artist resembling Pinole’s modern-day design. It had a rendition of a bearded Native American man from an unidentified tribe standing with arms crossed beside a large sun, framed by a flowered border. The character featured in this design was believed to be drawn according to Father Crespi’s description of the Ohlone people written in his diary in 1772. On November 13, 1964, the image was submitted to City Council for adoption.

There was widespread disagreement around the accuracy in portrayal of the man in the design submitted by the Pinole Chamber of Commerce. An anthropologist from UC Berkeley wrote a letter to Council on March 17, 1965, refuting the accuracy of the way in which the man was represented, and, to minimize the possibility of inaccurate representation, suggested using a woman on the seal instead. Pinole became divided in opinion about the man on the seal having a beard, and if it was culturally representative. The division about the beard drew media attention, and an article titled “A Bearded Indian from Greater Pinole” was published about it in the Oakland Tribune. Notably, census data from 1960 shows that the population of Pinole – the people who argued the accuracy of the portrayal of a Native American man – was 99.4% white.

Another design, most closely resembling the City of Pinole’s modern-day seal, drawn by Daniel Harvey, a local Pinole artist, was submitted to the City Council on January 23, 1965. His design was later adopted as the official City seal on April 5, 1965. It portrayed a Native American man with arms crossed against a natural background containing water, mountains, birds, sun, and sky with a floral border frame and text: City of Pinole California 1903.

In the 1990’s, the seal design and color scheme was slightly modernized. The City of Pinole currently uses this modern version of the seal and it can be found throughout City facilities and is used in documents and media as the primary logo.