The county seat of Marin, San Rafael is large, diverse, eclectic, and historic. That history stretches from California's beginnings, with the 1817 founding of Mission San Rafael on the old El Camino Real, to the construction of the eye-popping Marin Civic Center in the 1960s. Designed by renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright, the Civic Center was completed in 1962 and is so futuristic that it pops up in science-fiction films.